Chapter 16 - Lucia's Final Choice|
Gabriel found Lucia in the estate's chapel.
She was sitting alone in the last pew, her hands folded, the morning light falling across the stone floor. She looked older than she had the day before.
He stopped beside her.
“Anna says you have the original document.”
Lucia didn't look up.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
He sat beside her.
“Of what?”
“Of what the document would reveal about me.”
She took a small envelope from her handbag and placed it between them.
Inside was the original instruction signed by Gabriel's father. It directed the trustees to suspend the family trust if medical information was collected or used without the consent of the person concerned.
The signature was authentic.
So was the date.
The document had been created three months before his father's death.
Gabriel read it twice.
“You knew Peter had violated this instruction.”
“I suspected it. I found the document in your father's desk after he died. I didn't know whether it was legally enforceable, and I was afraid that revealing it would destroy the family's financial arrangements.”
“So you hid it.”
“Yes.”
“While Peter continued collecting medical records.”
“Yes.”
“While Anna was being threatened.”
Lucia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Gabriel stood and walked several steps away.
He wanted to shout. He wanted to demand why the people who claimed to love him had repeatedly chosen secrecy over trust.
But he had begun to understand that anger alone would not undo the damage.
He turned back.
“Why did you give it to Anna?”
“Because she asked me a question I couldn't answer.”
“What question?”
“She asked whether I would have wanted someone to hide a serious illness from me if I were in her position.”
Gabriel's expression softened despite himself.
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her no.”
Lucia looked down at the envelope.
“Then she asked why I had spent years hiding information from you. I realized I had been asking everyone else to trust me while refusing to trust them with the truth.”
She drew a shaky breath.
“I was wrong.”
Gabriel sat beside her again.
“Are you prepared to testify?”
Lucia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Against Peter?”
“Against anyone who used the trust to harm another person.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“I don't know how to forgive you.”
“I don't expect you to.”
“I don't know how to forgive myself either.”
Lucia turned toward him.
“You were not responsible for every decision made before you understood what was happening.”
“But I continued the pattern. I kept information from Anna because I thought I could protect her. I let her believe she had to face everything alone.”
“You can change that now.”
He looked at the document.
“Then I will.”
That afternoon, Lucia met with Evelyn and the investigators. She provided the original instruction, explained how Peter had obtained access to the medical trust, and acknowledged her own role in keeping the document hidden.
Her testimony helped establish that Peter had acted without proper authorization and had knowingly concealed evidence that could have invalidated the trust's medical provisions.
Richard Sloane also agreed to cooperate after learning that Peter had attempted to blackmail him. The records showed that Peter had collected private information on several families and used it to pressure trustees into approving financial transfers.
The investigation expanded beyond the Morettis.
For the first time, the private system that had operated behind the family's walls was exposed to independent scrutiny.
Gabriel met with the lawyers and agreed to surrender control of the medical records to an independent custodian. He also ordered the financial trust to be suspended pending a full review.
Some of his advisers warned that the decision could destabilize the business.
He made it anyway.
When he returned to the hospital, Anna was sitting up in bed, speaking with Dr. Reed about her next treatment.
Gabriel waited until the doctor finished before approaching.
“The trust has been suspended,” he told her. “The records will be reviewed independently. No one in my family will have access to your medical information unless you authorize it.”
Anna studied him.
“And your business?”
“Will survive or it won't. It doesn't get to decide who you are.”
She looked relieved, but there was still fear in her eyes.
“Thank you.”
He sat beside her.
“I need to ask you something.”
“All right.”
“When you gave the document to my mother, did you believe she would protect it?”
Anna considered the question.
“I hoped she would. But I didn't know.”
“And now?”
“Now I know she made a choice. She can make better choices in the future, but she can't erase the ones she already made.”
Gabriel nodded.
“That seems fair.”
Anna reached for his hand.
“I don't want to spend the rest of my life punishing people. I have enough to deal with.”
“You don't have to forgive anyone before you're ready.”
“I'm not ready to forgive everyone.”
“Then don't.”
She smiled faintly.
“Look at you, learning to let people make their own decisions.”
“It's a difficult skill.”
“You're doing better.”
For a moment, they sat quietly.
Then Anna's expression changed.
She pressed a hand against her stomach and closed her eyes.
Gabriel sat forward.
“What is it? Pain?”
“I'm just tired.”
“Should I call the nurse?”
She nodded.
He pressed the call button and waited while the medical team examined her.
Dr. Reed returned with the latest bloodwork.
His expression was serious, but not alarmed.
“Anna's blood counts have dropped again. We need to adjust the timing of the next treatment and monitor her closely.”
Gabriel looked at Anna.
She was already watching the doctor, her face composed in the way it became when she was afraid and determined not to show it.
This time, Gabriel didn't speak for her.
He waited until Dr. Reed finished, then asked Anna what she wanted to do.
She took a breath.
“I want to hear every option. Then I want time to think.”
Dr. Reed nodded.
“That's exactly what we'll do.”
Gabriel squeezed her hand.
May you like
And for the first time, he understood that standing beside someone did not mean knowing the answer.
It meant staying while they found it.
