Chapter 8
Claire’s mother had not died from illness.
That was the story.
Cancer.
Fast.
Aggressive.
Private.
Claire had been seventeen.
Andrew twenty-three.
Thomas handled everything.
Doctors.
Funeral.
Estate.
Claire had never questioned it.
Why would she?
Now Gabriel laughed at the memory.
“Cancer.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
He smiled.
“Beautiful story.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“Gabriel.”
He ignored him.
“Your uncle always did understand respectable deaths.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Say exactly what you mean.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Elizabeth found the first route map.”
“Which route?”
“The black-water corridor.”
Julian frowned.
He had heard the phrase.
Claire hadn’t.
Gabriel continued.
“Cross-family docks.”
“Vescari ships.”
“Bennett storage.”
“Caldwell political cover.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
Four organizations.
Old network.
Illegal even by their world’s rules because it allowed any one group to stage crimes as another.
Identity swapping.
False flags.
Manufactured feuds.
Gabriel continued.
“Your mother wanted it dismantled.”
“Thomas wanted control.”
“Victoria’s father wanted profit.”
Julian whispered:
“My father?”
Gabriel laughed.
“You think he was innocent?”
Julian went still.
Victoria looked away.
Gabriel enjoyed that too.
He continued:
“Elizabeth met him.”
“Threatened exposure.”
“Then she got sick.”
Claire’s face emptied.
“How?”
Gabriel shrugged.
“No proof.”
Cruel.
Careful.
He wanted to wound without giving certainty.
Claire said:
“You just implied murder.”
“I implied coincidence.”
Then:
“Like Andrew’s death.”
Julian moved.
Claire stopped him this time.
She understood.
Gabriel wanted them reactive.
Claire looked at Victoria.
“What happened to my mother?”
Victoria sighed.
“This is exhausting.”
Claire stared.
Victoria continued:
“Your mother was one more woman who believed moral outrage counted as power.”
Then:
“She refused treatment.”
Claire’s face changed.
“Treatment?”
Victoria realized.
Too late.
Julian turned.
“You knew she was ill before anyone?”
Victoria snapped:
“Everybody knew.”
Claire said:
“No.”
“My family kept it private.”
Silence.
Victoria’s face hardened.
Claire continued.
“You weren’t family.”
No answer.
Thomas Bennett had been.
Gabriel had been in security.
Victoria had access through Julian’s father.
Three people who could know.
Claire looked at the photograph again.
Her mother stood beside all of them.
Andrew must have found it after her death.
That explained everything.
He hadn’t begun investigating the Vescari family because of docks.
He had been investigating Elizabeth.
Julian said quietly:
“Andrew never told me this part.”
Claire looked at him.
“He may not have known yet.”
Then Thomas Reed entered again.
“Ms. Bennett.”
“What?”
“We intercepted a car at the north gate.”
“Who?”
“Thomas Bennett.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
May you like
Her uncle had not waited for an invitation.
He had come for the envelope himself.
