Chapter 3 - Someone Inside the House Wanted Gabriel Dead
Gabriel did not wake again until morning.
That, according to Dr. Reed, was good news.
His temperature had begun to fall.
Only slightly.
But after three weeks of relentless decline, slightly mattered.
His blood pressure stabilized.
The tissue surrounding his shoulder stopped darkening.
The infection markers remained frighteningly high, but for the first time they were not getting worse.
The black stitches had been killing him.
Sadie had been right.
That should have brought relief.
Instead, she spent the night sitting in a guarded guest room wondering why Gabriel Vale knew her mother's name.
At seven fifteen the next morning, Marcus knocked.
He entered without waiting.
“You slept?”
“No.”
“Good. Neither did I.”
Sadie folded her arms.
“That's comforting.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Almost.
“Gabriel is awake.”
Sadie stood immediately.
“What did he say?”
“That he wants to see you.”
The library was quieter than the night before.
Most emergency equipment remained, but the panic had eased.
Gabriel looked terrible.
Still pale.
Still weak.
But his eyes were clearer.
Sadie stopped beside the bed.
“You know my mother.”
Gabriel looked at Marcus.
“Leave us.”
Marcus frowned.
“Gabriel—”
“Leave.”
Marcus reluctantly walked toward the door.
Sadie looked back at him.
“Actually, he can stay.”
Gabriel raised one eyebrow.
Even exhausted, it was intimidating.
Sadie held her ground.
“I don't know you well enough to be alone in a room with you while you tell me you knew my dead mother.”
For several seconds he stared at her.
Then Gabriel gave the faintest nod.
“Fair.”
Marcus stayed.
Sadie moved closer.
“How did you know Ruth?”
Gabriel looked toward the rain-darkened windows.
“Fourteen years ago, my father owned a marine supply company.”
Sadie's stomach tightened.
“North Atlantic Marine Components?”
Gabriel's gaze returned to her.
“Yes.”
The name landed harder than Sadie expected.
“My mother repaired equipment from that company.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because she wrote to my father.”
Gabriel breathed slowly.
“She discovered several imported products were coated with chemicals not disclosed on the shipping documentation. She believed the material was dangerous.”
Sadie remembered her mother's burned hands.
“What happened?”
“My father ignored her.”
Anger rose through Sadie.
“Of course he did.”
Gabriel did not defend him.
“Ruth kept writing.”
“And?”
“She threatened to contact regulators.”
Sadie's voice tightened.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“The shipment was recalled.”
Sadie stared at him.
“That doesn't explain why you know her.”
Gabriel was silent for a moment.
“Because my father wanted her silenced.”
Marcus shifted near the doorway.
Sadie's heartbeat accelerated.
“What does that mean?”
“He sent men to intimidate her.”
Sadie's hands went cold.
She remembered strangers occasionally visiting the workshop.
Men who never brought fabric.
Men whose conversations with Ruth stopped whenever Sadie entered the room.
“You knew?”
“Not then.”
“When did you find out?”
“Years later.”
“And what did you do?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“I removed my father from the company.”
Sadie gave a bitter laugh.
“That's a convenient phrase.”
“He was my father.”
“You're Gabriel Vale. Don't pretend family has ever stopped you from dealing with people.”
Marcus looked toward the floor.
Gabriel did not react angrily.
Perhaps because she was correct.
“He died two years later.”
“That still doesn't tell me why you remembered her name.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Because Ruth Brooks saved my life once before.”
Sadie stopped breathing.
“What?”
“When I was twenty-two, one of my father's warehouses caught fire.”
Gabriel's gaze drifted into memory.
“Ruth was there delivering repaired safety harnesses. She saw me inside before anyone else did.”
Sadie had heard about that fire.
Her mother came home one night smelling like smoke.
She had burns along one arm.
Ruth never explained them.
“She pulled you out?”
Gabriel nodded.
“She went back into a burning warehouse for a man she barely knew.”
Sadie's throat tightened.
“That sounds like her.”
“I offered her money.”
Sadie almost smiled.
“That also sounds like you.”
“She refused.”
“That definitely sounds like her.”
For the first time, Gabriel smiled faintly.
It vanished quickly.
“Years later, when I learned about what my father had done to her, I tried to find her.”
Sadie's expression hardened.
“You weren't very good at it.”
“I found her.”
Sadie went still.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
A chill moved through her.
Her mother's final year.
“What did you want?”
“To apologize.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She wouldn't see me.”
Sadie looked away.
That sounded like Ruth too.
Gabriel continued.
