Chapter 8 - BIANCA’S MOTHER
Cole raised his weapon.
Celeste aimed first.
“Put it down, Detective.”
Cole did not move.
Celeste smiled without warmth.
“I know about your brother.”
“I know about the false statement.”
“I know which evidence you removed from Alexander’s death scene.”
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“You are not leaving with that gun.”
“I did not come to fight you.”
“You entered through a locked house.”
“Because Gabriel is less than ten minutes behind me.”
Martha looked toward the staircase.
“How did he find us?”
Celeste lifted Bianca’s pendant.
“There is a tracker inside.”
Julian remembered Bianca touching it in the red room.
The pendant he had given her in Paris.
He had believed it symbolized love.
It had been turned into a tracking device.
“Why do you have it?” he asked.
Celeste looked at him.
“Bianca gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Before Gabriel took her.”
Julian stared at her.
“You expect me to believe Bianca is suddenly his prisoner?”
“She became inconvenient.”
“Why?”
“Because she failed to kill you.”
Martha flinched.
Celeste continued.
“Gabriel gave her one task.”
“Secure your trust.”
“Marry you.”
“Gain control of the company.”
“If necessary, make you medically dependent.”
“Killing Martha was never part of the order.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“Bianca acted alone at the pool?”
“She panicked,” Celeste said.
“Martha had discovered too much.”
“Bianca believed Gabriel would kill her if the plan failed.”
“So she tried to remove the problem.”
Julian’s voice became cold.
“She watched my mother drown.”
“Yes.”
Celeste did not soften the truth.
“She has done terrible things.”
“But Gabriel created the circumstances that shaped her.”
“That does not excuse her.”
“No.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
“But it explains why she still believes survival and obedience are the same thing.”
Cole moved slightly to the left.
Celeste noticed.
“Stop.”
He stopped.
Julian looked at the gun in her hand.
“You said you need Alexander’s letter.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it contains a code.”
“What code?”
“The location of the second ledger.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Alexander never wrote the location in that letter.”
Celeste looked at her.
“Not directly.”
“He used Julian’s childhood memories.”
Julian thought of the man with the silver ring.
The red bicycle.
The wooden boat.
“The boat,” he said.
Celeste’s eyes shifted toward him.
“What about it?”
“Gabriel gave me a wooden boat when I was five.”
Celeste said nothing.
Julian understood.
“That is connected to the second ledger.”
Martha grabbed his arm.
“Do not tell her anything.”
Celeste’s expression hardened.
“Gabriel already knows most of it.”
“He remembers the toy.”
“He does not remember where Alexander hid it after Julian was recovered.”
Julian looked at the letter.
Alexander had known memories could become a map.
The second ledger was hidden inside something connected to the kidnapping.
“Why should I help Bianca?” Julian asked.
Celeste lowered the gun slightly.
“Because Gabriel will not simply kill her.”
“He will use Bennett’s medication.”
“He will record her confession.”
“He will make her admit to poisoning Martha, attempting to kill you, forging documents, and murdering Alexander.”
“Then he will release the recording.”
Julian stared at her.
“Bianca did not kill Alexander.”
“No.”
“But she will say she did.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel knows exactly how to make people say what he wants.”
Martha began shaking.
She knew.
Perhaps she had seen it before.
Julian looked toward Celeste.
“You worked for Gabriel.”
Celeste’s face revealed nothing.
“You appear in the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“You were part of the network.”
“Yes.”
“Did you help kidnap me?”
Silence.
Martha looked at Celeste with sudden hatred.
“You did.”
Celeste’s grip tightened around the gun.
“I drove the car.”
Julian felt anger rise through him.
“You took a five-year-old child.”
“I was twenty-three.”
“I was terrified of Gabriel.”
“So was everyone.”
“You still did it.”
Celeste looked at him directly.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No performance.
Only guilt.
Julian almost hated her more for accepting it calmly.
“What happened during those two days?”
Celeste’s eyes moved toward Martha.
“Gabriel tried to make Julian remember him.”
“Remember what?”
“He believed blood created loyalty.”
