Chapter 8 - The Father Who Wasn't Dead
Gabriel spent the entire drive back to Connecticut trying to make sense of Marta's warning.
His father was alive.
Maybe.
His father was giving orders.
Possibly.
But why would Thomas Whitmore, the man Gabriel remembered as patient and honorable, participate in the imprisonment of Olivia and the theft of his own granddaughter?
It made no sense.
Unless Gabriel had never really known him.
Or unless someone was deliberately making him believe something terrible.
Daniel drove in silence.
Finally, he spoke.
"We need to separate what we've established from what people are telling us."
Gabriel stared at the highway.
"What do we know?"
"There's evidence your father's death records are unreliable."
Gabriel nodded.
"We know Olivia was confined."
"Yes."
"We know your mother knew about Isabelle."
"Yes."
Daniel glanced at him.
"But we don't know whether your father is alive."
Gabriel rubbed his face.
"And we don't know who's controlling whom."
"Exactly."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
The last twenty-four hours had torn apart almost every certainty in his life.
He needed one truth he could hold onto.
He took out his phone and opened a photograph Marta had sent earlier.
Izzy was sitting at the breakfast table.
She had drawn a smiling face on a pancake with blueberries.
The caption read:
Daddy, I saved you the biggest one.
Gabriel smiled despite everything.
His daughter.
Whatever else happened, that was real.
He called Marta.
"How is she?"
"She's wonderful, sir."
Gabriel heard Izzy laughing in the background.
"What's she doing?"
"Teaching the security chief how to draw unicorns."
Gabriel chuckled.
"How's he doing?"
"Terribly."
Izzy's voice suddenly rang through the phone.
"Daddy!"
Gabriel's chest tightened.
"Hi, sweetheart."
"Are you coming home?"
"Yes."
"Did you find Mommy's blue door?"
"I did."
"Did it help?"
Gabriel looked at the envelope in his lap.
"Very much."
She went quiet.
Then she whispered, "Did you find the bad man?"
Gabriel's smile faded.
"Not yet."
"Okay."
She sounded thoughtful.
"Mommy says sometimes bad people look nice."
Gabriel swallowed.
"She's right."
"And nice people sometimes look scary."
"That's right too."
Izzy lowered her voice.
"So you have to watch what people do."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Olivia used to say the same thing.
Almost word for word.
He wondered how many small lessons their daughter had absorbed during the years he missed.
"I love you, Izzy."
Silence.
Gabriel's heart sank.
Perhaps he'd said it too soon.
Perhaps she wasn't ready.
Then she whispered, "Can you say it again?"
His eyes burned.
"I love you."
Another pause.
"Again?"
Gabriel laughed softly.
"I love you, sweetheart."
Izzy giggled.
"Okay."
He heard the phone shift.
Then her voice returned, smaller now.
"I love you too, Daddy."
Gabriel covered his mouth.
Daniel pretended not to notice the tears.
When they reached the estate, a black SUV was parked near the entrance.
Two unfamiliar men stood beside it.
Daniel slowed the car.
"Expecting anyone?"
"No."
Gabriel called his new security director, Marcus Bell.
Marcus had served in federal law enforcement before joining Whitmore Development.
He answered on the first ring.
"Mr. Whitmore."
"Who are the men at the gate?"
"They're investigators."
"From where?"
"State police."
Gabriel exhaled.
"All right."
Then Marcus added, "There's also a woman here who says she knows you."
Gabriel straightened.
"Who?"
"Elena Alvarez."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"Let her in."
Twenty minutes later, he entered the library.
A woman stood beside the fireplace.
She was in her mid-thirties, with short black hair and a long scar along her jaw.
Her face was thinner than Gabriel remembered.
But he recognized her eyes.
"Elena?"
She turned.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Elena covered her mouth.
"Oh, Gabriel."
He crossed the room.
She embraced him fiercely.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Gabriel stepped back.
"For what?"
"For waiting."
Her eyes filled.
"I should have come sooner."
He guided her toward a chair.
Marta entered from the side doorway.
When she saw her niece, she stopped.
The tray in her hands began trembling.
"Elena?"
Elena stood.
"Aunt Marta."
The older woman dropped the tray.
The sound of breaking porcelain echoed through the library.
