Chapter 5 - AUNT EVELYN’S SECRET
Vincent felt the room change.
No shouting.
No sudden movement.
Just a collective realization.
Evelyn Hale had made a mistake.
A fatal one.
Marcus stepped in front of Sophie.
Vincent stared at his aunt.
“What did you just say?”
Evelyn remained seated.
Her hands rested calmly beside her untouched coffee.
“I said she must be mistaken.”
“No.”
“You said she was supposed to be asleep.”
Evelyn looked around the room.
Then back at Vincent.
“Because whoever kidnapped her would presumably have expected that.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“You spent thirty years teaching me never to explain a sentence that doesn’t need explaining.”
“Now you’re explaining.”
Evelyn sighed.
“Vincent.”
“Don’t.”
For the first time, anger entered his voice.
“My brother may be alive beneath this building.”
“Daniel Carter died while investigating something connected to him.”
“Sophie and her mother were abducted.”
“And you just told me Sophie was supposed to be asleep.”
Evelyn stood slowly.
She was not afraid.
That frightened Vincent more than panic would have.
“I loved Gabriel.”
“Then help me find him.”
“I loved you too.”
The past tense landed heavily.
Marcus moved one hand toward his weapon.
Evelyn noticed.
“Your security man should relax.”
Marcus answered.
“I’m very relaxed.”
“Then why is your hand near your gun?”
“Experience.”
Vincent stepped closer to Evelyn.
“Where is Gabriel?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who built Room Nine?”
“My brother.”
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
Vincent stared.
Their father, Charles Hale, had died six years earlier.
Charles had been ruthless.
Controlling.
Brilliant.
But Vincent had never imagined Bellgrave’s underground rooms had been his.
Evelyn continued.
“Your father and Lydia’s father built the private archive.”
“They believed information was safer than money.”
Lydia looked sick.
“You knew?”
“My father told me shortly before he died.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Your father told you what he wanted you to know.”
“And you?”
“He told me what he feared.”
Vincent said, “Which was?”
“Gabriel.”
The name again.
“Gabriel discovered the archive.”
Vincent’s stomach tightened.
“When?”
“Two months before his plane crashed.”
Victor had been Gabriel’s last known visitor before the flight.
Daniel had traced payments after the crash.
Everything was narrowing.
Evelyn looked toward the dark windows.
“Gabriel planned to expose everything.”
“Bellgrave.”
“The hidden recordings.”
“Your father.”
“Half the board.”
“Men who could destroy Hale Meridian with one phone call.”
Vincent said, “So Dad stopped him.”
Evelyn gave him a sad smile.
“Your father tried.”
The lights flickered.
Marcus looked upward.
Evelyn’s expression changed.
Barely.
But Vincent caught it.
She had expected something.
“What happens now?”
he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You keep looking at the ceiling.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Vincent turned.
“Marcus!”
Marcus grabbed Sophie and pulled her backward.
A second later, the sprinkler system exploded.
But it was not water.
Thick white smoke poured from ceiling vents.
Guests screamed.
Chairs overturned.
Visibility disappeared in seconds.
“STAY DOWN!”
Marcus shouted.
Vincent covered Sophie with his jacket.
He heard running.
Then glass breaking.
A woman screamed.
The dining room became chaos.
Vincent felt someone strike his shoulder.
He grabbed an arm.
The person twisted free.
A sharp chemical smell entered the air.
Not smoke.
Sedative gas.
“Cover your mouths!”
Vincent pulled Sophie toward the floor.
Marcus fired one shot at a ceiling vent.
Nothing changed.
Sophie coughed.
Vincent dragged her toward the service corridor.
A hand grabbed Sophie’s ankle.
She screamed.
Vincent turned and kicked blindly.
Someone grunted.
Marcus appeared through the smoke.
“I have her.”
“No.”
Vincent tightened his hold.
“I’m not letting her out of my hands.”
They reached the corridor.
The air was clearer.
Marcus slammed the door behind them.
Lydia stumbled through next.
Then Celia Grant.
Then two other guests.
Evelyn did not appear.
Neither did several others.
Vincent looked back through the glass.
Shapes moved inside the smoke.
“Where’s Evelyn?”
Marcus shook his head.
“No visual.”
A crash sounded behind them.
The hidden passage door opened.
The man with the black ring stepped out.
Darren Cole.
He wore a respirator.
A weapon in his hand.
Marcus aimed.
“DROP IT!”
Darren fired first.
The bullet struck the wall inches from Marcus.
Marcus returned fire.
Darren vanished behind the hidden panel.
Vincent pulled Sophie down.
Lydia screamed.
Marcus rushed the passage.
“Stay here.”
Vincent grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“He wants you to follow him.”
“That’s the only route to Gabriel.”
“And the only route your people control.”
Marcus looked toward the dining room.
The smoke was thinning.
Guests lay unconscious across the carpet.
A few moved weakly.
Evelyn was gone.
So was Celia Grant’s husband’s attorney.
So was Harold.
So was Victor.
Vincent’s phone vibrated again.
Another live video.
This one did not show Gabriel.
It showed Hannah Carter.
Sophie’s mother.
She was tied to a chair inside an elegant room.
Conscious.
Terrified.
Sophie screamed.
“Mom!”
Hannah looked directly into the camera.
Then a gloved hand placed Daniel Carter’s broken watch on the table in front of her.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You have the card.”
“We have the watch.”
“Now bring Sophie to the archive.”
Vincent’s face became still.
The voice continued.
“Come alone.”
Sophie looked up at him.
Vincent said nothing.
The camera moved slightly.
And for one second, a mirror behind Hannah reflected the person holding it.
Not Evelyn.
Not Victor.
Not Darren.
Vincent stared at the screen.
He knew that face.
Everyone in the business world knew that face.
Harold Pierce.
May you like
The Hale family attorney.
The man who had written Gabriel’s death certificate paperwork fourteen years earlier.