“He showed Julian photographs.”
“He told him Alexander had stolen him.”
“He told him Martha was weak.”
“He promised Julian a ship.”
“A country.”
“An empire.”
Julian closed his eyes.
A memory surfaced.
A dark room.
A map on the wall.
A man pressing Julian’s small hand onto a red line crossing the ocean.
“This will all be yours.”
Julian opened his eyes.
His heart pounded.
“He made me touch a map.”
Celeste nodded.
“Then Alexander’s men found the house.”
“Gabriel escaped.”
“I stayed behind with Julian.”
“Why?”
“I could not leave him.”
Martha stared at her.
“You saved him?”
Celeste’s face twisted with pain.
“I helped take him.”
“I only stopped making it worse.”
The distinction mattered to her.
Julian was not sure it mattered to him.
Cole’s phone vibrated.
Everyone froze.
He checked the screen.
“No signal.”
Celeste looked up toward the kitchen.
“That was not your phone.”
A faint vibration sounded again.
Inside the wall.
Evelyn turned toward the filing cabinets.
“A transmitter.”
Celeste ran down the stairs.
She pulled one cabinet away from the wall.
A small device blinked behind it.
Gabriel had already found the room.
Cole aimed toward the stairwell.
“How long?”
Celeste checked the light.
“Minutes.”
“We leave through the emergency tunnel.”
Evelyn hesitated.
Celeste looked at her.
“You built one.”
“I know Alexander.”
Evelyn moved to the far wall.
She removed a section of map.
A steel handle appeared beneath it.
Cole opened the hidden door.
A narrow tunnel stretched into darkness.
Julian held the letter.
Celeste reached for it.
He pulled it back.
“You get Bianca after we reach safety.”
“She may not have that much time.”
“She tried to kill my mother.”
“And yet you chased her into the caretaker’s house.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“That was for answers.”
Celeste looked at him with Bianca’s eyes.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
Martha stepped between them.
“We move now.”
They entered the tunnel.
Cole went first.
Evelyn followed.
Then Martha.
Julian entered behind her.
Celeste came last.
The tunnel smelled of damp soil and rust.
Emergency lights flickered along the floor.
They had gone less than fifty yards when an explosion shook the ground.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The farmhouse above them had been hit.
Martha stumbled.
Julian caught her.
A second explosion followed.
The lights went out.
Cole switched on a flashlight.
“Move faster.”
They continued.
The tunnel divided into two paths.
Evelyn pointed left.
“That exits near the reservoir.”
Celeste shook her head.
“Gabriel will expect that.”
“Right leads nowhere.”
“It leads to an old pumping station.”
Evelyn stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“I studied this property before Alexander died.”
Evelyn’s face went pale.
“You were watching us then.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at Celeste.
“Were you involved in his murder?”
“No.”
“Did you know it would happen?”
Celeste hesitated.
That was answer enough.
Martha stopped walking.
“You knew.”
“I knew Vincent had received an order.”
“From Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I warned Alexander.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“How?”
“I left a message.”
“The red rose.”
Julian stared at her.
The night Alexander died, a red rose had been found on the desk.
Martha had always believed it came from the garden.
“It was a warning?” Julian asked.
“In our network, a red rose meant betrayal from inside.”
Martha began crying.
“Alexander saw it.”
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he drink the whiskey?”
Celeste looked down.
“Because he believed he could force Vincent to confess.”
“He underestimated how quickly the poison would act.”
Julian thought of the video.
Alexander coughing blood.
Still trying to leave proof.
Still protecting Julian.
Cole pointed right.
“We take the pumping station.”
They moved through the darker passage.
The tunnel narrowed.
Water dripped from the ceiling.
After several minutes, they reached a rusted metal door.
Cole pushed it open.
They entered an abandoned pumping chamber near the reservoir.
Moonlight filtered through broken roof panels.
Old machinery filled the space.
A narrow road ran behind the building.
No vehicles were visible.
Celeste checked Bianca’s pendant.
The tracker light still blinked.
She removed the back plate.
Inside was a tiny memory chip.
