Chương 4 - A Deal Written in Lies
At 1:17 in the morning, Rose Whitmore sat inside Gabriel Moretti's private office wearing his oversized black coat over the remains of her wedding dress.
Six hours earlier, she had been preparing to become his wife.
Now she was helping him investigate her father.
Life, she decided, had become completely ridiculous.
Gabriel stood near the windows, speaking quietly into his phone.
Cole was supervising the search for Richard and Margaret.
Evelyn had been brought to a secure guest residence at her own request, along with the financial documents she had spent years protecting.
Rose's mother remained missing.
That was the only thing Rose cared about.
"Have they found the car?" she demanded when Gabriel ended his call.
"Not yet."
"Then why are we sitting here?"
"Because running blindly into the city won't help Margaret."
"She's my mother."
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
Gabriel turned.
Rose rose from the sofa.
"You sat in a room and watched me climb down a building like it was entertainment. You let me run because you were curious. Now my father has taken my mother somewhere, and I'm supposed to trust that you care?"
Gabriel accepted the words without interruption.
When she finished, he approached the coffee table and placed several documents in front of her.
"These arrived ten minutes ago."
Rose glanced down.
She recognized the Whitmore Shipping logo.
"What are they?"
"The contracts your father wanted me to sign after our wedding."
"Why are you showing me?"
"Because they concern you."
Rose sat slowly.
Gabriel opened the first document.
"Richard proposed transferring management of the southern freight division to a new joint company. He told my accountants the arrangement would consolidate our interests."
"And?"
"And I've just discovered that several of the listed assets don't exist."
Rose stared.
"How can a shipping asset not exist?"
"Containers that were sold months ago. Warehouse leases that expired. Equipment that was never purchased."
He turned another page.
"Your father intended to use my investment to cover the missing money."
Rose felt sick.
"Two million?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"Closer to fourteen."
The room went silent.
"Fourteen million dollars?"
"That's our current estimate."
Rose covered her mouth.
Her father had destroyed their family over amounts of money she could barely comprehend.
"And he expected me to marry you so you wouldn't investigate?"
"I think your marriage was supposed to become one more reason for me to protect him."
Rose looked down.
On the final page, she saw her name.
ROSE MARGARET WHITMORE.
Her signature appeared beneath a proposed authorization granting Richard access to certain protected family holdings.
She grabbed the paper.
"I never signed this."
Gabriel leaned closer.
"Are you certain?"
"Of course I'm certain!"
"It's dated three weeks ago."
Rose stared at the signature.
It looked like hers.
Almost.
But the final letter curved in the wrong direction.
"My father had me sign wedding paperwork last month," she whispered.
"Did you read it?"
"He told me it was insurance documentation."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Rose looked at him.
"What does this mean?"
"It means Richard may have attempted to transfer part of your inheritance without your knowledge."
A terrible silence followed.
Then Rose laughed once.
It was not a happy sound.
"He sold my future, forged my signature, and arranged my marriage to cover his debts."
Gabriel sat opposite her.
"Yes."
"And you were going to marry me because it was convenient."
"Yes."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"At least you're not lying."
Gabriel considered that.
"Not anymore."
Across the city, Margaret Whitmore sat inside a modest apartment above a closed furniture showroom.
Victor Hale stood beside the window.
He was a thin man in his early fifties, with silver hair and the composed manner of someone accustomed to solving unpleasant problems without raising his voice.
Richard paced.
"Rose was supposed to do as she was told!"
Margaret looked up.
"She's your daughter."
"She's destroying everything!"
"No, Richard. You destroyed everything. She's simply refusing to help you hide it."
Richard stopped.
For a moment, his expression became something Margaret had learned to fear.
Victor interrupted.
"Enough."
He turned toward Richard.
"The Moretti agreement was our last opportunity to correct the missing funds. If Gabriel begins examining the overseas accounts, he'll find the entire structure."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"We convince him that the documents at Mercer Street are unreliable."
"How?"
Victor glanced toward Margaret.
"Your wife knows where Evelyn kept the original records."
Margaret stiffened.
"I don't."
Victor smiled thinly.
"Then this may be a difficult night."
Richard looked away.
For the first time, Margaret understood something that broke her heart more completely than the previous twenty-eight years of marriage.
Her husband had known exactly what kind of man Victor was.
And he had brought her here anyway.
At Gabriel's office, Rose's phone remained absent, but he had arranged clean clothing, food, and a guest room.
