Chapter 7 - The Man Who Had Protected Dominic Was the One Who Betrayed Him
I did not sleep.
At 3:00 a.m., I sat alone in the safe house staring at my father’s handwriting.
Gabriel Hayes.
It made no sense.
Gabriel had saved Dominic’s life dozens of times.
He had been beside him through wars, betrayals and assassinations.
He had known him since he was twenty-two.
Why would my father tell me not to trust him?
I needed proof.
Numbers first.
Always numbers first.
I opened every account Gabriel had touched.
Nothing.
Clean.
Too clean.
I checked property records.
Nothing.
Travel records.
Nothing.
Then I found one unusual payment.
A monthly transfer of $8,000.
For fourteen years.
To an account in Ireland.
Recipient:
M. Gallagher.
My mother’s name.
I stared at it.
Gabriel had been paying my mother’s hidden account for fourteen years.
But she was supposed to be dead.
I called Dominic.
He answered instantly.
“What happened?”
“Where is Gabriel?”
Silence.
“Beatrice?”
“Where is he?”
“Why?”
I sent him the file.
He called me back thirty seconds later.
“Stay where you are.”
He arrived with two men.
Gabriel was missing.
His room had been emptied.
His phone left behind.
Dominic stared at the transfer history.
“My father knew?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Mine.”
I showed him the letter.
He read it twice.
“I don’t believe this.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then we find him.”
The trail led to a cemetery.
My mother’s grave.
The stone was fake.
Behind it was an empty compartment.
Inside:
A wedding photograph.
My mother standing beside my father.
And another man.
Gabriel.
Young.
Smiling.
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“My father’s security chief was protecting your family before he ever protected me.”
I turned it over.
On the back was a message.
WE KEPT THE BOY ALIVE.
Boy.
Nathaniel?
No.
I understood.
Dominic.
Gabriel had been protecting Dominic from someone.
But whom?
A sound came from behind us.
We turned.
Gabriel stood between the graves.
He held no weapon.
“Your father told you not to trust me.”
I nodded.
“He was right.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Why?”
Gabriel looked exhausted.
“Because I lied to you.”
“How long?”
“Twenty-two years.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“What did you do?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“I helped your mother disappear.”
My heart stopped.
“My mother?”
“She didn’t die.”
“Where is she?”
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“By Richard Pierce.”
Dominic stared at him.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep her alive.”
Gabriel explained.
My mother had discovered that Charles Beaumont planned to kill both families.
Richard staged her death.
Then he moved her into witness protection.
Gabriel became her guard.
My father disappeared to protect us both.
“But the accident,” I whispered.
“Was staged.”
I felt dizzy.
“My mother is alive?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Very much alive.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I laughed.
A broken, disbelieving laugh.
All those years.
All that grief.
All those birthdays where I thought about the woman who should have been there.
“Where is she?”
Gabriel looked at Dominic.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“California.”
I started crying.
Dominic took my hand.
“Then we go.”
We flew that morning.
My mother opened the door.
Her hair was gray.
Her face had changed.
But her eyes were mine.
She covered her mouth.
“Beatrice.”
I could not speak.
I simply ran into her arms.
She held me as if she had been waiting twenty-four years.
“I thought you died.”
“I thought you were safer believing I had.”
“You let me mourn you.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
My mother looked at Dominic.
“You must be Richard’s son.”
“Yes.”
She touched his face.
“You look like him.”
Dominic smiled sadly.
“He wasn’t the man I thought he was.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He was worse.”
Dominic frowned.
“He lied to everyone.”
My mother sighed.
“But he did it for one reason.”
“What reason?”
“To break the Exchange from inside.”
She revealed the final missing piece.
Richard had never created the trust merely to protect Nathaniel.
He had created it as a weapon.
The trust contained evidence proving that the Chicago Exchange had been built using stolen businesses, extortion and manipulated elections.
The controlling documents were designed to activate only when all three conditions were met:
Richard’s death.
Nathaniel’s legal adulthood.
And Beatrice’s authorization.
That was why I had mattered.
I was the final key.
My mother hugged me.
“Your father trusted you more than anyone.”
I cried.
“I didn’t even know.”
“He wanted you to live a normal life.”
“I worked for criminals.”
She smiled sadly.
“Your father would have said accounting was your weapon.”
Dominic looked toward the ocean outside.
“There’s one problem.”
“What?”
“Charles wasn’t the only person in the Exchange.”
My mother nodded.
“I know.”
“Who is left?”
She looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel answered.
“The judges are being arrested. The politicians are scrambling. The bankers are fleeing.”
“And who leads what remains?” Dominic asked.
Gabriel hesitated.
Then he said:
“The founder.”
A name appeared on the screen.
Evelyn Pierce.
Dominic’s aunt.
The woman everyone believed had died fifteen years ago.
May you like
My mother whispered:
“She’s coming for all of us.”