Then she ran forward and embraced her niece.
Gabriel turned away.
Some reunions were too private to watch.
For several minutes, the women held each other and cried.
Finally, Elena sat down.
Daniel took a seat nearby.
Gabriel leaned forward.
"Tell me what happened."
Elena took a breath.
"I worked at Willow Creek for three years."
She looked toward Marta.
"Your mother hired me."
Gabriel frowned.
"To care for my father?"
"Yes."
"Was he alive?"
Elena nodded.
"After the funeral, yes."
Gabriel felt his heart race.
"How long?"
"At least two more years."
Gabriel stared.
"Where was he?"
"Willow Creek."
"Why?"
Elena looked at her hands.
"He'd suffered a stroke."
Gabriel leaned back.
"The doctors told me he'd died of heart failure."
"That wasn't true."
She swallowed.
"Your mother moved him because he discovered the financial transfers."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"Did he understand what was happening?"
"Sometimes."
Elena's voice broke.
"At first, he couldn't speak clearly."
She looked up.
"But he knew your name."
Gabriel's eyes filled.
"He asked for me?"
"Every day."
Gabriel covered his face.
Elena continued.
"I tried to contact you."
"What happened?"
"Your mother found out."
She touched the scar on her jaw.
"After that, someone attacked me outside the facility."
Marta began crying again.
Elena reached for her hand.
"I escaped."
Gabriel looked at the scar.
"Where did you go?"
"At first, Pennsylvania."
"Why didn't you contact the police?"
"I did."
She shook her head.
"But someone kept finding me."
Daniel leaned forward.
"Do you have records?"
Elena nodded.
"Letters, photographs, audio recordings."
She opened her bag.
"I kept copies."
Gabriel stared at the thick folder.
Elena placed it on the table.
"There's something else."
He looked up.
"Your father wasn't running anything."
Gabriel felt his shoulders loosen.
"Marta said—"
"I know."
Elena interrupted gently.
"Someone wanted her to believe he was."
"Who?"
Elena took out a photograph.
It showed a man standing outside a medical facility.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Wearing an expensive gray suit.
Gabriel recognized him from old company photographs.
Nathaniel Cross.
Elena pointed to his hand.
A gold wedding band shone on his finger.
"Your father's ring."
Gabriel whispered.
"Why?"
Elena looked at him.
"Because Nathaniel wanted people to believe he was acting on Thomas's authority."
Daniel frowned.
"Where is Nathaniel now?"
Elena shook her head.
"I don't know."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"What happened to my father?"
Elena's eyes filled.
"Three years ago, they transferred him."
"Where?"
"I tried to follow the ambulance."
Her voice cracked.
"But I lost it."
Gabriel stared at her.
"Is he alive now?"
Elena hesitated.
"I don't know."
Then she opened the final envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Thomas Whitmore sitting beside a window.
He looked older.
His hair was almost white.
But he was smiling.
A newspaper lay on his lap.
Gabriel picked it up.
The newspaper's date was visible.
March 12.
The year before.
Gabriel's breath caught.
"This was taken nineteen months ago?"
Elena nodded.
Gabriel looked at his father's face.
For nine years, he'd mourned him.
Now he was staring at proof that Thomas had survived at least until the previous year.
"Where did you get this?"
Elena lowered her voice.
"An employee at the facility sent it to me."
"What facility?"
She met his eyes.
"A private residence outside Newport."
Gabriel stood.
"Then we're going."
Elena caught his wrist.
"Gabriel, wait."
He turned.
"There's something you should see first."
She took out her phone.
A video played.
Thomas Whitmore sat in a wheelchair beside a hospital window.
His voice was weak but clear.
"Gabriel."
He paused.
"If you ever see this, please forgive me for not being there."
Gabriel's eyes filled.
His father leaned closer.
"I know what Helena has done."
He struggled to breathe.
"But there's something she doesn't know."
The recording crackled.
Thomas lowered his voice.
"Before they took me away, I changed my will."
Gabriel frowned.
His father's next words stunned everyone in the room.
"Everything I own belongs to my first grandchild."
A long silence followed.
May you like
Then Thomas added:
"And Helena has spent nine years trying to make sure that child never inherits a penny."
