Chapter 4 - THE CAREGIVER'S CONFESSION
The silver revolver glinted in the harsh floodlights.
I instinctively shoved Lucy behind me, my body shielding my daughter.
“Margaret?” Rosa whispered, her voice trembling with disbelief. “What are you doing? Put that away.”
The eighty-year-old woman didn't lower the gun. Her hands were shaking, but her eyes were locked onto me with a chilling intensity.
“I had to protect the family, Rosa,” Margaret said, her voice cracking. “I promised Antonio on his deathbed I would always protect the Moretti name.”
Gabriel took a slow, calculated step toward the elderly woman. “Margaret, put the gun down. Let’s talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Gabriel!” Margaret cried, tears streaming down her wrinkled face. “Daniel was going to ruin everything! He showed me the logbook. He showed me the drugs Nicholas was moving. He said he was going to the police!”
Nicholas let out a pathetic whimper from his spot on the grass.
“I begged him not to,” Margaret continued, the gun wavering slightly. “I told him it would destroy your mother. It would destroy the empire your father built. I offered him the fifty thousand dollars Nicholas gave him to just take Sarah and the child and leave!”
“And he refused,” Gabriel guessed, his eyes never leaving the weapon.
“He was stubborn,” Margaret sobbed. “He said he wouldn't let his daughter grow up in a place funded by poison. He was going to the FBI the next morning.”
My chest heaved. I could barely breathe. Daniel. My brave, foolish husband. He died trying to do the right thing.
“So you poisoned his thermos,” I said, the realization hitting me like a physical blow. “He always drank black coffee during his night shifts. You put cyanide in his thermos.”
Margaret didn't deny it. She just looked at me with a tragic sort of pity.
“I was a nurse, Sarah. I knew how to make it look like a heart attack,” she whispered. “I did it quickly. He didn't suffer long.”
“You murdered him!” I screamed, the grief of four years finally boiling over into pure rage. “You took my husband! You took Lucy’s father!”
“I saved this family!” Margaret shouted back.
Vanessa, still restrained by the guards, suddenly laughed. It was a cruel, opportunistic sound.
“Well, there you go, Gabriel,” Vanessa sneered. “The old bat did it. Mystery solved. Now tell your goons to let me go. I have nothing to do with murder.”
Gabriel finally looked at his fiancée. The disgust in his eyes was absolute.
“You forged documents to steal my land,” Gabriel said. “You tried to throw an eighty-year-old woman onto the street to steal my brother’s drug money. You humiliated a child in my home.”
He stepped closer to Vanessa, his imposing frame casting a long shadow over her.
“The engagement is over, Vanessa,” Gabriel said softly. “You’re leaving with nothing. If you ever contact me again, I’ll hand this forged document to the district attorney.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled in panic. “Gabriel, you can't do this! My father’s company is bankrupt! We need that land!”
“Get her out of my sight,” Gabriel ordered the guards.
As Vanessa was dragged away, screaming obscenities into the night, Margaret suddenly lowered the gun.
She looked utterly exhausted, the adrenaline finally fading from her frail body.
“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” Margaret whispered, dropping the revolver onto the grass. “I thought I was protecting your father’s legacy.”
Dante moved quickly, kicking the gun away and gently securing Margaret’s arms behind her back.
Rosa covered her face with her hands, sobbing quietly.
Gabriel stood in the center of the ruined rose garden, looking at the lockbox, the watch, and the ring. His family’s secrets lay scattered in the dirt.
He walked over to Nicholas.
“Get up,” Gabriel commanded.
Nicholas scrambled to his feet, trembling. “Gabe, please—”
“You’re going to a rehabilitation center tonight,” Gabriel said, his voice void of any brotherly affection. “When you get out, you’re moving to our facility in Chicago. You will never set foot in New York again. You are out of the family business.”
Nicholas opened his mouth to argue, saw the look in Gabriel’s eyes, and wisely shut it. He nodded once, tears streaming down his face, and walked toward the mansion.
I stood there, holding Lucy’s hand, feeling completely hollow.
The truth was out. The mystery was solved. But Daniel was still gone.
Gabriel slowly walked over to me. He looked down at Lucy, then at me.
“Sarah,” he said softly.
“I need to pack my things, Mr. Moretti,” I said, my voice numb. “Lucy and I will be gone by morning.”
Gabriel frowned. “Gone? Where are you going?”
“I can't stay here,” I said, fresh tears welling in my eyes. “Not after this. Not where my husband was murdered.”
Gabriel reached out and gently grasped my shoulder.
“You aren't going anywhere, Sarah,” he said.
I looked up at him, confused.
“The fifty thousand dollars Nicholas paid Daniel,” Gabriel said. “It belongs to you.”
I shook my head. “I don't want blood money.”
“It’s not blood money anymore,” Gabriel said firmly. “It’s severance. For your husband’s life. And it’s not enough.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet box containing the antique diamond ring.
“I want you to have this, too,” Gabriel said, pressing the box into my hand.
I gasped, trying to pull away. “Mr. Moretti, no! That’s your family’s heirloom!”
“My family doesn't deserve it,” Gabriel said, his dark eyes locking onto mine. “You do. You and Lucy.”
Before I could argue, Dante’s radio crackled loudly in the quiet garden.
“Boss,” a panicked voice echoed through the speaker. “We have a problem.”
Gabriel hit the button on his own radio. “What is it?”
“It’s Vanessa,” the guard replied, breathing heavily. “She slipped out of the restraints near the front gate. She got into her car.”
“Let her go,” Gabriel sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Sir, you don't understand,” the guard yelled. “She didn't leave the property! She drove around the back! She just crashed her car into the old gardener’s cottage!”
Margaret Whitaker gasped, falling to her knees.
“The money!” Margaret cried. “She’s going for the money under the floorboards!”
But I wasn't looking at Margaret.
I was looking at the flames suddenly licking up into the night sky behind the mansion.
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And then I heard the second voice over the radio.
“Boss! The cottage is on fire! And... oh God, sir. There’s a man trapped inside!”
