Chapter 18
“We were three weeks from closing the port refinancing. The reinforcement order would have triggered a default review.”
“So you removed it.”
“I changed the urgency classification.”
“You erased a warning.”
“I intended to restore the work after refinancing.”
“But you did not.”
“Other problems came up.”
The words were ordinary.
That made them monstrous.
Other problems.
Meetings.
Shipments.
Cash flow.
A bridge carrying families over freezing water became a postponed item on a crowded calendar.
Gabriel rubbed both hands over his face.
“When it collapsed, I understood what I had done.”
“Elena died.”
“I know.”
“Sophia spent three years in a chair.”
“I know.”
“You let me blame the Castanos.”
“I needed you looking somewhere else.”
Luca’s chair scraped back.
Hayes lifted one hand.
“Stay seated.”
Gabriel looked toward me.
“The woman complicated everything.”
“My name is Hannah.”
“You described no explosion. You saw the maintenance vehicle leaving. If Luca heard you, he might have questioned sabotage.”
“So you told me to stop calling.”
“Yes.”
Sophia’s voice came from the doorway.
“You told them she was confused.”
Everyone turned.
She sat in her wheelchair beside Dr. Benton.
Luca stood immediately.
“Why is she here?”
“I asked Clare to bring me,” Sophia said. “Nobody gets to decide every truth is too big for me.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Sophia.”
“You made Daddy think bad men broke the bridge.”
“I was trying—”
“To keep your job?”
The simplicity of the question stripped away every complicated defense.
Gabriel looked at the table.
“Yes.”
Sophia began to cry.
Not because she did not understand.
Because she did.
Luca moved toward Gabriel.
His hands were empty.
That did not make the movement less frightening.
May you like
I stepped between them.
Luca stopped so abruptly his shoes struck the chair leg.
