Chapter 11 - THE WILL UNDER THE FLOOR
Margaret Hayes had hidden Vincent Costa’s second will in the last place anyone expected.
The old apartment where Norah and Leo grew up.
Norah had not entered it in years.
The building still stood in Queens.
Same cracked hallway.
Same faded green paint.
Same radiator that banged every winter.
The landlord let them inside after Gabriel paid three months of overdue property taxes nobody had mentioned.
Norah walked through the empty rooms slowly.
“My mother used to sing here.”
Gabriel said nothing.
The bedroom floor had one loose board.
Beneath it was a waterproof envelope.
Inside:
Vincent Costa’s final will.
Leo Hayes acknowledged as biological son.
Gabriel Costa acknowledged as son by choice and legal adoption.
Equal inheritance.
Equal voting rights.
No contest provision.
Gabriel read the last paragraph.
My sons will not be used against one another.
Norah looked at him.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“He knew someone would try.”
“Yes.”
There was also a letter for Margaret.
Thank you for protecting Leo from my world until I can make it safe enough to tell him the truth.
Norah cried.
Not loudly.
Just tears.
Gabriel stood beside her.
“I spent three years thinking my mother died worried about money.”
“She died protecting your brother.”
“Our brother,” Norah corrected.
Gabriel looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Small.
Quiet.
Real.
Then the apartment door slammed shut.
Elias drew his weapon.
Smoke began pouring from beneath the hallway door.
“Fire.”
Pierce.
Gabriel knew it immediately.
The old building’s alarm did not work.
The stairwell was already burning.
They moved toward the fire escape.
Rust had sealed the window.
Elias kicked it.
Nothing.
Norah began coughing.
Gabriel wrapped his coat around her face.
“Stay low.”
“Gabriel—”
“Do what I say for once.”
“That would ruin my reputation.”
Even now.
He almost laughed.
Elias broke the window.
They climbed onto the fire escape as flames entered the apartment.
Norah clutched the will beneath her shirt.
Gabriel looked down.
Three floors.
Police arriving.
Sirens.
Then he noticed a man across the street.
Samuel Pierce.
Watching.
Their eyes met.
Pierce smiled.
Then walked away.
Hours later, fire investigators found an accelerant can.
And one other thing.
A body in the basement.
Male.
Old.
Hidden there before the fire.
Dental records identified him.
Anthony Vale.
The driver who hit Leo.
May you like
He had been dead for almost three years.
Which meant somebody else had been using his identity ever since the accident.
