Chapter 6 - The Letter From a Dead Man|
Lucia refused to explain further until she had seen the letter herself.
Gabriel refused to let her leave the estate without security.
Their argument lasted ten minutes and ended with neither of them satisfied. Eventually, Marco arranged for two trusted men to accompany Lucia to a meeting point where Anthony had agreed to deliver the document.
Gabriel wanted to go with her.
Anna asked him not to.
“You promised we would make decisions together,” she reminded him from the bedroom doorway. “That includes deciding when you should stay home.”
“Someone is hiding information about your treatment.”
“And you can investigate it without standing beside every person who might know something.”
He looked at her, frustrated by the logic of her argument.
“What if Anthony is dangerous?”
“Then let Marco handle it. You're not the only person capable of protecting someone.”
The words stung.
They also reminded him that he had built an entire life around being indispensable.
“All right,” he said at last. “I'll stay.”
Anna smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
He kissed her forehead and watched her return to bed.
Then he sat beside her until she fell asleep.
For an hour, he did nothing.
He did not call Marco. He did not check his phone. He did not ask the staff whether Anna had eaten or whether the doctor had sent new instructions.
He simply sat there, listening to the quiet rhythm of her breathing.
When his phone finally vibrated, he stepped into the hallway.
Marco's voice came through immediately.
“We have the letter.”
“Is Anthony with you?”
“No. He left before we arrived.”
Gabriel's stomach tightened.
“What do you mean, he left?”
“He handed the envelope to your mother through a driver. We found no sign of him at the meeting point.”
“Did you check the envelope?”
“Yes. The letter appears authentic. But there's something else.”
“What?”
“An unsigned copy of a medical report. It references a condition your father was being evaluated for before his death.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“What condition?”
“An inherited cardiac disorder. The report suggests he had been experiencing symptoms for several months.”
His father's death had been described as sudden.
But perhaps it hadn't been sudden at all.
“Send everything to Dr. Reed,” Gabriel said. “I want to know whether it has any relevance to Anna's condition.”
“Understood.”
Gabriel returned to the bedroom.
Anna was awake.
“What happened?”
He sat beside her.
“My father left a letter. He was ill before he died, and someone in the family may have known.”
She watched him carefully.
“Are you frightened that something like that could happen to you?”
“I don't know.”
“Have you ever been tested?”
“No.”
“Then perhaps you should ask a doctor instead of letting fear write the story.”
He looked at her.
“You make it sound simple.”
“It isn't simple. But it's still better than spending the rest of your life being afraid of a possibility.”
He took her hand.
“I wish I had learned how to listen before you got sick.”
Anna's expression softened.
“So do I.”
The letter arrived at the estate an hour later.
Gabriel read it alone in his study.
His father's handwriting was uneven, the final lines pressed so deeply into the paper that the ink had marked the sheet beneath it.
Lucia, if you are reading this, I have finally accepted that my health is not a matter of willpower.
I have concealed the symptoms because I feared what would happen to the family if my enemies discovered them. That was a mistake.
There is another matter you must know. Someone has been requesting my medical records and using them to make decisions about my business without my consent. I suspect the requests are coming from inside the estate.
If I die before I can explain, do not allow Gabriel to repeat my mistake. Tell him the truth. Let him decide what kind of man he wants to be.
The letter ended with a single sentence.
I am more afraid of what my silence will do to my son than of what my enemies may do to me.
Gabriel sat back.
His father had been afraid of losing control.
And in trying to preserve his authority, he had left his son with a legacy of secrets.
At the bottom of the envelope, Gabriel found a second sheet.
It contained a list of dates, account numbers, and the name of a private medical consultant.
Dr. Martin Shaw.
Gabriel recognized the name from the family archives. Shaw had advised the Morettis for years before retiring to a private practice outside Chicago.
But one entry was different from the others.
A payment had been made to Shaw two weeks after Gabriel's father's death.
The reference read:
CONFIDENTIAL REVIEW — ANNA MORETTI.
Gabriel stared at the page.
Anna had married him three years after his father's death.
She had been twenty-six at the time.
Why had a doctor who treated his father been paid to review his future wife's medical information years before her diagnosis?
His phone rang.
Marco.
“We found Anthony's vehicle,” the security chief said. “It's been abandoned near the lake.”
“Is he dead?”
“We haven't found a body.”
“Then keep looking.”
Marco paused.
“Boss, there's another issue. Dr. Martin Shaw is no longer practicing. His office closed last month.”
“Where is he?”
“We don't know.”
May you like
Gabriel looked at the letter.
For the first time, he began to suspect that Anna's illness was not the only secret someone had been trying to keep from him.
