Chapter 4 - The Man Rebecca Almost MarriedDaniel would not reveal the location of the recording until prosecutors agreed to discuss protection.
Gabriel hated it.
Rebecca understood it.
Daniel had spent years serving men who treated loyalty like currency.
Now that he had become inconvenient, he finally understood what disposable felt like.
The irony offered Rebecca no pleasure.
Three hours after the jail interview, Daniel’s attorney contacted prosecutors.
By evening, negotiations had begun.
The evidence against him was overwhelming.
Assault.
Unlawful imprisonment.
Forgery.
Fraud.
Identity theft.
Conspiracy.
If he cooperated in the investigation of Vittorio Moretti’s death, his sentence might eventually be reduced.
Not erased.
Reduced.
Rebecca made one thing clear.
She would not support any agreement that allowed him to avoid responsibility for what he did to her.
Gabriel watched her tell the prosecutor that.
No trembling.
No apology.
No hesitation.
Afterward, as they walked through the courthouse corridor, he said, “You were good in there.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“I told the truth.”
“Most people struggle to do that when the truth hurts them too.”
She stopped walking.
“Was that a compliment?”
“Don’t get used to it.”
For the first time in days, she smiled.
Gabriel’s expression softened.
Then a man stepped from the elevator.
Enzo.
He approached them alone.
No attorneys.
No security.
His gaze landed on Rebecca first.
“This has gone far enough.”
Gabriel moved slightly in front of her.
Rebecca immediately stepped sideways so she was no longer behind him.
Gabriel noticed.
Enzo did too.
“I’m speaking to my nephew.”
“Then speak,” Gabriel said.
Enzo lowered his voice.
“Daniel Mercer is a thief trying to save himself.”
“He worked for you.”
“Thousands of people have worked for me.”
“He accessed Margaret Foster’s safe-deposit box.”
“Not my concern.”
“He possessed my father’s ledger.”
Enzo’s face remained controlled.
“Your father kept many records.”
Rebecca spoke.
“Did he also record conversations?”
Enzo looked at her.
There.
A reaction.
Tiny.
But real.
Rebecca understood why Gabriel’s father had trusted paperwork.
People could control their words.
Their eyes were harder.
Enzo smiled coldly.
“Miss Foster, you should consider what happens to ordinary people who insert themselves into family conflicts.”
Gabriel’s voice changed.
“Careful.”
Rebecca looked at Enzo.
“No. Let him finish.”
Enzo regarded her with contempt.
“You were a maid in one of our houses.”
“And?”
“You cleaned rooms.”
“Yes.”
“You are not an investigator.”
“No.”
“You are not a lawyer.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand the scale of what you’re interfering with.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Daniel told me nobody would believe a maid.”
Enzo’s face tightened.
Rebecca continued.
“He was wrong.”
She pointed toward the courtroom doors.
“And if you think my job makes me too stupid to recognize my own forged signature, you’re making the same mistake.”
Enzo’s smile vanished.
Gabriel said nothing.
He did not need to.
Rebecca had defended herself.
Enzo turned and left.
When he disappeared around the corner, Gabriel looked at her.
“What?”
Rebecca asked.
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I’m reconsidering whether I’m the most dangerous person in this building.”
She laughed despite herself.
That evening, Daniel provided the first location.
Not the recording.
A server.
Years earlier, he had created a hidden digital archive containing copies of transactions he processed for Enzo.
Insurance.
Blackmail.
Survival.
The server was registered beneath a false business name and stored in a warehouse outside Joliet.
Federal investigators obtained a warrant.
Adrien accompanied them.
Gabriel remained at the estate with Rebecca and Margaret.
At 11:08 p.m., Adrien called.
The warehouse was empty.
The server rack had been removed less than twelve hours earlier.
Someone was still receiving information from inside the investigation.
Gabriel ended the call.
“We have a leak.”
Rebecca sat at the kitchen table with Margaret.
“Police?”
“Possibly.”
“Your people?”
“Possibly.”
Margaret frowned.
“Company?”
“Also possible.”
Rebecca looked around the room.
The security cameras.
The guards.
The locked gates.
Suddenly every layer of protection looked like another potential point of access.
Gabriel made three calls.
Within thirty minutes, he had suspended half the estate’s digital access, removed several employees from sensitive posts, and ordered Adrien to audit everyone who had viewed Rebecca’s hospital information.
Rebecca watched him work.
He was frighteningly efficient.
But something bothered her.
“You’re doing it again.”
Gabriel ended a call.
“Doing what?”
“Trying to control every variable.”
