Chapter 4 - THE FAMILY MEETING
Ethan Cross looked like Gabriel if someone had taken the sharp edges off.
Same dark hair.
Same gray eyes.
Same expensive bone structure rich families insist is genetics rather than orthodontics.
But Ethan smiled more.
That immediately made me distrust him.
He arrived at noon.
Gabriel had not told him about the pills.
Or Caroline.
Or the leg movement.
The official reason for the meeting was a review of Cross Maritime’s quarterly numbers.
I was not supposed to be in the library.
I was dusting.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Landon had suggested it.
“People forget domestic staff exist.”
“That’s insulting.”
“It’s useful.”
“Still insulting.”
Gabriel sat behind the desk.
Ethan took the chair opposite.
Julian Cross arrived three minutes later.
Board chair.
Cousin.
Blue suit.
Perfect teeth.
The man who had recommended firing Caroline.
Dr. Warren Vale came by video.
Landon stood near the bookshelves.
I polished the same lamp for nineteen minutes.
Julian began.
“We need to discuss continuity.”
Gabriel’s face remained blank.
“Good afternoon to you too.”
Julian sighed.
“You know what I mean.”
“No. Use words.”
“The board is concerned.”
“Boards are always concerned. It gives them purpose.”
Ethan looked uncomfortable.
Julian continued.
“Your rehabilitation has plateaued.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“You’ve missed six consecutive executive meetings.”
“I attended remotely.”
“You left two early.”
“I was medicated.”
Vale’s face appeared on the screen.
“That is not uncommon with your condition.”
I looked toward Gabriel.
Tiny glance.
He had baited them.
Julian leaned forward.
“Nobody is questioning your intelligence.”
“Yet.”
“We are questioning whether operational responsibility is interfering with recovery.”
There it was.
Soft language.
Kind language.
Words designed to take power without looking like theft.
Gabriel asked, “What do you recommend?”
Julian relaxed.
Too soon.
“Temporary transfer of executive authority.”
“To whom?”
“The board.”
“Which you chair.”
“Yes.”
“And voting control?”
“Only until medical review.”
Gabriel looked at Vale’s screen.
“Medical review by whom?”
Vale answered.
“My neurological team can provide updated—”
“No.”
Everyone went still.
Gabriel continued.
“Independent physicians.”
Vale’s face tightened.
“Gabriel, you have received world-class care.”
“So I’m told.”
Julian interrupted.
“This defensiveness is exactly what concerns us.”
I almost laughed.
Create suspicion.
Then call resistance proof.
My ex Eric had used the same trick when I discovered the forged loan.
You’re emotional.
You don’t understand business.
Stop being paranoid.
Criminals apparently shared training materials.
Ethan finally spoke.
“Maybe we should slow down.”
Julian turned.
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel hasn’t hit twelve months.”
“He’s at six.”
“The clause requires twelve.”
“Unless two physicians certify permanent incapacity.”
Gabriel looked toward Vale.
Silence.
There.
The faster route.
Medical certification.
Vale adjusted his glasses.
“My professional opinion remains that meaningful neurological recovery is extremely unlikely.”
I stopped polishing.
Gabriel asked, “Extremely?”
“Yes.”
“Impossible?”
Vale hesitated.
“No physician says impossible.”
“Convenient.”
Julian frowned.
“What is this?”
Gabriel touched the joystick.
Rolled his chair backward.
Then locked it.
Landon moved subtly toward him.
Gabriel raised one hand.
No help.
He grasped the edge of the desk.
Transferred forward.
Feet positioned badly.
Hands braced.
Then pushed.
Nothing.
His face tightened.
Again.
His right thigh trembled.
His arms shook.
Slowly—
he rose.
Not fully.
Not safely.
But his hips cleared the chair.
Two inches.
Maybe three.
Ethan stood.
Julian went white.
Vale said, “Sit down.”
Gabriel remained lifted for two seconds.
Then collapsed back.
Sweating.
Breathing hard.
Smiling.
I had never seen him smile before.
Not really.
Julian looked terrified.
Exactly like the premise of every bad family inheritance story.
Gabriel noticed too.
“What’s wrong, cousin?”
Julian recovered.
“That was reckless.”
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“Vale?”
The doctor looked angry.
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves something.”
“Reflexive recruitment.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Caroline Pierce disagrees.”
Vale froze.
