Chapter 4 - FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE MIDNIGHT
Norah did not reach for her gun.
Peter Vale expected that.
His attention was fixed on her right hand and the pocket where he believed she carried a weapon.
So she threw the glass vial instead.
It struck the wall beside his face and shattered.
Vale turned instinctively.
Norah drove the heel of her shoe into his knee.
He cursed and lunged.
She moved toward the door, but pain tore through her wounded thigh. Her leg buckled.
Vale grabbed the back of her uniform and threw her against the fireplace.
The impact drove the air from her lungs.
“You should have died in that apartment,” he said.
Norah reached blindly behind her.
Her fingers found the metal poker.
She swung.
Vale blocked the first strike with his forearm. The second struck his shoulder. He seized the poker and ripped it away.
“You think Romano will save you?”
“He found me before you did.”
“That was luck.”
“No. Your men are incompetent.”
His face tightened.
Norah smiled through the pain.
Men like Vale hated mockery more than injury.
He raised the poker.
The bedroom door opened.
Gabriel shot him in the leg.
Vale collapsed with a scream.
Gabriel crossed the room in three strides and kicked the weapon away.
“I told you to stay in the car.”
Norah leaned against the fireplace.
“You took longer than expected.”
Gabriel looked at the blood spreading through her trousers.
His expression became dangerous.
Matteo entered behind him and restrained Vale.
“How did you know?” Norah asked.
“Rosa saw an unfamiliar server go upstairs.”
“I wore a cap.”
“You still walk like you’re arguing with the floor.”
Gabriel moved toward her.
She held up the photograph.
“My mother was alive after the date in the police report.”
Gabriel took it carefully.
Vale laughed from the floor.
“You still don’t understand.”
Gabriel turned.
“Then explain.”
Vale looked at Norah.
“Your mother begged Lucian to let you live.”
Norah’s face lost color.
“Where was she taken?”
Vale smiled.
Gabriel pressed his shoe against the bullet wound.
The smile disappeared.
“Where?”
“St. Orison.”
Norah stared at him.
The name belonged to a private psychiatric facility outside the city. It had closed six years earlier after reports of financial abuse.
“My mother was there?”
“For a while.”
“How long?”
“Ask Lucian.”
Gabriel increased the pressure.
Vale screamed.
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know!”
Norah stepped closer despite the pain.
“You transported her.”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Where?”
“From St. Orison to a house in Virginia.”
“What house?”
Vale shook his head.
Gabriel crouched.
“If you make me ask again, you will never walk.”
Vale breathed hard.
“Blackwood.”
Norah looked at Gabriel.
He knew the name.
Blackwood was one of Lucian Devereaux’s oldest properties, an isolated estate near the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“Why keep her alive?” Norah asked.
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“Against Romano.”
Gabriel understood.
Evelyn had built the financial system. She could expose Devereaux’s accounts if she ever spoke publicly.
Lucian had kept her alive because a living prisoner could still be controlled.
A dead accountant could not answer questions.
Matteo searched Vale and found a small earpiece.
“He was listening to security channels.”
Gabriel took it.
Voices crackled through the device.
“Mr. Devereaux is moving upstairs.”
Norah looked at the open compartment.
“We have less than a minute.”
Gabriel gathered the folders and photograph.
Matteo pulled Vale toward the adjoining dressing room.
“What do we do with him?”
Gabriel looked at Norah.
She wanted answers.
They could not kill Vale yet.
“Take him through the service corridor. Amos is waiting near the greenhouse.”
Matteo dragged Vale away.
Gabriel closed the hidden compartment.
Norah tried to move but nearly fell.
He caught her.
“You reopened the wound.”
“I noticed.”
He lifted her into his arms.
“You cannot carry me through the estate.”
“I can carry you through anything I own.”
“You do not own this estate.”
“Not yet.”
Footsteps approached outside.
Gabriel crossed into the bathroom and closed the door.
Norah’s arms were around his neck.
The space was narrow, forcing them close.
Too close.
Through the door, they heard Lucian enter the bedroom.
A second voice followed.
Sloan.
“You said Norah was dead,” Sloan said.
“I said the problem was being handled.”
“The problem walked into our rehearsal dinner.”
Gabriel felt Norah tense.
Lucian’s reply was calm.
“Then Vale will correct his mistake.”
“I want the wedding delayed.”
“No.”
“Gabriel is suspicious.”
“Gabriel has always been suspicious. It is why men mistake him for intelligent.”
Norah’s eyes flashed with anger.
Gabriel almost smiled.
Sloan lowered her voice.
“What happens after the toast?”
“You become Mrs. Romano.”
“And after that?”
“Your husband dies. You grieve beautifully. We manage the transition.”
“What about the captains?”
“They will be removed.”
“And Matteo?”