“Six months ago I learned she had died.”
Sadie's eyes snapped back.
“Six months.”
The exact month Sadie began working at the estate.
Understanding came slowly.
“You hired me.”
Gabriel did not answer immediately.
“You hired me,” she repeated.
“I approved the application.”
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
Sadie's face burned.
“You let me clean your rooms, wash your sheets, serve strangers at your dinners, and never told me you knew my mother?”
“You needed employment.”
“I needed honesty.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“I thought giving you work without forcing my history into your life was the least harmful option.”
“The least harmful?”
Sadie's voice rose.
Marcus moved forward, but Gabriel lifted one hand.
Sadie continued.
“My mother spent years afraid of your family, and you decided the respectful thing was secretly putting her daughter on your payroll?”
Gabriel accepted the accusation.
“Yes.”
“That is insane.”
“Probably.”
Sadie turned away.
She should have left.
Instead she looked back.
“Did my mother ever tell you about the black cord?”
“No.”
“Then why would someone use material connected to your father's company to kill you?”
Gabriel's expression sharpened.
“That is what I intend to find out.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“We already started.”
He placed a folder on the bed.
“Our people traced Daniel Pierce's employment history.”
Gabriel opened it.
“He joined eighteen months ago.”
“Recommended by whom?”
Marcus hesitated.
Gabriel noticed.
“Who?”
“Victor Salerno.”
The room seemed to contract.
Sadie didn't recognize the name.
Gabriel clearly did.
“Who is Victor?” she asked.
Marcus answered.
“Gabriel's uncle.”
Sadie looked between them.
“His mother's brother?”
“His father's.”
Gabriel's expression went blank.
A dangerous kind of blank.
Marcus continued.
“Victor also sat on the board of North Atlantic Marine Components.”
Sadie felt the pieces shifting.
“What happened to the company?”
“Dissolved twelve years ago,” Marcus said.
“Assets sold. Records scattered.”
Gabriel closed the folder.
“Victor blamed me when my father lost control.”
“For what?”
“For everything.”
Marcus gave a humorless smile.
“Victor has spent most of his life believing Gabriel stole the family empire.”
Gabriel corrected him.
“I did steal it.”
Sadie stared.
“At least you're consistent.”
Gabriel almost smiled again.
Marcus placed another photograph on the bed.
“There's more.”
It showed an older man leaving a hotel.
Gray hair.
Expensive coat.
Narrow face.
“Victor?”
Marcus nodded.
“Taken yesterday.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“He's in New Jersey.”
“Apparently.”
“Where?”
“We lost the vehicle near Newark.”
Gabriel tried to sit up.
Pain stopped him.
Sadie instinctively moved forward.
“Don't.”
He shot her an annoyed look.
“You almost died twelve hours ago.”
“I've had worse mornings.”
“No, you haven't.”
Marcus actually smiled this time.
Gabriel settled back with visible reluctance.
Then Dr. Reed entered carrying laboratory results.
His expression was serious.
“We identified the coating.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What is it?” Sadie asked.
“A combination of industrial biocide compounds and a heavy-metal salt. Not something that would normally be used in medical material.”
Marcus folded his arms.
“Enough to kill him?”
“Inserted directly into tissue? Over time, absolutely. It caused localized necrosis, weakened immune response, and created an ideal environment for infection.”
Sadie felt sick.
“Someone designed this.”
Reed nodded.
“This was not an accident.”
Gabriel stared at the ceiling.
“Victor.”
Marcus was less certain.
“Maybe.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“What aren't you saying?”
Marcus's jaw tightened.
“We found the original hospital security records from the night you were shot.”
“And?”
“The surgeon calling himself Elliot Voss entered through a private medical access corridor.”
“Who authorized him?”
Marcus didn't answer.
Gabriel's voice dropped.
“Who?”
Marcus placed a tablet on the bed.
Security footage appeared.
A man in surgical clothing crossed a corridor.
His face was hidden behind a mask.
Beside him walked another person.
A familiar person.
Sadie recognized him instantly.
The handsome young doctor currently sleeping upstairs after helping Dr. Reed save Gabriel through the night.
Dr. Adrian Cole.
Gabriel stared at the image.
Marcus said quietly, “Cole escorted the fake surgeon into the operating wing.”
Footsteps sounded outside.
Everyone turned.
The library door opened.
Dr. Adrian Cole entered holding two coffees.
He stopped when he saw their faces.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered.
His eyes moved toward the tablet.
The color drained from his face.
Then he whispered three words.
May you like
“I can explain.”
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