Chapter 16 - Hannah’s Choice
Dominic’s first instinct was violence.
Hannah’s was arithmetic.
“How long has Mason been missing?” she demanded.
Luca checked his phone.
“His security driver lost contact forty-two minutes ago.”
“What vehicle?”
“Foundation SUV.”
“GPS?”
“Disabled.”
“Traffic cameras?”
“Pierce is checking.”
Dominic reached for the flash drive.
“We trade it.”
Adrian grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
Hannah turned sharply.
“That is my brother.”
“And this drive can destroy Gabriel’s entire network.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No,” Hannah said, stepping directly into Adrian’s face. “You disappeared for twelve years because you decided Dominic needed protection more than truth. Do not make another decision for my family.”
Adrian’s expression softened slightly.
“You’re exactly how he described you.”
Hannah blinked.
“When did he describe me?”
Adrian glanced toward Dominic.
Dominic frowned.
“I didn’t.”
Adrian removed his phone.
For months, he had apparently monitored public interviews, foundation events, and newspaper coverage.
“I needed to know whether you were real.”
Hannah almost laughed from disbelief.
“Congratulations. I’m real and furious.”
Agent Pierce approached.
“We found the vehicle.”
Everyone turned.
“Where?”
“Traffic camera caught it entering the old Bellhaven freight district.”
Luca knew the area.
“Hundreds of warehouses.”
“Anything else?”
Pierce enlarged an image.
A small symbol appeared on one warehouse gate.
A split crown.
Dominic swore.
“My father owned that property.”
“Not anymore,” Pierce said. “It was sold twelve years ago to a holding company.”
“Gabriel?”
“We’re checking.”
Hannah looked at Dominic.
“We go.”
“Hannah—”
“My brother is inside.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“And if you tell me to stay behind, I will steal Luca’s car.”
Luca cleared his throat.
“She knows where I keep the keys.”
Even Adrian smiled faintly.
Twenty minutes later, tactical teams surrounded the freight district.
Pierce wanted them to wait.
Hannah refused.
Every minute felt like another hand tightening around Mason’s throat.
A drone flew over the target warehouse.
No visible guards.
Thermal imaging showed one person inside.
Mason.
“Too easy,” Adrian said.
Dominic agreed.
“It’s a trap.”
Hannah stared at the warehouse feed.
Then she noticed something.
“No.”
“What?” Pierce asked.
“The cylinders.”
She zoomed.
“They’re turned toward the cameras.”
Dominic understood.
“He wants us to see the hazard labels.”
“Exactly. Which means they may not contain what they say.”
Pierce sent in a bomb-disposal robot.
The first cylinder opened.
Empty.
The second held a speaker.
Gabriel’s recorded voice filled the warehouse.
“Predictable.”
Dominic slammed his palm against the command vehicle.
“Where is he?”
Hannah kept watching.
Mason’s chair seemed strange.
There was movement beneath it.
A blinking red light.
“Zoom under the chair.”
The camera magnified.
A phone.
Not a bomb.
Agent Pierce ordered the robot forward.
The phone rang.
Hannah answered remotely.
Gabriel’s voice came through.
“You disappointed me.”
“You disappointed me first.”
“That sharp mouth explains Dominic’s fascination.”
“Where’s the real trap?”
Silence.
Then Gabriel laughed.
“You already walked into it.”
Alarms erupted from Moretti Global.
Luca received a security alert.
“Penthouse breach.”
Dominic spun.
“What?”
“The building’s server system just went offline.”
Agent Pierce cursed.
“He used Mason as a diversion.”
Adrian turned pale.
“The original ledger.”
“You said it was stolen,” Dominic said.
“It was.”
“But you made copies?”
“One copy.”
“Where?”
Adrian looked toward the city.
“Dominic’s penthouse.”
Hannah stared at him.
“You entered our home?”
“Three weeks ago.”
Dominic looked ready to murder him.
Adrian continued quickly.
“I hid it where Gabriel would never think to look.”
“Where?”
Adrian looked at Hannah.
“In your mother’s piano.”
Hannah froze.
After she and Dominic married, he had secretly bought back the old upright piano Hannah’s mother had played when Hannah was a child.
It now stood in the penthouse library.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Gabriel knows.”
“How?” Hannah asked.
Adrian looked toward Luca.
But Luca shook his head.
“Not me.”
Celeste spoke from behind them.
“Me.”
Everyone turned.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Gabriel called yesterday. He said he wanted to come home. He asked whether Dominic still had Hannah’s piano.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“You told him.”
“I thought he was trying to reconcile.”
Adrian swore.
A security feed suddenly returned.
A masked man appeared inside the penthouse library.
He smashed open the piano’s back panel.
Removed a black leather ledger.
Then looked directly into the camera.
He pulled off his mask.
Gabriel.
He smiled.
And set the piano on fire.
Hannah watched flames rise around the last physical memory of her mother.
Gabriel held the ledger toward the camera.
May you like
Then he mouthed four words.
Now I own the truth.
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