Chapter 9 - Madeleine's Real Secret
“Put her on the phone.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“Still giving orders.”
“If you touch her—”
“Yes, yes. You've made that threat before.”
Thomas's hand tightened around the phone.
“What do you want?”
“The memory card.”
“No.”
Sarah looked at him sharply.
Gabriel paused.
“You may want to rethink that.”
A sound came through the phone.
Madeleine cried out.
Thomas stood so fast his chair fell.
“Stop!”
Gabriel's voice hardened.
“Then listen.”
Thomas forced himself still.
“Where?”
“Old Delacourt textile mill. Nine o'clock.”
Sarah mouthed, No.
Thomas ignored her.
Gabriel continued.
“You bring the memory card and the red unit. Alone.”
“Émilie?”
“Alive.”
“My mother?”
“For now.”
“And when I give you the card?”
“You take them home.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
Gabriel's tone was almost amused.
“But you don't have a better option.”
The call ended.
Sophie was crying silently.
Thomas crouched in front of her.
“I'll get your mom back.”
She shook her head.
“Gabriel lies.”
“I know.”
“He told Mom that too.”
“What?”
“That he'd let us go.”
Sophie wiped her face.
“He never was going to.”
Sarah pulled Thomas aside.
“You're not walking into that mill alone.”
“He'll kill them if he sees police.”
“So we don't let him see us.”
Thomas looked at the memory card.
“We need to know why my mother's name is in these files.”
Sarah nodded.
They opened the records again.
Three transfers.
All routed through Madeleine's account.
But Sarah noticed something.
“The money left forty-eight hours later.”
“To where?”
She traced the final destination.
A nonprofit organization.
New Start Housing.
Thomas frowned.
“I've never heard of it.”
Sarah searched incorporation records.
The nonprofit had funded emergency apartments, identity changes, transportation, and legal services for abused women and protected witnesses.
Thomas stared.
“Mom was moving money.”
“Looks like it.”
“For Émilie?”
“Maybe more than Émilie.”
Thomas searched the scanned documents.
Then found one audio file attached to Madeleine's name.
Pierre's voice filled the room.
If anyone finds this, Madeleine is innocent.
Thomas froze.
Pierre continued.
Gabriel was monitoring every corporate account I controlled. Madeleine's personal account was the only route I could use without alerting him immediately.
The money funded Émilie's relocation.
My wife never knew the source.
I told her I was transferring proceeds from a property sale.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Madeleine hadn't betrayed them.
Pierre had used her account.
Then the recording changed.
His father's voice became quieter.
There is one more thing Thomas must know.
The first person who exposed Émilie to Gabriel wasn't Madeleine.
It was me.
Thomas stared at the speaker.
Pierre continued.
I made the mistake of confronting Gabriel before I had enough evidence.
He realized someone inside the company had discovered his network.
Within hours, he identified Émilie.
Thomas felt sick.
His father had caused the danger.
Pierre's voice cracked.
I have lived with that every day.
I sent Émilie away because my mistake put her life, my son's life, and my unborn granddaughter's life at risk.
Unborn granddaughter.
Pierre knew before Sophie was born.
Thomas pressed his fists against the desk.
Pierre continued.
Thomas will hate me when he learns this.
He should.
But if hatred is the price of keeping him alive, I accepted it twelve years ago.
The recording ended.
Silence filled the room.
Sophie whispered, “Grandpa loved you.”
Thomas turned away.
He wanted to be angry.
It was easier.
But now anger had grief tangled through it.
Sarah said, “There's another file.”
She clicked.
A video appeared.
Pierre sat in his study.
Older.
Tired.
The date was three days before his death.
“If you're watching this,” Pierre said, “then Gabriel finally came for me.”
Thomas stopped moving.
Pierre leaned closer to the camera.
“And if my death was called an accident…”
May you like
He paused.
“…it wasn't.”