“Removed.”
A pause.
“My name is on Luca’s list,” Sloan said.
Silence followed.
Gabriel realized she had already discovered the execution document.
Lucian answered carefully.
“Luca was unreliable.”
“Was the list real?”
“No.”
“Look at me.”
Another pause.
Then Sloan’s voice sharpened.
“You planned to kill me.”
Lucian did not deny it quickly enough.
Gabriel felt Norah’s breath against his collar.
Sloan laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“My entire life, you told me this was mine.”
“It was never yours.”
“You raised me for this.”
“I raised you to be useful.”
The words cut through the door.
For the first time, Gabriel felt something close to pity for Sloan.
It lasted only a second.
“You poisoned Gabriel’s father,” Sloan said.
“So did you.”
“I was seventeen.”
“You changed his medication.”
“You told me it was for his blood pressure.”
“And you believed me because belief was convenient.”
Sloan’s voice cracked.
“You made me kill him.”
“No. I taught you obedience.”
A sharp sound followed.
A slap.
Then Lucian said, “Do not embarrass me again.”
The bedroom door closed.
Sloan remained alone.
Gabriel waited.
Norah whispered, “We need her.”
Gabriel nodded.
He opened the bathroom door.
Sloan stood in front of the fireplace, one hand pressed to her cheek.
She turned.
Her eyes widened when she saw Norah alive in Gabriel’s arms.
Then she looked at Gabriel.
“How much did you hear?”
“Enough.”
Sloan reached toward the table.
Gabriel drew his gun.
“Don’t.”
Her hand stopped.
“You brought a weapon to our rehearsal dinner?” she asked.
“You brought poison to our wedding.”
Her face changed.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
“Norah told you.”
“Norah saved me.”
Sloan looked at her.
“I underestimated you.”
“You tried to have me cut open in my apartment,” Norah said.
“I told Vale to frighten you.”
“He stabbed me.”
“That was not my order.”
“You still sent him.”
Sloan’s eyes moved toward the photograph in Gabriel’s hand.
“What is that?”
“Proof your father kept Evelyn Quinn alive.”
Sloan stared at the image.
“Blackwood,” Gabriel said.
The name affected her.
Norah saw it.
“You know the property.”
Sloan looked toward the door.
“My father kept one wing locked when I was a child.”
“Was there a woman there?”
“I heard someone singing.”
Norah’s throat tightened.
“What song?”
Sloan looked at her.
“Blue Moon.”
Norah closed her eyes.
Her mother used to sing that song while washing dishes.
Gabriel felt her grip tighten around his neck.
“She may still be alive,” he said.
Norah opened her eyes again.
Sloan stepped closer.
“My father plans to kill all of us tomorrow.”
“You helped him build the plan,” Gabriel said.
“I helped him kill you.”
The admission was blunt.
“At least you’re honest now,” Gabriel said.
“I thought I would inherit control.”
“And that justified murder?”
Sloan’s face hardened.
“You think your hands are clean?”
“No.”
That answer stopped her.
Gabriel continued.
“But Norah’s blood is on yours.”
Sloan looked at the bandage beneath Norah’s trousers.
Something flickered across her face.
Regret, perhaps.
Or merely fear of consequences.
“What do you want?” Sloan asked.
“Your father.”
“You cannot touch him at this estate.”
“I can if you help me.”
“And afterward?”
Gabriel’s expression remained cold.
“You answer for what you did.”
Sloan laughed bitterly.
“So my choice is death or prison.”
“Your choice was made when you ordered Vale to take Norah.”
Norah spoke quietly.
“Help us find my mother, and I will testify that Vale exceeded your instructions.”
Gabriel looked at her.
Sloan did too.
“Why would you help me?” Sloan asked.
“I’m not helping you. I’m buying information.”
Sloan studied Norah for a long moment.
Then she walked to the vanity, opened a drawer, and removed a brass key.
“This opens the old wing at Blackwood.”
She placed it in Norah’s palm.
“My father leaves for the city at midnight. He meets the man supplying the poison at the river warehouse.”
Gabriel checked his watch.
Eleven forty-five.
Fifteen minutes.
“Where does he keep the succession original?” Norah asked.
“On him.”
Gabriel looked toward the ballroom below.
More than one hundred guests were still drinking, laughing, and celebrating a marriage built on murder.
Sloan faced him.
“If we expose him tonight, the wedding never happens.”
Gabriel glanced at Norah.
Her face was pale. Her leg was bleeding again. Yet she had risked everything to enter the estate and retrieve the truth.
“No,” Gabriel said.
“The wedding happens.”
Sloan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because tomorrow your father will bring every traitor into one room.”
Gabriel placed Norah carefully on a chair.
May you like
Then he adjusted his jacket.
“And I intend to learn all their names.”
