Chapter 6 - THE KING BEHIND THE GRAVE
Gabriel Rossi had spent eleven years believing his father died protecting the family.
Now he was looking at a photograph proving Vincent Rossi had been alive for at least part of that time.
Gabriel's hands remained steady, but Harper noticed something different in his eyes.
The certainty that had always surrounded him was gone.
"Where did you get this?" he asked Margaret.
"Elena sent it."
"When?"
"Six months ago."
Gabriel turned the photograph over.
A date had been printed on the back.
April 14.
"Why would she send you a photograph of my father?"
Margaret hesitated.
"Because she wanted someone to know the truth."
Harper leaned forward.
"What truth?"
"Victoria Rossi didn't die because Elena betrayed her. She died because she discovered what Vincent was doing."
Gabriel's face hardened.
"Explain."
Margaret retrieved a thick folder.
Inside were shipping manifests, falsified invoices, and copies of confidential banking documents.
"Vincent was secretly moving money through charitable foundations," Margaret explained. "Victoria discovered the scheme and planned to expose him."
Harper looked at Gabriel.
"And my mother?"
"Elena kept the books. She knew where the money had gone."
Gabriel examined the documents.
Some appeared authentic, but he knew they needed independent verification.
"Why fake his death?"
Margaret lowered her voice.
"Because Vincent was facing criminal investigations, and powerful people wanted him gone."
Gabriel stared at a familiar signature.
His father had supposedly died in a warehouse explosion.
Victoria had been killed in that same fire.
Thomas Vale had been listed among the dead.
Now two of those three people appeared to have survived.
"Who identified the bodies?" Gabriel asked.
Margaret answered immediately.
"Mitchell Reed's father."
Gabriel felt the room shift beneath him.
Mitchell's father had been the family's security director.
He had also been the man who taught Gabriel to trust Mitchell like a brother.
Harper opened another folder.
Inside was a childhood photograph of Noah.
Across the bottom, Elena had written:
Never tell Vincent who Noah really is.
Harper frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Margaret's hands began to tremble.
"Elena was terrified someone would discover the truth."
"What truth?"
Margaret looked toward Gabriel.
"Harper, your brother isn't biologically related to you."
Harper's mouth fell open.
"That's impossible."
Margaret slowly opened a sealed envelope.
Inside was a birth certificate.
The mother's name was Victoria Rossi.
The father's name was Vincent Rossi.
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And the child's name had originally been listed as Nathaniel Rossi.
Noah Monroe was Gabriel's younger brother.
