Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO WANTED DANIEL TO FAIL|
Daniel stared at his phone as though the screen might disappear if he looked long enough.
Gabriel took one glance at the message.
Then his expression changed.
“Anthony, get someone to Daniel's apartment.”
Anthony was already moving.
“I'll send a team to secure the building.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Gabriel turned.
“Danny?”
“I don't want people with guns showing up where I live.”
His voice was trembling, but his eyes were clear.
“My neighbors know me as the guy who fixes their broken heaters.”
He swallowed.
“I've worked hard to have a normal life.”
Gabriel's expression softened.
“I'm not going to take that away from you.”
He looked at Anthony.
“Plainclothes security, no confrontation unless there's an immediate threat.”
Anthony nodded.
“Understood.”
Daniel sank back onto the staircase.
I sat beside him.
“Would you like some water?”
He gave a weak laugh.
“Claire, you've spent this entire night offering me drinks I actually want.”
I smiled.
“It's a useful professional skill.”
For a moment, he almost looked like himself.
Then he glanced at his phone again.
“Someone wants me to relapse.”
Gabriel crouched in front of him.
“We don't know that yet.”
Daniel looked at the message.
“Come on, Gabe.”
His voice cracked.
“That's exactly what it means.”
Gabriel didn't argue.
Instead, he said something I hadn't expected.
“Then whoever sent it doesn't understand you.”
Daniel looked up.
“Why?”
“Because you're not the man they think you are.”
The words seemed to steady him.
Gabriel offered his hand.
“Come into the library.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because we're going to figure this out together.”
A few minutes later, the four of us gathered in the mansion's private library.
Samuel Mercer joined us with his folder.
Anthony positioned two security personnel outside the doors.
Gabriel poured coffee from a silver pot.
He offered Daniel the first cup.
His brother accepted it with a faint smile.
“Still terrible coffee?”
“Probably.”
“Good.”
Daniel took a sip.
“Some things shouldn't change.”
I would have laughed if I hadn't been so worried.
Gabriel sat opposite Mercer.
“Start with Northbridge Holdings.”
The attorney opened the folder.
“It's a private investment company established five years ago.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I know the name.”
“You should.”
Mercer slid a document across the table.
“Your former chief financial officer, Richard Vale, served as one of its directors.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Richard Vale had worked for the Romano family for nearly fifteen years.
He'd overseen legitimate commercial property investments and transportation contracts.
Gabriel trusted him enough to allow him into the family home.
I'd served him coffee dozens of times.
He was always polite.
Always perfectly dressed.
And always strangely interested in Daniel.
“Vale left the company last year,” Gabriel said.
Mercer nodded.
“Officially, he retired.”
“Unofficially?”
“He continued receiving consulting payments through intermediary companies.”
Gabriel studied the document.
“Who authorized them?”
Mercer hesitated.
“That's what your father wanted to investigate.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Why would anyone use my name?”
Mercer looked at him.
“Because a person with a history of addiction can be an easy target for false accusations.”
The words hung heavily in the room.
Daniel stared into his coffee.
“So if money disappeared, everyone would assume I'd stolen it.”
“Possibly.”
He laughed once.
It was a painful sound.
“That's clever.”
Gabriel's eyes darkened.
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“It's cowardly.”
I thought about the three weeks before the engagement dinner.
Victoria had been unusually interested in Daniel's work schedule.
She'd asked which days he attended meetings.
She'd wanted to know whether he kept old bank accounts.
Once, she'd even asked me whether he still received mail at Gabriel's mansion.
At the time, I'd assumed she was arranging wedding invitations.
Now I wondered whether she'd been gathering information.
“Mr. Romano?”
Gabriel turned.
“Yes, Claire?”
“Mrs. Langford asked me about Daniel's bank accounts.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
“About a month ago.”
I tried to remember her exact words.
“She said she was arranging a family gift and needed to know whether he still used the same account.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She never gave me anything.”
Mercer made a note.
Gabriel looked at me.
“Anything else?”
I hesitated.
“Mr. Vale visited the house twice after your father died.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I was told he'd moved to Florida.”
“He came while you were away.”
“Who admitted him?”
“Mrs. Langford.”
I remembered how Victoria had instructed me to leave tea outside the library rather than bring it in.
I also remembered hearing Daniel's name through the door.
“I didn't hear everything,” I said.
“But they were discussing some kind of account.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“Did you see any papers?”
“No.”
Then another memory surfaced.
“But Mr. Vale left a blue folder behind.”
Mercer went completely still.
“Are you certain?”
I nodded.
“Mrs. Langford called me back after he left.”
