Chapter 9
Gabriel’s father was alive.
His name was Thomas Stone.
Federal agents found him living under another identity in Vermont.
He surrendered voluntarily after seeing Sabrina’s broadcast.
Gabriel hadn’t spoken to him in twenty-six years.
Their reunion happened inside a protected federal building.
I stayed nearby.
Gabriel entered the room first.
Thomas stood.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Son.”
Gabriel didn’t move.
“You let me think you were dead.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“You abandoned Mom.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“Everyone says that.”
The words hit me too.
Protection had become the excuse every adult used for secrecy.
Thomas explained that Damian Vale, Victor Lang, Jonathan Reed, and he had once been business partners.
At first, they built legitimate entertainment companies.
Then illegal money entered.
Executives bribed radio stations.
Royalty accounts were manipulated.
Artists lost ownership.
Thomas wanted out.
So did my father.
Victor eventually helped them collect evidence.
Damian was trapped because powerful investors threatened Christian.
And then Sabrina learned everything.
“She was barely twenty,” Thomas said.
“But she understood leverage better than all of us.”
She began stealing copies of records.
Threatening executives.
Building her own network.
“Why disappear?”
“Because Sabrina threatened Gabriel.”
Gabriel looked sick.
Thomas had staged his death and entered hiding.
Another father choosing absence over trust.
Gabriel walked out without hugging him.
I followed.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
He almost smiled.
Then Thomas asked to speak with me.
He gave me a small metal key.
“Jonathan wanted you to have this.”
“What does it open?”
“A vault beneath Reed Publishing.”
My own company.
I had worked there for years.
I never knew a vault existed.
Federal agents accompanied us.
The basement access was hidden behind an acoustic wall.
Inside were original tapes.
Documents.
Contracts.
And letters.
One envelope read:
FOR EMMA — WHEN THE LIES FINALLY END.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
Emma,
If you are reading this, I failed to tell you the truth myself.
Trust evidence more than people who claim they are protecting you.
I laughed through tears.
Dad had understood his own mistakes.
The letter explained Sabrina’s history.
Her father, Damian Vale.
Julia’s disappearance.
Victor’s role.
Thomas Stone.
Everything.
Then Dad wrote:
Sabrina is dangerous, but she was not born that way.
Do not confuse understanding her pain with excusing what she does with it.
I read that line twice.
It was exactly what I needed.
The vault contained enough evidence to expose decades of corruption.
Federal prosecutors began securing it.
Then we found the recording Sabrina wanted.
Damian Vale speaking about the illegal network.
But the tape continued.
Damian said:
“I’m shutting everything down.”
My father replied:
“They’ll kill you.”
“Then let them try.”
Damian had not been the criminal Sabrina claimed.
He had become an informant.
His later death in a yacht accident suddenly looked suspicious.
Thomas listened.
“That wasn’t an accident.”
“Who killed him?”
He looked at Julia.
“Sabrina.”
Julia shook her head.
“No.”
Thomas nodded.
“Victor told me before he died.”
Sabrina had killed her own father after discovering he planned to testify against her.
My stomach turned.
First Damian.
Then Victor.
Two men tied to her life.
Both dead.
Then Hannah rushed into the vault.
“We found Sabrina’s location.”
“Where?”
“Not overseas.”
I frowned.
“She’s in New York.”
“Why?”
Hannah looked toward the wall of recordings.
“She’s coming here.”
“For the archive?”
“No.”
“For you.”
My phone buzzed.
A text from Sabrina.
ROOFTOP. MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE OR MOM DIES.
Attached was a live photograph.
Julia.
Bound to a chair.
I spun around.
May you like
The chair beside us was empty.
My mother had disappeared from the federal building without anyone noticing.
