Chapter 7 - THE SINS GIDEON INHERITED
Gideon watched the video once.
Then again.
Arthur Vale looked healthy.
Powerful.
Alive in a way Gideon had almost forgotten.
Simon was younger.
Nervous.
Theodore’s name passed between them like a problem.
Arthur said:
“He cannot take this public before the merger.”
Simon answered:
“He has copies.”
Arthur:
“Then make his exit expensive enough that he signs.”
It was not proof Arthur stole housing money.
That program did not yet exist.
But it was proof he protected financial misconduct.
Theodore had been pushed out because he knew too much.
Gideon felt ashamed of a decision he made at twenty-nine.
He had chosen his father.
Never called his uncle.
Believed the version most comfortable to believe.
Mara watched him from her hospital bed.
“You didn’t know.”
“I chose not to ask.”
“You were his son.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“No.”
He appreciated that she did not offer one.
The Vale Group board convened.
Gideon showed them the video.
His advisers argued to contain it.
Historic issue.
Dead executive.
Unrelated to current operations.
Gideon disagreed.
“The same person protected then is the person stealing now.”
That connected it.
Vale Group announced an independent historical review.
The stock price dipped.
Commentators questioned governance.
Gideon lost millions on paper.
He barely noticed.
Then Detective Ortiz got the break she needed.
The gray sedan had been recovered from a private garage.
Inside:
Mara’s blood.
Fibers from her coat.
Simon’s fingerprints.
Malcolm Voss’s prints.
But not enough to prove who drove.
Then Voss surrendered.
With counsel.
He wanted a deal.
He blamed Simon.
Of course.
Voss admitted the foundation fraud.
Admitted shell vendors.
Admitted helping create the fake Mara account.
Denied intending to kill anyone.
According to Voss, Simon panicked when Mara copied the records.
“Simon said she had a child,” Voss told investigators.
“I told him that made it worse.”
“Why?”
“Because children remember.”
Gideon felt sick.
Voss claimed the plan was to scare Mara into silence.
Then frame her if necessary.
The hit-and-run was not planned.
“Who drove?” Ortiz asked.
Voss looked down.
“Simon.”
That was enough for an arrest warrant.
But Simon remained missing.
Then Gideon’s security chief called.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone accessed the pediatric wing visitor system at St. Catherine’s using a Vale Group executive credential.”
Gideon stood.
“Who?”
“Credential belonged to Simon.”
“When?”
“Four minutes ago.”
Gideon called Ortiz while running.
Hospital security locked the floor.
Mara’s room was guarded.
Norah was with a hospital teacher in another wing.
Gideon’s heart stopped.
“Where is Norah?”
No one answered quickly enough.
He reached the classroom.
Empty.
A nurse was crying.
“A man said her mother had requested her.”
“What man?”
“He had hospital authorization.”
The security camera showed him.
Cap.
Mask.
But the walk was unmistakable.
Simon.
Norah followed him toward a service elevator.
Gideon ran.
The elevator had gone down.
Garage.
Ortiz and hospital security moved from opposite sides.
Gideon reached the lower level.
He heard Norah crying.
Then Simon’s voice.
“Stop fighting me.”
Gideon rounded the corner.
Simon stood beside a black SUV.
One hand on Norah’s shoulder.
Norah bit him.
Hard.
Simon shouted and released her.
She ran.
Straight toward Gideon.
He dropped to his knees and caught her.
Police flooded the garage.
Simon froze.
No dramatic chase.
No gunfight.
Just a man realizing every exit had closed.
As officers handcuffed him, Simon looked at Gideon.
“You think your father was better than me?”
Gideon held Norah tighter.
“No.”
Simon almost smiled.
Then Gideon said:
May you like
“That’s why I’m not protecting either of you.”
Simon’s smile disappeared.