“She told me to put it in the fireplace.”
Gabriel stared at me.
“What?”
“She said it contained confidential financial drafts that needed to be destroyed.”
“Did you burn it?”
I looked down.
“Yes.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
My chest tightened.
“I'm sorry.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“You had no reason to know what it was.”
“But I should have asked.”
“Claire.”
His voice was firm without being harsh.
“Victoria used your job to make you carry out instructions you weren't equipped to question.”
I looked at my hands.
“I wish I'd known.”
“So do I.”
Then he added quietly, “But blaming you won't bring the folder back.”
Daniel leaned toward me.
“You didn't do anything wrong.”
I met his eyes.
He knew what it felt like to carry blame long after everyone else had moved on.
That made his words mean more.
Anthony entered the library thirty minutes later.
“Daniel's apartment has been checked.”
Daniel stood immediately.
“Is everything okay?”
“No evidence of forced entry.”
He exhaled.
“Thank God.”
“But someone left a package outside your door.”
Daniel's shoulders stiffened.
“What kind of package?”
Anthony placed his phone on the table.
The photograph showed a small cardboard box.
Inside were a bottle of whiskey and a folded note.
Gabriel read the message.
His expression became frighteningly calm.
Twenty-six months is long enough to pretend.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
For a moment, I was afraid he might break down.
Instead, he sat down.
Very slowly.
Then he took out his recovery coin.
He placed it on the table.
“Whoever did this thinks a bottle can make my decisions for me.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Daniel took a breath.
“It can't.”
A quiet pride appeared in Gabriel's face.
“No, it can't.”
Daniel picked up his phone.
He dialed a number from memory.
A man answered after three rings.
“Hey, Danny.”
“Hey, Marcus.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I'm having a really bad night.”
I watched Gabriel glance toward him.
Daniel continued.
“I haven't had a drink, but somebody's trying pretty hard to make me want one.”
His voice steadied.
“Can you talk?”
He listened for a moment.
Then nodded.
“Thanks.”
Gabriel leaned back.
He didn't interrupt.
He didn't try to take the phone.
And I realized he was learning something too.
Daniel didn't need Gabriel to solve every problem.
Sometimes he needed his brother simply to trust the life he'd built.
After the call, Daniel looked noticeably calmer.
“Marcus said I should go to my meeting tomorrow.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Sounds like good advice.”
“He also said I should eat something.”
I smiled.
“Now that I can help with.”
Daniel laughed.
For the first time, the sound was genuine.
I went to the kitchen and prepared sandwiches.
When I returned, Gabriel was speaking quietly with Mercer.
“The company ledgers need to be reviewed independently,” he said.
“I want everything documented.”
Mercer nodded.
“And I want no one warned before we've preserved the records.”
I placed the tray down.
Daniel reached for a sandwich.
Then Anthony received another call.
His face changed as he listened.
“Understood.”
He ended the call.
Gabriel looked up.
“What now?”
Anthony glanced toward Daniel.
“We've identified the building where the courier delivered the boxes.”
Gabriel waited.
“It's not Daniel's apartment.”
Daniel frowned.
“But you said—”
“The address was registered using his name.”
Anthony hesitated.
“It's a storage unit on the South Side.”
Gabriel stood.
“Who rented it?”
Anthony checked his notes.
“According to the lease, Daniel Romano.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I never rented a storage unit.”
Anthony nodded grimly.
“There's a reason I believe you.”
He turned his phone toward us.
On the screen was a photograph from the facility's registration records.
The person signing the rental agreement was a man in an expensive gray coat.
I recognized him immediately.
Richard Vale.
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
Then slowly looked toward Mercer.
“Find every transaction that man has touched.”
Mercer nodded.
But Daniel wasn't looking at Vale.
He was looking at something else in the photograph.
An object sitting on the reception counter.
A small blue notebook.
Daniel leaned forward.
“Gabe?”
“What?”
“I've seen that notebook before.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Where?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Dad had one just like it.”
Gabriel frowned.
“He kept dozens of notebooks.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not this one.”
His voice dropped.
“Dad gave me that notebook the last time we spoke.”
The room fell silent.
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
“And I thought I'd lost it when I moved out of my old apartment.”
He looked toward Gabriel.
“But that notebook contains the names of everyone I owed money to when I was drinking.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
Daniel continued.
“And beside each name, I wrote down exactly how much I'd paid back.”
He swallowed.
“If someone has that notebook, they know everything about the worst years of my life.”
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
Then said quietly, “Which means whoever took it didn't just want your identity.”
May you like
He looked at his younger brother.
“They wanted your past.”
