Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The gun was pointed directly at Gabriel’s chest.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
The old bedroom remained frozen in time.
The faded curtains.
The dusty furniture.
The childhood photographs.
Everything looked exactly the way Gabriel remembered it.
Except for the man standing in the doorway.
Thomas Reed.
His father’s closest friend.
The man who taught Gabriel how to ride a bike.
The man who stood beside him at his mother’s funeral.
The man Gabriel trusted more than almost anyone.
“Thomas…”
Gabriel’s voice was barely above a whisper.
The older man’s hand tightened around the gun.
“I wish you had never found her.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“What did you do?”
Thomas looked away.
“That’s the wrong question.”
“Then what’s the right one?”
Thomas’s eyes turned cold.
“Why did your mother survive?”
The words hit Gabriel like a punch.
“You knew.”
Thomas didn’t deny it.
“You have no idea what your mother was willing to sacrifice.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“She lost fifteen years with her son.”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“And you think I don’t know that?”
His voice suddenly cracked.
“I watched her leave this house crying.”
The anger in his voice confused Gabriel.
“You helped her disappear?”
Thomas lowered the gun slightly.
“I helped keep her alive.”
Silence.
Gabriel looked at him carefully.
“Then why are you here with a weapon?”
Before Thomas could answer, another voice came from behind.
“Because he was never protecting her.”
Richard Whitmore entered the room.
Gabriel turned.
His father’s face was pale.
For the first time in Gabriel’s life, Richard looked like a frightened man.
Not a billionaire.
Not a powerful businessman.
Just a man terrified of the truth.
Thomas looked at Richard.
“You should have told him.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“And you should have stayed away.”
Gabriel looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Nobody answered.
His patience broke.
“What happened fifteen years ago?”
Richard looked at Elena’s old bedroom.
Then he finally spoke.
“Your mother discovered that someone inside the family was stealing from Whitmore Industries.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What?”
“She found hidden accounts. Fake companies. Money disappearing for years.”
Thomas nodded.
“She planned to expose them.”
“And someone tried to kill her,” Richard continued.
Gabriel froze.
“What?”
Richard swallowed.
“The car accident wasn’t an accident.”
The room became silent.
Gabriel felt his stomach drop.
For fifteen years, he believed his mother simply disappeared.
But the truth was worse.
Someone wanted her gone.
“Who?”
Richard looked at Thomas.
Thomas looked away.
That was enough.
Gabriel understood.
“You know.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
A long silence followed.
Then Thomas whispered:
“Someone you call family.”
Suddenly, the mansion alarm screamed.
Everyone turned.
A security officer rushed inside.
“Mr. Whitmore!”
Gabriel looked at him.
“What happened?”
“The woman from the ballroom…”
His face was terrified.
“Mrs. Elena has been found.”
Gabriel ran.
“Where?”
The guard hesitated.
“In the underground passage.”
Everyone followed.
The hidden passage beneath Whitmore Mansion had been sealed for decades.
Nobody used it.
Nobody even knew it existed.
Except the person who brought Elena there.
When Gabriel reached the underground chamber…
He stopped.
Because Elena was standing there.
Alive.
But not alone.
A woman stood behind her.
A woman holding a knife.
And Gabriel recognized her immediately.
Valeria’s mother.
Sophia Sinclair.
The woman who had been smiling all night.
The woman who had watched Elena’s humiliation without saying a word.
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“What are you doing?”
May you like
Sophia smiled.
“Finishing what I started fifteen years ago.”