She handed it to Julian.
“What is this?”
“Bianca recorded Gabriel.”
“When?”
“After the chapel.”
“She knew he might turn against her.”
Julian looked at the chip.
“What is on it?”
“Coordinates.”
“Names.”
“Part of the plan.”
“Why give it to you?”
“Because I am the only person she still trusts.”
Julian almost laughed.
“That family has a strange definition of trust.”
Celeste ignored him.
“We need a computer.”
Evelyn pointed toward an office above the chamber.
“There may be an old terminal.”
Cole and Julian climbed the metal staircase.
Inside the office sat a dusty computer.
Cole connected the memory chip through an adapter from his pocket.
The screen flickered.
An audio file appeared.
Julian pressed play.
Bianca’s voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this, Gabriel decided I failed.”
“I know what I did to Martha.”
“I know there is no excuse.”
“But the pool was not the original plan.”
“Gabriel wanted Martha alive until the wedding.”
“He needed her declared incompetent.”
“He needed Julian isolated.”
“He needed the board to believe Julian was emotionally unstable.”
The recording crackled.
Bianca continued.
“Bennett has been preparing medical evidence against Julian for eleven months.”
“He placed a doctor inside St. Catherine’s.”
“He altered records from Julian’s surgery.”
“He created a history of heart problems and paranoid episodes.”
Julian looked at Cole.
There was no such history.
Bianca’s voice continued.
“If Julian refuses to sign, Gabriel will stage an episode at the annual board meeting.”
“He will use a chemical that causes temporary confusion and aggression.”
“Security will restrain Julian.”
“The board will vote to suspend him.”
“The trust will take control before midnight.”
Julian checked the date on the file.
The annual board meeting was in two days.
“Two days,” he whispered.
Bianca continued.
“The money is not the final goal.”
“Gabriel is preparing twelve cargo ships.”
“They will leave within forty-eight hours after the vote.”
“The containers are listed as medical equipment.”
“They are not medical equipment.”
Cole leaned closer.
“What is inside?”
The recording paused.
Then Bianca answered.
“Weapons.”
“Enough to arm a private army.”
Martha covered her mouth.
Julian felt sick.
Bianca continued.
“The ships are registered through companies controlled by judges, ministers, and military officers.”
“The second ledger proves everything.”
“Gabriel believes Alexander hid it inside Julian’s childhood boat.”
“He is taking me to the old Rossi shipyard.”
“The boat may still be there.”
The file ended.
Celeste looked at Julian.
“The shipyard closed twenty years ago.”
Martha shook her head.
“Alexander never destroyed it.”
Julian remembered visiting once as a child.
Huge warehouses.
Rusting cranes.
A dry dock beside the river.
The wooden toy boat might have been stored there after his rescue.
Cole removed the memory chip.
“We alert federal authorities.”
Julian looked at him.
“Can we trust them?”
Cole hesitated.
The ledgers contained officials and law-enforcement officers.
Gabriel’s reach was unknown.
“One person,” Evelyn said.
They turned toward her.
“Deputy Director Naomi Price.”
“She worked with Alexander.”
“She helped dismantle the original network.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Can you reach her?”
Evelyn looked at Celeste.
Celeste removed a small satellite phone from inside her coat.
Cole stared at it.
“You had that the entire time?”
“I was waiting to know whether you were compromised.”
Cole held out his hand.
“You still do not know.”
Celeste gave him the phone anyway.
Evelyn dialed a number from memory.
A woman answered.
Evelyn spoke one sentence.
“The silver wolf has returned.”
The line became silent.
Then the woman asked.
“Who is this?”
“Evelyn Hart.”
Another pause.
“Alexander’s ledger still exists.”
The woman’s voice changed.
“Where are you?”
“We cannot say.”
“Gabriel controls people inside local law enforcement.”
“I know.”
Everyone looked at the phone.
Naomi Price already knew.
“How much time?” Evelyn asked.
“Less than thirty-six hours.”
“Several agencies have been compromised.”
“Do not contact police.”
Cole looked offended.
Then remembered the missing patrol vehicle.
