Chapter 7 - The Woman in Apartment 5AMrs. Rosa Hernandez was seventy-two years old, five feet one inch tall, and entirely unimpressed by men who expected women to be frightened of them.
Bandages covered his forehead. One eye was swollen nearly shut.
Vincent stood beside his hospital bed without speaking.
They had known each other since they were boys.
They had stolen apples from a grocer on Arthur Avenue together.
Fought older kids together.
Built companies together.
Buried Vincent's wife and son together.
Anthony had once been the person Vincent trusted most in the world.
Now Vincent looked at him as if he were a stranger.
“You ordered Daniel Carter's death?”
Anthony stared at the blanket.
“Yes.”
Claire stood near the door.
She had insisted on hearing the truth herself.
Detective Brooks waited beside her, recording every word.
Anthony glanced toward Claire.
“I am sorry.”
Claire's expression turned cold.
“Don't say that.”
“I need you to understand—”
“My husband died alone on a sidewalk twenty-seven floors below where he was working.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No. You know a line in a report. I knew the man.”
Vincent's fists tightened.
“Why?”
Anthony looked at him.
“Because I was weak.”
“That's not an answer.”
“Gabriel had been cutting corners for years. Procurement fraud, bribes, substitutions. I discovered it after Daniel came to me.”
“So you protected your brother.”
“Yes.”
“By killing a man?”
Anthony began crying.
It did not move Claire.
“I told Gabriel to scare Daniel,” he said. “Make him hand over the files. I said no permanent harm.”
Claire whispered, “And you believed your brother?”
Anthony shook his head.
“I wanted to.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“What happened?”
“Gabriel paid a site supervisor to tamper with the platform.”
Claire's knees nearly buckled.
Detective Brooks supported her arm.
Anthony continued.
“I learned afterward.”
“And you covered it up.”
“Yes.”
Vincent's voice became barely audible.
“You used my company.”
Anthony looked away.
“Yes.”
“You used my lawyers.”
“Yes.”
“My money.”
“Yes.”
“My name.”
Anthony finally met his eyes.
“Yes.”
Vincent turned toward the window.
For years, newspapers had accused him of being dangerous.
He had always believed his enemies exaggerated.
He suddenly understood something worse.
A powerful man did not need to commit every crime personally.
Sometimes power created shadows where other men committed them on his behalf.
And if he refused to look into those shadows, he remained responsible.
“Why poison me now?”
Anthony shook his head.
“I didn't.”
“Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You were going to audit Moretti Development.”
Vincent remembered.
Two months earlier, he had ordered an independent financial review before taking several companies public.
“He thought I'd find the old fraud.”
“He knew you would.”
“And Lily?”
“Gabriel saw her watching him near Broadway.”
Claire stepped closer.
“What exactly did she see?”
“He slipped a concentrated dose into Vincent's coffee earlier, but the poison didn't act quickly enough. He followed Vincent, afraid he'd survive long enough to realize something was wrong.”
Vincent frowned.
“Lily said he grabbed my arm.”
Anthony nodded.
“He was checking whether you were conscious. She saw the ring.”
Claire's face hardened.
“So he threatened my child because she remembered jewelry?”
“He panicked.”
Vincent turned.
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You always know.”
“Not anymore.”
Anthony coughed painfully.
“He emptied an offshore account two days ago.”
Marco, standing near the door, immediately took out his phone.
“How much?”
“About fourteen million.”
“Destination?”
“Multiple transfers.”
Vincent leaned over Anthony.
“You're going to give Detective Brooks everything.”
“I already am.”
“Everything, Anthony.”
“I know.”
“Every company. Every payment. Every person.”
Anthony nodded.
Vincent's voice broke slightly.
“Why didn't you come to me when Daniel warned you?”
Anthony looked at his oldest friend.
“Because Gabriel was my little brother.”
“So was I.”
The words silenced the room.
Anthony began crying harder.
Vincent walked out.
Claire followed several minutes later.
She found him alone in an empty hospital chapel.
He sat in the last row.
She almost left.
Then Vincent said, “I should have known.”
Claire sat several seats away.
“Yes.”
He looked at her, surprised.
She continued.
“You were the man at the top. You should have known.”
Most people would have comforted him.
Claire did not.
“But not knowing is not the same as ordering Daniel's death.”
Vincent stared forward.
“Does that distinction matter to you?”
“Today? I don't know.”
“Fair.”
Claire clasped her hands.
“I spent three years imagining the moment Daniel fell.”
Vincent said nothing.
“I wondered if he had time to be scared.”
Her voice trembled.
“If he thought about Lily.”
Vincent swallowed.
Claire wiped her eyes.
“And now I know another human being decided his life was worth less than a secret.”
“I'm going to make this public.”
Claire looked at him.
“Everything?”
“Everything.”
“Your company will be destroyed.”
“Maybe.”
“You could lose billions.”
“Yes.”
“Investors will sue.”
“Yes.”
“People will blame you.”
“They should.”
Claire studied him.
That answer mattered.
“Then do it.”
Vincent nodded.
His phone rang.
Marco.
Vincent answered.
“Tell me.”
“Gabriel's money trail ends in New Jersey.”
“Where?”
“Private airfield near Teterboro.”
“He's leaving.”
“Maybe.”
Vincent stood.
“Send police.”
“Already did.”
Claire saw his expression.
“What?”
Vincent ended the call.
“They found a chartered jet reserved under a false name.”
“When does it leave?”
“Forty minutes.”
Detective Brooks appeared in the chapel doorway.
“We're moving.”
Vincent approached.
“I'm coming.”
“No, you're not.”
“He tried to kill me.”
“Which is exactly why you're staying here.”
Vincent glared.
Brooks ignored him.
“Marco gave us everything. Let us do our job.”
Claire surprisingly agreed.
“She is right.”
Vincent stared at her.
“You too?”
“If Gabriel wants you dead, arriving at his escape route is not intelligent.”
Marco arrived behind Brooks.
“Finally, someone understands.”
Vincent reluctantly stayed.
Thirty-seven minutes later, Brooks called.
The plane was there.
Gabriel wasn't.
Security cameras showed him arriving in a black Range Rover.
Then leaving seven minutes later.
“Why?” Vincent asked.
“We don't know.”
Marco's second phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed instantly.
“What?”
Vincent watched him.
Marco ended the call slowly.
“Gabriel didn't go to the airport to leave.”
“Then why?”
“To make us think he was leaving.”
Claire felt a chill.
Marco looked directly at her.
“Your apartment building's fire alarm went off twenty minutes ago.”
“My apartment?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
Claire suddenly understood.
“My husband's evidence.”
Vincent turned.
“The USB.”
“It isn't here.”
Everyone stared at her.
“I made a copy before we went to the hospital.”
“Where?”
Claire went pale.
“I gave it to Mrs. Hernandez upstairs.”
Vincent grabbed his phone.
“Get officers there now.”
Marco was already calling.
But in Claire's apartment building, Mrs. Hernandez opened her door after hearing three heavy knocks.
A polite man in a maintenance uniform stood outside.
“Gas inspection.”
She frowned.
“At this hour?”
May you like
He smiled.
Then she noticed the ruby-red ring on his hand.
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