Chapter 11 - The Secret Gabriel Kept)
Gabriel asked Elise to come home before explaining.
She refused.
"Here."
They remained inside Helena's conference room after Julian left.
Rain pressed softly against the windows.
Elise stood near the glass.
Gabriel sat at the table.
He looked older than he had at the wedding.
"What happened to Mom's company?"
Gabriel rubbed his hands together.
"Your mother owned Bellamy Design Group."
"I know."
"After she died, the company was sold."
"I know that too."
"Not exactly."
Elise turned.
Gabriel looked down.
"Marianne did not want it sold."
Silence.
"What?"
"She wanted you to have the option of taking control when you were ready."
Elise stared at him.
"But you sold it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Gabriel took a breath.
"Because it was failing."
"No."
"It was."
"Mom's company was profitable."
"Before her illness."
He opened a folder Helena had placed on the table.
"The final eighteen months were difficult. Marianne refused to reduce staff. Projects were delayed. Debt grew."
Elise remembered very little.
She had been nineteen.
Her world had revolved around hospitals.
"Why did you not save it?"
Gabriel looked at her.
"I tried."
"You owned Aurelius."
"It was not that simple."
"It sounds simple."
"It was not."
His voice became firmer.
"Marianne refused to let me absorb the business into mine. She said her employees deserved an independent company, not a memorial project maintained by her husband."
Elise could hear her mother saying it.
That made the story worse.
Gabriel continued.
"After she died, the board discovered liabilities I had not known about."
"So you sold it."
"I sold its assets to a competitor that retained eighty-seven percent of employees."
"You ignored her wishes."
"Yes."
The word hurt because he did not defend himself.
Elise crossed her arms.
"Why did Julian know?"
"He found old acquisition documents."
"And why use it against me?"
"Because he knew I never told you."
Elise looked away.
"Why didn't you?"
"Shame."
She turned back.
Gabriel's eyes were wet.
She had seen her father cry only twice.
At Marianne's funeral.
And once when Elise was twenty-three and survived a car accident.
Gabriel continued.
"Your mother trusted me to protect something she built. I could not."
"Maybe there was nothing to protect."
"Perhaps."
"Then why shame?"
"Because grief made me impatient."
He stared at the table.
"I wanted every reminder of her illness gone. The offices. Her desk. Calls from employees asking what she would have wanted."
Elise's anger softened but did not disappear.
"So you made a business decision because you were grieving."
"Yes."
"And hid it."
"Yes."
"I hate that."
"I know."
She walked toward him.
"Did you profit?"
"No."
"Did Aurelius?"
"No."
"Did you steal anything from Mom's estate?"
"No."
"Did the employees get paid?"
"Every one."
Elise exhaled.
"Then why did Julian think this would destroy us?"
"Because he believes secrets are always leverage."
That sounded exactly right.
Gabriel looked at her.
"I should have told you years ago."
"Yes."
"I am sorry."
No explanation.
No demand that she understand.
No accusation that grief excused him.
Just an apology.
Elise thought about Julian.
Look what you made me do.
Then she looked at her father.
I am sorry.
The contrast hurt.
She sat.
"I am still angry."
"You should be."
"I may be angry for a while."
"I will make tea."
She laughed unexpectedly.
Gabriel smiled.
Then Helena entered.
"I am sorry to interrupt the family therapy session."
Gabriel straightened.
"What happened?"
"The Wycliffe board voted."
Elise looked up.
"Conrad?"
"Removed as chairman and chief executive."
Gabriel nodded slowly.
"Julian?"
"Terminated for cause."
"And Victoria?"
"She has resigned from the foundation."
Elise felt no victory.
Only weight.
Helena continued.
"That is not all."
She placed documents on the table.
"The forensic report has been referred to the Department of Justice and financial authorities in the United Kingdom and Switzerland."
Gabriel's face became serious.
"Charges?"
"Not yet."
"Tomas?"
"Cooperating."
Helena looked at Elise.
"Anna and the other women have also retained counsel."
Elise swallowed.
"Will Julian be charged for what he did to them?"
"Possibly. Some incidents are outside limitation periods. Some are not. We cannot predict."
"And me?"
"That decision remains yours."
Elise touched her cheek.
The bruise was almost gone.
The memory was not.
"I want to report it."
Gabriel did not react.
He had promised to let her decide.
Helena nodded.
"I will arrange it."
Elise looked at her father.
"You can say something."
Gabriel exhaled.
"I am proud of you."
She shook her head.
"Not for reporting him."
"No."
He smiled sadly.
"For deciding without needing me to decide for you."
Elise reached for his hand.
His phone rang.
He checked the caller.
Michael Harrow.
Gabriel answered.
"Harrow."
He listened.
Then frowned.
"When?"
Elise watched.
Gabriel stood.
"Are you certain?"
Another pause.
"Send it."
He ended the call.
"What?"
Gabriel looked at Helena.
"Wycliffe Holdings has an emergency buyer."
Helena looked surprised.
"Who?"
"A company called Northstar Hospitality."
She frowned.
"I do not know them."
Gabriel's phone chimed.
He opened the ownership report.
Then his face changed.
"What?"
He turned the screen toward Helena.
She read.
"No."
Elise looked between them.
"Who owns Northstar?"
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Victoria."
Elise stared.
"Julian's mother?"
Gabriel nodded.
"She transferred assets out of Wycliffe months before the collapse."
Helena's eyes narrowed.
"Which means Conrad may not have been the only architect of Athena."
Gabriel looked at the rain beyond the windows.
"No."
He thought about Victoria whispering during the wedding.
You have no idea how much damage you are causing.
For the first time, Gabriel understood.
May you like
She had not been protecting Conrad.
She had been protecting herself.
