Chapter 4 - The Midnight Audit
By 3:00 AM, the medical equipment had been temporarily silenced at Claire’s strict insistence. Dr. Price had argued furiously in the hallway until Gabriel gave him a single, freezing look that sent the specialist packing back to his hospital. Lily had finally fallen into a natural, albeit restless, sleep, her small fingers loosely clutching the corner of Claire’s frayed sweater sleeve.
Gabriel stood in the dimly lit hallway outside the master suite, pouring a finger of amber whiskey into a crystal glass. He swirled the liquor, his eyes fixed on Marcus, who stood at attention near the private elevator.
"Tell me everything about Claire Donnelly," Gabriel ordered, taking a slow sip.
Marcus tapped a sleek tablet in his hand. "Twenty-five years old. Born and raised in Astoria. Substitute teacher, working on her degree in early childhood education. Single mother at home—Margaret Donnelly, stage-four lung cancer. Massive medical debts, roughly eighty-one thousand dollars past due. Her bank account was completely dry until Vivian Chase wired the fifteen-thousand-dollar advance from your corporate account four hours ago."
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. "Any connections to syndicates? Rival families? The Russo crew?"
"None," Marcus replied firmly. "Her background is clean enough to eat off. She pays her rent two weeks late, volunteers at a local soup kitchen on weekends, and spends every spare minute managing her mother’s chemotherapy schedules. She’s completely ordinary, Mr. Varrick."
"Ordinary people don't walk into a penthouse housing a traumatized child and calm her down in ten minutes when pediatric specialists failed," Gabriel muttered, staring down at his glass. "Dig deeper. Check her mother's doctors. Check her landlords. I want to know every person she has spoken to in the last three years. If someone planted her here..."
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"I'll have the surveillance team pull every communication log," Marcus said, turning to leave.
"Wait," Gabriel called out softly. He looked down the long hallway toward the master suite, where the faint sliver of light from under the door showed Claire still keeping watch. "Keep the perimeter tight. But let her work."
