Chapter 10 - GABRIEL'S CONFESSION|
Gabriel agreed to meet me in a small restaurant far from the Blackwood offices.
He looked exhausted. The confidence he usually carried into every room had disappeared, replaced by the expression of a man who had spent too long arguing with his own conscience.
I placed the handwritten note on the table.
“Explain this.”
He read it and closed his eyes.
“I wondered when you would find that.”
“Did you write it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gabriel leaned back.
“Three years ago, Dominic asked me to help him manage the situation after his hearing returned. He said he was overwhelmed and needed time to decide how to tell you.”
“And you believed him.”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“Vanessa returned to Chicago. They began seeing each other. Dominic told me he would end the affair, but every time I asked, he said the timing was complicated.”
I watched him carefully.
“Did you know about the trust?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he was keeping me in the marriage because of it?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“I suspected it.”
“That isn't an answer.”
He looked directly at me.
“Yes. I knew he was afraid a divorce would trigger a review of the trust and expose certain financial decisions.”
“What decisions?”
“I can't tell you everything without risking my own legal position. But I can tell you that Dominic was worried about the foundation's accounts.”
I felt my pulse quicken.
“What was wrong with them?”
“Several payments had been made to consulting companies that provided little or no documented work. Dominic approved some of them. Margaret signed authorizations for others. The records were supposed to be reviewed before the end of the year.”
“And my role?”
“You managed the charitable foundation. Your signature appeared on routine administrative reports. Dominic assumed you would continue approving summaries without questioning every transaction.”
I stared at him.
“I never approved anything fraudulent.”
“I know. But your name could have been used to make the paperwork appear legitimate.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
“Are you saying he planned to blame me?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I don't know whether he intended that. But when the review began, he was worried that investigators would ask why you had signed certain records.”
“Records I never saw.”
“That is why I am telling you now.”
I pulled the note closer.
If Emma ever discovers the truth, the trust will be the least of our problems.
“What did you mean by that sentence?”
Gabriel looked toward the window.
“Dominic once told me that if the financial review went badly, the family could lose control of the company. He said the consequences would be devastating.”
“For whom?”
“Everyone involved.”
I studied him.
“You helped him deceive me, and now you want to become the hero who tells me just enough to save himself.”
His face tightened.
“That may be partly true.”
At least he was honest about one thing.
Then he reached into his briefcase and placed a flash drive on the table.
“I copied the original accounting summaries before they were changed. I haven't given them to anyone.”
I did not touch it.
“Why me?”
“Because your name is on some of the documents. And because you are the only person Dominic underestimated.”
I finally took the drive.
As I stood to leave, Gabriel spoke again.
“Emma, there's something else. Vanessa believes Dominic intends to marry her after the trust review. But I heard him tell his attorney that he has no intention of marrying anyone until the investigation is over.”
I stopped.
“Why?”
“Because if the marriage ends, he loses the protection he thinks your signature gives him.”
For the first time, I understood the real purpose of his deception.
He had not stayed because he loved me.
May you like
He had stayed because I was useful.
And I had just become the one person who could expose him.