“That’s generally what security requires.”
“You can’t.”
“No?”
“No.”
Rebecca leaned against the counter.
“You thought this estate was secure before someone left a note outside my window.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“That mistake won’t happen twice.”
“You don’t know that.”
He stared at her.
Rebecca continued.
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
“You think if you build enough walls, nothing can reach you.”
Gabriel’s eyes became guarded.
“This isn’t about me.”
“It is.”
Margaret quietly stood.
“I’m going to make tea.”
Neither noticed her leave.
Rebecca looked at Gabriel.
“Your father died. So you decided nobody else gets close enough to surprise you.”
“You’ve known me for four days.”
“Am I wrong?”
His silence answered.
Rebecca immediately regretted pushing.
“Gabriel—”
“My father called me the night he died.”
She stopped.
Gabriel looked away.
“I didn’t answer.”
Rebecca said nothing.
“I was twenty-eight. Angry at him. We had argued about the company. I thought he was controlling my life.”
His voice was almost emotionless.
“The voicemail said, ‘Call me when you cool off.’”
Rebecca’s heart hurt for him.
“That was the last thing he ever said to me.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I should have answered.”
“Maybe.”
He looked at her, surprised.
Most people probably told him it was not his fault.
Rebecca did not.
“Maybe you should have.”
His jaw tightened.
“But that doesn’t mean you caused his death.”
Silence.
Rebecca continued.
“You can regret not answering without turning that regret into a life sentence.”
Gabriel looked at her for a long time.
“Who taught you to talk like that?”
She smiled sadly.
“Seven years with the wrong man gives you a lot to think about.”
The kitchen lights flickered.
Then went out.
Rebecca froze.
Gabriel moved instantly.
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his arm.
“No.”
The emergency lights came on.
Margaret appeared in the hallway.
“What happened?”
Gabriel drew a handgun from beneath his jacket.
Rebecca stared at it.
She knew what he was.
She had heard the stories.
But this was the first time she had seen the physical reality of his world.
Gabriel noticed her expression.
“Backup generator should have activated immediately.”
It had not.
His phone buzzed.
Adrien.
Gabriel answered.
“What?”
His face changed.
“Where?”
He turned toward Rebecca.
“Upstairs. Both of you.”
Rebecca’s pulse accelerated.
“What happened?”
“Someone breached the west perimeter.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
A crash came from the back of the house.
Margaret gasped.
Gabriel stepped between them and the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
Then Adrien appeared.
“Clear.”
Gabriel lowered the weapon.
Adrien held something in his hand.
A laptop.
“It was left outside the security room.”
Rebecca stared.
“By whoever came in?”
Adrien nodded.
Gabriel looked at the computer.
“Turn it on somewhere isolated.”
Ten minutes later, they gathered around a disconnected monitor in the library.
The laptop contained one video file.
Nothing else.
Adrien opened it.
Daniel Mercer appeared on screen.
The recording was dated six months earlier.
Daniel sat inside a restaurant booth.
Across from him was Enzo Moretti.
The sound was poor.
But several sentences were clear.
Enzo said, “The Foster woman still has it.”
Daniel responded, “Margaret or Rebecca?”
Enzo’s answer made Rebecca’s blood turn cold.
“The old woman has the box. The younger one gives you access.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Daniel had known.
Six months earlier.
He had known why Enzo cared about her aunt.
Their wedding planning.
His sudden interest in Margaret.
Everything.
Daniel’s voice came through the speakers.
“What if Rebecca finds out?”
Enzo took a drink.
“She loves you.”
Daniel said nothing.
Enzo smiled.
“That makes people easier to control.”
Rebecca stopped breathing.
Then the video jumped.
The next section showed Daniel asking about Vittorio.
Enzo leaned forward.
The sound distorted.
Adrien increased the volume.
Only six words were clear.
“…should’ve stopped when I warned him.”
Daniel answered something inaudible.
Enzo’s voice returned.
“The brakes solved the problem.”
Gabriel stared at the screen.
Nobody moved.
Then the file ended.
Adrien whispered, “That’s enough to reopen the death investigation.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Rebecca looked at him.
Eleven years of suspicion had just become something else.
Evidence.
Then the laptop screen changed.
A final message appeared automatically.
YOU HAVE 48 HOURS TO WALK AWAY.
Beneath it:
NEXT TIME THE WOMAN DOESN’T LEAVE THE CELLAR ALIVE.
Gabriel stared at the words.
Rebecca stepped beside him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She was pale.
Terrified.
May you like
But her voice was steady.
“We’re not walking away.”
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