Chapter 9 - The Man Behind the Song

Pier 19 smelled like salt and rust.

Margaret walked inside first.

Adrian beside her.

Bianca behind them.

Thomas and Vincent stayed near the entrance.

Federal agents waited three blocks away.

No visible weapons.

No sirens.

Gabriel stood beneath one hanging light.

Silver hair.

Black coat.

The same man who had toasted the engagement.

He smiled.

“Adrian.”

Adrian stared.

“You drank my champagne.”

Gabriel shrugged.

“It was good champagne.”

Margaret stepped forward.

“You wanted me.”

“Yes.”

“I am here.”

Gabriel looked at Bianca.

“You brought her too.”

Bianca’s voice was cold.

“You brought me first.”

He smiled.

“Thomas told you.”

“He told me enough.”

Gabriel glanced at Thomas.

“You always were weak.”

Thomas replied:

“No.”

He looked at Bianca.

“I was worse than weak.”

“I was useful.”

Gabriel’s smile faded.

Margaret held up a folder.

“The release.”

Gabriel’s eyes sharpened.

“You signed it?”

“No.”

“Then why bring it?”

“So you can watch me destroy it.”

He laughed.

“You think paper matters?”

Margaret tore the document in half.

Then again.

Gabriel watched.

“You still do not understand.”

Adrian stepped forward.

“Then explain.”

Gabriel looked at him.

“Your grandmother Victoria stole from my family.”

Adrian nodded.

“My family says your family stole from mine.”

“Both are true.”

That surprised everyone.

Gabriel continued.

“Families like ours do not survive by being innocent.”

Adrian’s voice stayed calm.

“Then why Margaret?”

“Because Victoria made her trustee.”

“We know.”

Gabriel smiled.

“No.”

“You know the legal part.”

He looked at Margaret.

“Tell him the rest.”

Margaret’s face changed.

Adrian noticed.

“What rest?”

Gabriel answered.

“Margaret was not chosen because Victoria trusted her.”

Adrian looked at his mother.

“Why then?”

Margaret whispered:

“Because I am her daughter.”

Silence.

Vincent stared at her.

Even he did not know.

Adrian’s face emptied.

“What?”

Margaret looked at him.

“Victoria gave birth to me before she married Giovanni.”

Adrian stared.

“So my mother is my grandmother’s daughter.”

“Yes.”

“And Father?”

Vincent whispered:

“We are not blood relatives.”

Margaret nodded.

Adrian looked at Gabriel.

“That makes you what?”

Gabriel smiled.

“Her cousin.”

Adrian looked back at Margaret.

“You hid this too.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Victoria begged me.”

Gabriel laughed.

“She begged everyone.”

Margaret ignored him.

“She had Margaret Reed when she was seventeen.”

Eleanor gasped.

Margaret looked at her.

“Yes.”

Eleanor’s maiden name.

Reed.

Adrian turned to the old housekeeper.

“You knew?”

Eleanor was crying.

“I knew Victoria had a baby.”

“But not that it was Margaret?”

“No.”

Margaret continued.

“I was raised by another family.”

“Then married Father.”

“Yes.”

“And Victoria chose you as trustee because you were her daughter.”

“Yes.”

Gabriel stepped closer.

“And because blood gave her a way to keep control inside her own line.”

Adrian shook his head.

“Still does not explain why you need her signature.”

Gabriel smiled.

“Because the release is not the only document.”

He took out another paper.

A transfer deed.

Margaret stared.

Gabriel continued.

“Victoria signed this before she died.”

Adrian reached for it.

Gabriel pulled it away.

“It transfers Pier 19 and the eastern terminal to Margaret personally.”

Adrian looked at his mother.

She looked shocked.

“You didn’t know?”

“No.”

Gabriel nodded.

“Neither did I until six months ago.”

Thomas understood first.

“That is why you came back.”

Gabriel smiled.

“Yes.”

Adrian stared.

“You need Mother’s signature to transfer the property.”

“Yes.”

“And if she refuses?”

Gabriel looked at Margaret.

“Then the property passes to Adrian when she dies.”

The warehouse became silent.

Adrian’s voice dropped.

“So either she signs.”

“Yes.”

“Or you kill her.”

Gabriel did not answer.

He did not need to.

Bianca stepped forward.

“You spent years making me useful for this.”

Gabriel looked at her.

“You were born useful.”

Thomas moved.

Adrian stopped him with one arm.

Gabriel looked toward the entrance.

“You brought police.”

Adrian smiled.

“No.”

Gabriel frowned.

Adrian continued.

“I brought witnesses.”

The hanging lights above the warehouse came on.

Every one of them.

Federal agents stepped from behind cargo walls.

Gabriel’s face changed.

Adrian held up his phone.

“Everything has been streaming for twelve minutes.”

Gabriel looked at Margaret.

“You planned this.”

She shook her head.

“My son did.”

Agents moved toward Gabriel.

He backed away.

Then pulled a gun.

Bianca froze.

Thomas shouted.

Vincent moved in front of Adrian.

Gabriel pointed the gun at Margaret.

Adrian stared at him.

“Do it.”

Everyone looked at Adrian.

Gabriel frowned.

Adrian’s voice stayed calm.

“You spent twenty years believing fear controls this family.”

He stepped forward.

“So pull the trigger in front of twenty federal agents.”

Gabriel’s hand shook.

Adrian took another step.

“Or put it down and finally learn what happens when no one is afraid of you.”

Gabriel looked around.

At the agents.

At Margaret.

At Thomas.

At Bianca.

At Adrian.

Then slowly lowered the gun.

The agents took him.

Margaret closed her eyes.

Bianca began crying.

Adrian did not.

He looked at his mother.

“Is that everything?”

Margaret looked at him.

“No.”

Of course it wasn’t.

She reached into her coat.

One final envelope.

On it was Adrian’s name.

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And underneath:

FOR AFTER GABRIEL IS GONE.