She refused to sleep.
Instead, she sat beside Evelyn at a long conference table while Gabriel's legal team examined the documents.
At three in the morning, Cole entered.
"We found the vehicle."
Rose stood so quickly her chair nearly fell.
"Where?"
"Parked behind a furniture showroom. No occupants."
Gabriel looked toward the city map on the wall.
"Who owns the building?"
Cole hesitated.
"Victor Hale."
Gabriel's expression darkened.
"Of course."
Rose stepped forward.
"Then let's go."
Gabriel held out his hand.
"Before we do, I need you to understand something."
"What?"
"Victor isn't simply one of Richard's employees. He's connected to several financial networks that have been investigated for money laundering. If he believes Margaret possesses evidence against him, he may attempt to make her disappear."
Rose's stomach tightened.
"Then we don't have time."
"We have a location, but we need confirmation she's inside."
Rose snatched Gabriel's phone from the table.
She opened the image Cole had received from a traffic camera.
Margaret was visible through the sedan window.
Rose enlarged the photograph.
Then she noticed something.
"Wait."
Gabriel leaned closer.
"What?"
"My mother's handbag."
"So?"
"Look."
Margaret was holding a small brown leather purse against her chest.
Attached to its zipper was a silver butterfly charm.
Rose pointed toward the image.
"She never carries that bag. She gave it to me for my sixteenth birthday."
Gabriel studied her.
"Why does that matter?"
"Because there's something inside it."
"What?"
Rose looked up.
"A spare key."
"To where?"
"Evelyn's old apartment."
Evelyn slowly raised her head.
"Margaret still has that?"
Rose nodded.
"She told me she kept it because the butterfly reminded her of my grandmother."
Evelyn exchanged a meaningful glance with Gabriel.
"Then she wasn't carrying that bag by accident."
Rose turned to her.
"What are you saying?"
Evelyn reached inside her folder and removed a photograph of an ordinary metal filing cabinet.
"Before I left Whitmore Shipping, your mother helped me remove certain original company records."
Rose looked at the photograph.
"Where are they?"
Evelyn's expression became grave.
"In a storage compartment beneath the apartment floor."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"What records?"
"The ones Richard believed had been destroyed."
"And what do they prove?"
Evelyn looked at Rose.
"That your father's gambling debts weren't the only reason he arranged this marriage."
She placed one final document on the table.
The paper carried a date from twenty-one years earlier.
Rose read the heading.
Then stopped breathing.
It was a record concerning the sudden death of her maternal grandfather.
And beneath a handwritten authorization was a name she recognized.
VICTOR HALE.
Rose stared at the document.
"My grandfather died in a car accident."
Evelyn looked uncomfortable.
"That's what Richard told everyone."
"And you're saying it wasn't?"
"I'm saying your grandfather discovered unauthorized transfers shortly before his death. Victor was involved in handling the company's finances at the time. These records show payments that were never explained."
Rose's fingers curled around the paper.
"Are you saying my father killed him?"
"No. I don't know that."
"Then what do you know?"
Evelyn met her eyes.
"Your grandfather intended to remove Richard from the company. He had already prepared the paperwork."
Gabriel picked up the document.
"Three days later, he died."
Evelyn nodded.
For the first time since leaving the mansion, Rose felt a fear that had nothing to do with her wedding.
"Does my mother know?"
"She knows enough to be frightened."
Gabriel turned toward Cole.
"Get the legal team ready. Preserve every document. Contact our investigator and the appropriate authorities."
Cole nodded.
Rose looked at Gabriel.
"What are you going to do?"
He reached for his jacket.
"Find your mother."
"And my father?"
Gabriel paused.
"That depends on whether Richard is finally prepared to tell the truth."
His phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
A video message appeared.
Gabriel opened it.
Margaret Whitmore sat in a dimly lit room.
She looked frightened but composed.
Victor's voice could be heard behind the camera.
"Mr. Moretti. I understand you've been asking questions."
A brief silence.
Then Victor continued.
"Bring the documents from Mercer Street. Come alone. And perhaps Mrs. Whitmore will have the opportunity to see her daughter again."
Rose gripped Gabriel's arm.
But the video wasn't over.
Margaret suddenly leaned toward the camera.
"Rose, sweetheart, don't believe—"
The recording ended.
Gabriel watched the frozen image.
Then Rose saw something that made her blood turn cold.
May you like
Written on the wall behind her mother were three words.
ASK ABOUT GABRIEL.