Julian’s face emptied.
Ethan looked between them.
“Who’s Caroline?”
Gabriel answered.
“The caregiver Julian paid to disappear after she saw me stand.”
Ethan’s head snapped toward Julian.
“What?”
Julian stood.
“This meeting is over.”
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice hardened.
“You don’t leave.”
Julian stared.
Gabriel continued.
“I’m not holding you.”
He smiled coldly.
“But if you walk out now, you’ll answer every question later without the benefit of pretending you’re shocked.”
Julian sat.
The room changed.
Landon placed copies of medication photographs on the table.
The fake bottle.
The pill identification.
The false delivery record.
Vale looked at them.
Then at Gabriel.
“I know nothing about this.”
“Maybe.”
Julian folded his arms.
“This is absurd.”
Ethan picked up the photograph.
“Who switched it?”
“That’s what I’m trying to learn.”
Ethan looked at me.
“You found it?”
I nodded.
“Why were you handling medication?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then how—”
“I have eyes.”
Gabriel almost smiled again.
Julian looked irritated.
“The maid photographed private prescriptions?”
“Mara,” Gabriel said.
Julian stopped.
Gabriel’s voice became quieter.
“Her name is Mara.”
Something in the room shifted.
Not dramatic.
Important.
Julian looked at me now.
Actually looked.
That was probably the first mistake he made in front of me.
Because his expression said recognition.
Not of my face.
My name.
Mara Ellis.
I saw it.
So did Landon.
Gabriel asked, “You know her?”
Julian recovered.
“No.”
Too late.
I stared.
“Have we met?”
“No.”
“Then why did your face do that?”
Ethan turned toward him.
Julian laughed.
“Her face?”
“My name.”
“This is ridiculous.”
I felt something cold move through me.
My ex-boyfriend’s forged business loan.
Two hundred ten thousand dollars.
Collections.
Destroyed credit.
Eric disappearing.
A loan funded through a private finance company.
I suddenly remembered the company name.
Cross Capital Partners.
I had assumed it was coincidence.
Cross was not a rare name.
I looked at Julian.
“Do you own Cross Capital?”
Silence.
Gabriel’s eyes moved toward him.
Julian answered carefully.
“It’s a family investment subsidiary.”
My heartbeat changed.
“Who handled small business lending two years ago?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do.”
Everyone looked at me.
I pulled out my phone.
Collections emails never die.
I searched.
Found one.
Loan documentation.
Servicing entity.
Cross Capital Ventures.
Authorized signatory for the lender.
JULIAN A. CROSS.
The room went silent.
Gabriel looked at me.
“Your forged loan was through my family company?”
“Yes.”
Julian stood again.
“This has nothing to do with Gabriel.”
I laughed.
“Maybe.”
Then remembered my ex’s last legitimate job before disappearing.
He had worked as a contractor.
Fleet maintenance.
For Cross Maritime.
My blood went cold.
“Eric serviced your vehicles.”
Landon’s face changed.
“What?”
“Before he disappeared.”
Gabriel stopped breathing.
“What was his full name?”
I had refused to tell him before.
Now I did.
“Eric Dalton.”
Landon was already searching.
His eyes widened.
“Gabriel.”
“What?”
“Eric Dalton was assigned to executive fleet maintenance.”
The room became completely still.
I looked at Gabriel.
Six months earlier, Gabriel’s SUV had been struck after swerving unexpectedly across two lanes.
At least, that was the public story.
“What caused your accident?”
I asked.
His eyes found mine.
“Steering failure.”
Nobody moved.
I looked at Julian.
He looked at me.
Then toward the door.
Landon stepped in front of it.
Again, no one was being held.
Not technically.
Julian’s voice became hard.
“You’re making a catastrophic mistake.”
Gabriel leaned back in his wheelchair.
“No.”
His gray eyes turned cold.
“I think I made that six months ago when I trusted family to investigate my crash.”
Ethan whispered, “Who conducted the investigation?”
Landon looked at Julian.
Julian said nothing.
Gabriel answered.
“Cross Capital’s private security division.”
The division Julian controlled.
Suddenly my forged loan, Eric’s disappearance, Gabriel’s crash and the switched medication were no longer separate disasters.
May you like
They were beginning to form one line.
And somewhere at the other end of it was a man who had spent six months waiting for Gabriel Cross to fail.
