Chapter 10 - Gabriel)
Gabriel Vale entered the house without smiling.
He looked first at Marina.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
Then his eyes filled with tears.
"You look like Catherine."
Marina did not move.
"You knew I was being watched."
Gabriel nodded.
"You knew Helena was abusing me."
His face tightened.
"I knew she was trying to drive you out."
"And you said nothing."
"I tried."
"Anonymous messages?"
"No."
Marina frowned.
"Then who?"
Gabriel looked at Damiano.
"Helena."
Damiano's expression hardened.
Gabriel continued.
"She wanted Marina to believe you were cheating."
Marina had already suspected it.
Hearing confirmation still hurt.
Gabriel looked back at her.
"I sent Simon into the house."
Damiano stepped forward.
"You inserted a man into my home under a false identity."
"Yes."
"You had him monitor my wife."
"I had him monitor Helena."
"My wife was photographed."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"What?"
Marco showed him copies from the hidden compartment.
Gabriel stared.
"Simon didn't take these."
"How do you know?"
"Because I told him never to photograph Marina privately."
Damiano laughed once.
"Your moral boundary is impressive."
Gabriel accepted the insult.
"I deserve that."
Marina asked, "Did Simon pack Helena's suitcase?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To get her out of the mansion."
"Without telling us?"
"Simon was angry."
"Where is he now?"
Gabriel's eyes darkened.
"I was hoping you knew."
The room fell silent.
Damiano studied him.
"You lost contact?"
"Last night."
"When?"
"At 6:18."
"Before the archive fire."
"Yes."
Marco asked, "Did he have instructions to enter the archive?"
"No."
"Did he know about documents Helena kept there?"
"Yes."
"Could he have stolen them?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"Possibly."
Damiano's voice hardened.
"And the fire?"
"No."
Gabriel put the wooden box on Colton's desk.
"I came because I received this at my hotel this morning."
Inside was a photograph.
Simon tied to a chair.
Alive.
A newspaper from that morning lay across his lap.
Marina covered her mouth.
Damiano's expression became lethal.
"Who sent it?"
Gabriel handed him a note.
BRING THE TRUST RELEASE TO THE RICCI MANSION.
NO POLICE.
NO SECURITY BEYOND DAMIANO.
MIDNIGHT.
Damiano looked at Gabriel.
"What trust release?"
Colton answered.
"The document that formally activates Marina's voting rights."
Marina frowned.
"Why would anyone want it?"
Gabriel looked grim.
"Because once Marina signs, Helena loses control of a hidden voting proxy."
Damiano turned.
"What proxy?"
Colton looked embarrassed.
"This gets complicated."
"It became complicated yesterday."
Colton opened another file.
"For eighteen years, because Gabriel's shares remained in inactive trust, the voting rights attached to those shares were temporarily exercised by an estate proxy."
"Who?"
"Helena."
Damiano stared.
"My mother controls Gabriel's shares?"
"Indirectly."
"And if Marina activates the trust?"
"Those rights transfer to her."
Marina felt cold.
Twenty-five percent.
Enough to alter company votes.
Enough to make her instantly powerful inside Ricci Family Holdings.
Gabriel said, "Someone doesn't want that transfer."
Damiano looked at him.
"Helena?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"Too obvious."
"She hid the documents."
"Yes. But if she wanted Simon, she already had access to him for months."
Marco said, "Who else knows?"
Colton answered.
"Several old trustees. Two current board members. The family accountant."
Damiano's face changed.
"Name the board members."
"Charles Fenwick and Peter Lawson."
Damiano's jaw tightened.
Marina knew both names.
Fenwick had served beside Vittorio.
Lawson had become chief financial officer eight years ago.
Damiano pulled out his phone.
He called his office.
No answer from Lawson.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then Fenwick.
Voicemail.
Marco started typing on his own phone.
Damiano looked at Gabriel.
"Someone inside my company knew the truth."
"Yes."
"And if Marina receives twenty-five percent, their control shifts."
"Yes."
Damiano looked at the financial transfers again.
Bellweather Advisory.
Two million dollars.
He suddenly understood.
"Those transfers weren't only blackmail payments."
Gabriel looked at him.
"No."
"What were they?"
"Helena believed she was paying Simon."
"She wasn't?"
"Not all of it."
Marco turned his screen around.
Bellweather's accounts had forwarded money to three entities.
One belonged to Simon.
Two were unknown.
Damiano stared.
"Someone has been using my mother's fraud to steal from the company."
Marina looked at the photograph of Simon.
"And now they want the trust release."
Damiano's phone vibrated.
A new message.
Unknown sender.
MIDNIGHT.
BRING MARINA TOO.
He showed the others.
Gabriel's face hardened.
"No."
Marina looked at him.
"You don't decide."
"They're using Simon."
"And asking for me."
"Which means you're the target."
Damiano immediately said, "You're not going."
Marina turned toward him.
He stopped.
He knew that look.
She had spent months being ordered around.
He was not going to become another person doing it in the name of protection.
He corrected himself.
"I don't want you going."
Marina looked at the photograph.
Then at the trust papers.
"If they want me there, they expect me to sign something."
Colton nodded.
"Probably."
"Then I go."
Damiano's face tightened.
"Marina."
"But not the way they expect."
Gabriel stared at her.
For the first time, something like respect appeared.
"What are you thinking?"
Marina looked at the trust release.
"I'm thinking Helena spent months assuming I was too weak to survive this family."
She signed the activation document.
Colton's pen stopped moving.
Damiano stared.
Marina finished her signature.
May you like
Then she looked at Gabriel.
"Let's disappoint everyone who made the same mistake."