Naomi continued.
“Gabriel is moving the ships early.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Why?”
Naomi heard his voice.
“Julian?”
“Yes.”
“You need to disappear.”
“My company is being used to move weapons.”
“You cannot stop this from the outside.”
“You cannot stop it alive if Gabriel reaches you first.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“He already reached me.”
A noise echoed outside the pumping station.
An engine.
Then another.
Celeste moved toward the broken window.
Three vehicles approached without lights.
“They found us.”
Cole looked at the satellite phone.
“Price, we need extraction.”
Naomi answered.
“I have no team close enough.”
“You are on your own for at least one hour.”
Julian looked toward the reservoir.
A small maintenance boat floated beside the shore.
“We take the water.”
Martha stared at him.
“To where?”
Julian held up the memory chip.
“The old shipyard.”
Celeste shook her head.
“That is where Gabriel is taking Bianca.”
“Exactly.”
“You will walk into his strongest position.”
Julian looked at her.
“He believes I am still reacting.”
“He believes I will chase answers.”
“He believes anger makes me predictable.”
Julian folded Alexander’s letter and placed it inside his coat.
“So I will give him exactly what he expects.”
Cole studied his face.
“What are you planning?”
Julian looked toward the approaching vehicles.
“I am going to join my father.”
Martha grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“Gabriel wants me alive.”
“He wants me beside him.”
“He wants Alexander’s son to validate everything he built.”
Julian looked at her.
“Then I will let him believe he has won.”
A bullet struck the pumping-station wall.
The first vehicle stopped outside.
Armed men exited.
Cole fired through the broken window.
“Move!”
They ran down the stairs.
Julian helped Martha toward the maintenance boat.
Evelyn untied the rope.
Celeste started the engine.
Gunfire struck the water around them.
Cole returned fire from the dock.
“Get in!” Julian shouted.
Cole jumped aboard.
The boat pulled away.
Bullets ripped through the side panel.
Water sprayed into the hull.
The engine screamed.
They entered the dark reservoir.
Behind them, headlights spread across the shore.
Gabriel’s men launched another boat.
Celeste looked over her shoulder.
“They are faster.”
Julian searched the boat.
A red emergency fuel can sat beneath the seat.
He grabbed it.
Cole understood immediately.
“That could kill us too.”
“Only if you miss.”
Julian opened the can.
He poured fuel across a floating maintenance barrier.
Then pushed it into the wake behind them.
Cole fired once.
The fuel ignited.
Flames spread across the water.
The pursuing boat turned sharply.
It struck the barrier.
The engine exploded.
Fire rose into the night.
Martha covered her ears.
The maintenance boat continued toward the opposite shore.
For several minutes, no one spoke.
Then Celeste’s satellite phone rang.
She answered.
Bianca was crying.
“Mother?”
Celeste gripped the phone.
“Bianca, where are you?”
A man’s voice replaced hers.
Gabriel.
“Julian.”
Celeste handed him the phone.
Julian listened.
“You have something I want,” Gabriel said.
“And you have Bianca.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You sound concerned.”
“I am concerned about what she knows.”
Bianca cried out in the background.
Gabriel continued.
“Come to the shipyard before sunrise.”
“Bring Alexander’s letter.”
“Bring the hard drive.”
“And bring Martha.”
Julian looked at his mother.
“No.”
“Then Bianca confesses to every crime.”
“After that, Bennett gives her the same death your father received.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“You have spent your life wondering why you never felt like Alexander.”
“Come meet me.”
“You will understand yourself for the first time.”
The call ended.
Martha shook her head.
“You cannot go.”
Julian stared toward the distant industrial lights beyond the reservoir.
The old Rossi shipyard waited beyond them.
Somewhere inside, Bianca was trapped.
The wooden boat might contain the ledger.
And twelve ships were preparing to carry weapons across the world.
Julian looked at Cole.
“We reach the shipyard before sunrise.”
Cole nodded.
“And then?”
May you like
Julian’s face became cold.
“Then I convince Gabriel I hate Alexander as much as he does.”
