Chapter 2 - The Man Outside the Door

The old man outside the house looked nothing like the photograph on Gabriel’s desk.

He was thinner.

His gray hair had gone almost white.

One hand gripped the arm of the wheelchair.

The other trembled against the doorframe.

But Gabriel knew him.

Immediately.

“Dad?”

Joseph Raines stopped breathing for a second.

Then he smiled.

“Hello, son.”

Gabriel did not move.

Neither did Joseph.

Sixteen years stood between them.

Fireworks exploded somewhere beyond the estate.

Inside the ballroom, everyone was cheering for the new year.

Gabriel stepped outside.

He crouched in front of the wheelchair.

His voice broke.

“They told me you were dead.”

Joseph looked at him.

“I know.”

“You let me believe it.”

“I tried not to.”

Gabriel’s jaw tightened.

Margaret came beside them.

“Joseph wrote to you for years.”

Gabriel looked at her.

“I never received anything.”

Joseph reached inside his coat.

He removed a bundle of envelopes tied with a blue cord.

All unopened.

All addressed to Gabriel.

All returned.

Gabriel picked up the first one.

The date was fourteen years earlier.

The next was thirteen.

Then twelve.

Then eleven.

His fingers started shaking.

“Who returned these?”

Joseph looked through the open front door.

Toward the ballroom.

“Your uncle.”

Gabriel slowly stood.

Marcus Raines was still beside the champagne tower.

Laughing with guests.

As if nothing had happened.

Victoria appeared behind me.

Her ruby-red gown caught the gold light from the foyer.

She saw Joseph.

Then looked away.

Gabriel noticed.

“You knew he was coming tonight.”

Victoria swallowed.

“No.”

Margaret said quietly:

“She knew he wanted to.”

Gabriel looked at Victoria.

“That’s not the same answer.”

Victoria closed her eyes.

“My mother told me he was unstable.”

Joseph laughed once.

Not because anything was funny.

“Evelyn Hale has been calling me unstable since the night your uncle tried to kill me.”

Silence.

Gabriel stared at his father.

“What did you say?”

Joseph looked at him.

“Marcus did not send me overseas.”

“He told everyone you ran.”

“I was supposed to disappear forever.”

Gabriel stepped closer.

“Why?”

Joseph’s eyes moved to the black wing tattoo visible beneath Gabriel’s open shirt.

For one second, he looked at his son like he was seeing the eighteen-year-old boy he had left behind.

Then he said:

“Because I found out what Marcus was selling.”

“What was he selling?”

“Names.”

Gabriel went still.

Joseph continued.

“Routes.”

“Accounts.”

“People who trusted our family.”

Gabriel looked toward Marcus again.

Joseph’s voice lowered.

“And Evelyn Hale was buying all of it.”

Victoria whispered:

“My mother said your father stole from them.”

Joseph looked at her.

“Your mother paid for the car that put me in a hospital for eight months.”

Victoria’s face lost color.

Gabriel turned back.

“What car?”

Joseph reached down toward the wheelchair.

There was a scar visible above his collar.

Another ran along the side of his left hand.

“The night I confronted Marcus, I left his office with a ledger.”

“What ledger?”

“Proof.”

Joseph’s voice became quiet.

“I never made it home.”

Gabriel’s eyes hardened.

“Who hit you?”

“I never saw the driver.”

Margaret answered for him.

“But I saw who signed his private admission papers.”

Gabriel looked at her.

“Who?”

Margaret stared directly into the ballroom.

“Marcus Raines.”

I felt the cold move through the foyer.

Gabriel turned toward the party.

His uncle finally noticed us.

The smile disappeared from his face.

He saw Joseph.

Then Margaret.

Then the envelopes in Gabriel’s hand.

Marcus set down his champagne.

He started walking toward us.

Joseph immediately reached beneath the blanket over his legs.

He pulled out a small black case.

“Gabriel.”

Gabriel looked down.

“Everything I kept is in here.”

Marcus was getting closer.

Joseph held out the case.

“Do not let him take it.”

Gabriel accepted it.

Marcus entered the foyer.

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Then Marcus looked at his brother.

“You should have stayed where you were.”

Gabriel’s face changed.

Joseph looked at him.

“There.”

A faint smile touched the old man’s mouth.

“That is the first honest thing your uncle has said tonight.”

Marcus looked at Gabriel.

“Your father is sick.”

Gabriel held the black case tighter.

“Then you won’t mind me seeing what he brought.”

Marcus’s eyes dropped to it.

For the first time that night, he looked afraid.

A server crossed behind us carrying empty glasses.

Someone bumped my shoulder.

I turned for less than two seconds.

When I looked back, the lights went out.

The entire foyer went black.

Victoria screamed.

A glass shattered.

Gabriel cursed.

Then the emergency lights came on.

Joseph was still in the wheelchair.

Margaret was beside him.

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Marcus was gone.

And so was the black case.