Chapter 14 - The Night They Came for Maya
Eleanor did not deny it.
“Yes.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“You have the original ledger?”
“I did.”
“Did?”
“I gave it to your mother.”
“Where is it now?”
“She hid it.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Another secret.”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“I watched your father die. Then your mother spent years terrified Richard would come for you. Forgive me if secrecy became a habit.”
Gabriel’s anger softened.
“Why didn’t you tell me after the crash?”
“Because I couldn’t find it.”
“Richard thinks you know where it is.”
“He’s wrong.”
Maya entered carrying tea.
Eleanor looked at her.
Then suddenly froze.
“The recipe box.”
“What?” Gabriel asked.
“Your mother’s kitchen.”
Gabriel frowned.
“She hated cooking.”
“Exactly.”
They rushed to the old family kitchen.
A wooden recipe box sat untouched above a cabinet.
Inside were recipe cards.
None written by Gabriel’s mother.
Except one.
Gabriel pulled it out.
Ingredients:
1 truth.
2 witnesses.
317 reasons never to trust Richard Vale.
At the bottom:
Look beneath where Gabriel learned to stand.
Gabriel and Maya stared at each other.
The rehabilitation room.
They searched the floor.
Under the parallel bars, one wooden panel sounded hollow.
Inside:
The original ledger.
Maya laughed through tears.
“We found it.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“We did.”
That evening, investigators took possession.
The case against Richard became overwhelming.
Fraud.
Conspiracy.
Attempted murder.
Obstruction.
Kidnapping connections.
Old evidence relating to two deaths.
For the first time, Gabriel believed it was ending.
He was wrong.
At midnight, power to the mansion failed.
Backup generators did not activate.
Gabriel woke.
“Maya?”
No answer.
He grabbed his cane.
A scream came from downstairs.
Gabriel moved faster than his doctors would have approved.
He found Maya fighting a masked intruder.
Gabriel struck the man with his cane.
Security arrived.
The intruder escaped through a window.
Maya was unharmed.
But the message was clear.
Richard was in custody.
Adrian was hospitalized under guard.
So who was still working for them?
Police identified the intruder from blood left on broken glass.
A former Bennett security officer.
He confessed.
Richard had created contingency instructions months earlier.
If arrested, certain people were to destroy evidence and eliminate witnesses.
Maya remained a target.
Gabriel doubled security.
Maya protested.
“I’m not living like a prisoner.”
“You’re not.”
“There are six guards outside my room.”
“Seven.”
She stared.
“That isn’t helping.”
Gabriel smiled.
She tried not to.
Failed.
Then he became serious.
“I almost lost you.”
Maya’s expression softened.
“You didn’t.”
“I did once.”
“The crash?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I didn’t know you then.”
“No.”
“But somehow losing you now feels worse.”
Maya stopped breathing.
Gabriel touched her cheek.
He gave her time to move away.
She did not.
Their first kiss was gentle.
Brief.
Almost uncertain.
When they separated, Maya whispered, “This is a terrible time.”
Gabriel smiled.
“I’ve had a terrible six months.”
She laughed softly.
Then kissed him again.
Neither noticed Eleanor standing at the far end of the hallway.
She smiled.
For the first time in months, Bennett House contained something other than fear.
Hope.
But the next morning, investigators called.
Richard Vale had escaped during a medical transfer.
May you like
And this time, he was not running away.
He was coming home.
