Chapter 15 - The Man Beside the Money.
Gabriel moved before the three men reached the center aisle.
He pulled Norah behind a stone pillar.
Luca overturned a wooden bench for cover.
The first attacker raised his weapon.
Gabriel fired into the floor beside him.
The man flinched and lost his angle.
Luca tackled the second before he could aim.
The third turned toward Celeste.
Norah saw it.
"Gabriel!"
Gabriel pivoted.
Celeste dropped behind the pew as a shot tore through the wooden backrest.
Gabriel returned fire.
The attacker disappeared behind the baptismal alcove.
For several seconds the church became a maze of echoes.
Then silence returned.
Luca pinned one man to the floor.
The other two had fled through a side exit.
Gabriel checked Celeste.
She was unhurt.
Norah stared at the splintered pew.
"They were trying to kill her."
Celeste nodded.
"Because I called you."
Gabriel grabbed the captured attacker by his coat.
"Who sent you?"
The man laughed through a split lip.
"You already know."
Gabriel's grip tightened.
Norah stepped forward.
"Don't."
Gabriel looked at her.
"He knows something."
"Then let Luca question him somewhere with cameras and lawyers."
Luca raised an eyebrow.
"Lawyers?"
"I am trying to introduce civilized habits one at a time."
Gabriel released the man with visible reluctance.
They moved Celeste to a secure safe house outside Greenwich.
During the drive, Gabriel said almost nothing.
Norah watched him.
"Victor has been with you fourteen years."
"Fifteen."
"You trust him."
"Trusted."
"Past tense arrived fast."
Gabriel looked at her.
"His real name was hidden from me."
"That is evidence."
"You don't think it's enough."
"I think everything tonight has been designed to create conclusions faster than facts."
Gabriel looked out the window.
"You're defending him."
"No."
"Sounds like it."
"I'm defending you from doing exactly what Meridian wants."
He turned back.
"And if Celeste is right?"
"Then we prove it so thoroughly he cannot escape behind another fake trail."
Gabriel studied her for several seconds.
"You know what I hated about you when I hired you?"
"Only one thing?"
"You corrected me in front of six executives."
"Your numbers were wrong."
"I know."
"Then why hate it?"
"Because you enjoyed it."
Norah almost smiled.
"A little."
His expression softened for a moment.
Then Luca's burner phone rang.
Emily.
He answered on speaker.
"We have a problem."
Gabriel looked at Norah.
"Apparently that's the sentence of the week."
Emily continued.
"The microfilm has been altered."
Norah straightened.
"What?"
"Some frames were replaced."
"How?"
"Dad made duplicate rolls. I found a second partial copy hidden in the reader casing."
"The trustee page is different."
Gabriel's voice hardened.
"Different how?"
Emily paused.
"The original doesn't say Victor Mercer."
Norah looked at Gabriel.
"What does it say?"
"It says V. Kane."
Gabriel frowned.
"There is no V. Kane."
Celeste, seated across from them, went completely still.
Norah saw it.
"Celeste."
The older woman looked toward the window.
"Who is V. Kane?"
Celeste closed her eyes.
"My son."
Gabriel stared at her.
"You don't have a son."
Celeste began to cry.
Emily's call continued before Celeste made her final confession.
Norah asked her to photograph the untouched section of the microfilm and send only the image, not the raw file.
Emily complied through a one-time encrypted channel.
The replacement frame showed V. KANE in block letters.
No first name.
No date of birth.
No signature.
Gabriel stared at the image.
"Could be me."
Norah shook her head.
"Your ledger designation everywhere else is GK."
"Marcus is MK." Luca added.
Celeste looked smaller with every sentence.
Norah turned toward her.
"If the ledger uses initials consistently, V. Kane is not Gabriel or Marcus."
Celeste said nothing.
Gabriel's voice hardened.
"Aunt Celeste."
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"I wanted to tell you when your father died."
"Tell me what?"
"That Samuel did not just use our company. He tied himself to our family."
Gabriel went very still.
Norah watched the realization form before the words did.
"A child," she said quietly.
Celeste nodded.
Luca looked from her to Gabriel.
"A Kane by blood."
Celeste covered her face for one second, then lowered her hands.
"Samuel wanted an heir who could someday step into Kane Holdings without appearing connected to him."
Gabriel's face turned cold.
"You gave him one."
Celeste shook her head violently.
"I loved him. I was twenty-two and stupid and thought Meridian was just political favors and contract games. I did not understand what Samuel was building."
Norah believed at least the regret.
Whether regret excused anything was another matter.
Gabriel looked down at the image again.
V. Kane.
The contingency trustee had to be someone with Kane blood and Meridian access.
A hidden son fit both conditions.
Norah asked the question everyone had avoided.
"What name does he use now?"
Celeste's lips trembled.
May you like
She looked directly at Gabriel.
"You were never supposed to know."
