Chapter 7 - Maya’s Terrible Choice
Police searched for Vanessa through the night.
Nothing.
Gabriel did not sleep.
Neither did Maya.
At four in the morning, she found him in the rehabilitation room trying to walk without assistance.
“Gabriel.”
He took another step.
His knee buckled.
Maya caught him.
“Stop.”
“I need to get stronger.”
“You need to stay alive.”
He pushed away.
“Vanessa may be dead because I waited six months.”
“That isn’t your fault.”
“I trusted them.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
He looked at her.
“You knew.”
Maya flinched.
There it was.
The accusation neither had wanted to face.
“You knew the crash wasn’t an accident.”
“Yes.”
“And you let me believe it was.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No, Maya.”
His voice rose.
“I woke up unable to move my legs. Half my memory was gone. The woman I loved slowly disappeared from my life. My company began slipping away. And every day you stood beside me knowing there was an explanation.”
Tears appeared in Maya’s eyes.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then explain it.”
She stepped backward.
“I received a photograph.”
“When?”
“Three days after you woke up.”
Maya retrieved her phone.
An archived image.
Gabriel opened it.
Maya’s younger brother, Daniel, leaving his university.
Across the image:
TELL GABRIEL ANYTHING AND YOUR BROTHER DIES.
Gabriel looked up.
“You should have told me.”
“You could barely sit upright.”
“You should have told Eleanor.”
“I did.”
He turned toward his aunt.
Eleanor stood in the doorway.
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“How many secrets are there?”
Eleanor looked devastated.
“I was trying to keep everyone alive.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“And how is that working?”
He regretted it instantly.
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
Maya took her phone.
“I made the choice.”
Gabriel turned back.
“Not Eleanor.”
“Maya—”
“I chose Daniel.”
Her voice shook.
“I chose my brother over telling you the truth.”
Gabriel stared.
“I hated myself for it every day.”
She wiped a tear.
“But if you’re asking whether I would protect him again…”
She looked directly at Gabriel.
“I would.”
Gabriel’s anger stopped.
Because he understood.
He would have done the same.
Maya walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“You live here.”
“Not anymore.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I never fired you.”
“You don’t trust me.”
He could not answer quickly enough.
Maya smiled sadly.
“That’s what I thought.”
She left.
Gabriel stood alone.
An hour later, his security chief rushed in.
“Maya’s gone.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He held up a phone.
“I mean gone.”
Security footage showed Maya leaving the estate.
Then entering a taxi.
Seven minutes later, another vehicle followed.
Black SUV.
Gabriel felt his blood turn cold.
“Find her.”
They traced Maya’s phone.
Signal disappeared near an industrial district.
Then Gabriel received a message.
A photograph.
Maya tied to a chair.
Bruised but conscious.
Beneath it:
BRING THE HARBOR POINT FILES.
COME ALONE.
Gabriel stared at Maya’s face.
His security chief said, “We call police.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Yes.”
The man seemed surprised.
“You’re not going alone?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“No.”
He picked up his cane.
“I’m going with everyone.”
Then another message arrived.
This one contained live video.
A masked man stood behind Maya.
He held a gun.
“Gabriel,” Maya said urgently, “don’t come.”
The man struck her.
Gabriel’s expression changed.
The masked man leaned toward the camera.
“One hour.”
Video ended.
Gabriel turned toward his security team.
“Find that building.”
“How?”
Gabriel replayed the clip.
He ignored Maya.
Ignored the gunman.
Looked at the background.
A train horn.
A painted number.
Warehouse 14.
He knew it.
Harbor Point.
The very development at the center of everything.
Gabriel smiled without humor.
“They took her to my own property.”
May you like
And forty-three minutes later, Gabriel entered Warehouse 14 carrying the files they wanted.
What his kidnappers did not know was that every page was fake.
