Chapter 16
Part 17: The Truth Behind the Collapse
The private medical facility was hidden behind high walls outside the capital.
By the time Sofia and Victor arrived with Captain Ward, police had already secured the grounds.
Adrian Vale was gone.
Thomas waited in the lobby.
Sofia rushed toward him.
"Why were you with Vale?"
Thomas stood.
"Because he contacted me."
"You should have told me."
"I thought I could get him to surrender the missing records."
Victor stepped forward.
"What happened to my father?"
Thomas's expression turned grim.
"Gabriel suffered a cardiac episode during their meeting.
He's stable, but unconscious."
Victor closed his eyes.
Sofia looked at Thomas.
"Why would Gabriel meet Vale after everything?"
"Because Vale threatened to release documents proving Gabriel had approved illegal financial transfers after Alexander died."
"Did he?"
Thomas nodded.
"Yes."
Sofia felt her stomach tighten.
"Then why not let the documents come out?"
Thomas looked toward the hospital corridor.
"Because Gabriel believed those records would implicate innocent officials and endanger people who cooperated with the old network under coercion."
Sofia folded her arms.
"That's what guilty men always say."
"Sometimes," Thomas replied, "guilty men are also afraid of what guilty men can do."
They entered Gabriel's room.
The king lay beneath white sheets, surrounded by monitors.
Without his uniform or crown, he looked painfully ordinary.
Victor stood beside the bed.
For a moment, Sofia wondered whether he was seeing the man who had raised him or the man who had ruined their family.
Perhaps both.
Gabriel opened his eyes.
"Victor."
The prince leaned closer.
"Father."
Gabriel looked at Sofia.
"You came."
"Not for you."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Fair enough."
He reached toward the bedside table.
There lay a sealed envelope.
"For Claire's daughter."
Sofia hesitated.
Then took it.
Inside was a handwritten confession.
Gabriel acknowledged signing the forged accusations against Claire.
He described Alexander's financial operations.
He named Adrian Vale as the architect of the surveillance network.
He admitted ordering Sofia monitored after discovering her application to the palace.
At the bottom, he wrote:
I believed I could protect the institution by sacrificing the people who threatened it.
I was wrong.
Sofia looked at him.
"Why write this now?"
Gabriel's voice was weak.
"Because I finally understood something your mother knew before I did."
"What?"
"A crown can't protect a lie forever."
Victor looked down.
Gabriel continued.
"I hired Adrian three days ago to recover documents I feared would be used to harm the Crown.
I believed I could control him.
I was wrong about that, too."
Sofia stared at the confession.
"You watched my mother suffer."
"Yes."
"You knew where she was."
"Yes."
"You could have helped her."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Tears burned behind Sofia's eyes.
She had waited her entire life to confront this man.
Now that he was admitting everything, she felt no triumph.
Only grief.
"My mother died afraid," she whispered.
Gabriel's face tightened.
"I know."
"No. You don't."
She folded the confession.
"You don't get forgiveness because you finally ran out of places to hide."
Gabriel nodded faintly.
"I know that, too."
Then Victor spoke.
"Father, I need to ask you about Jonathan Reed."
Gabriel's eyes opened.
"Your mother told you."
Victor nodded.
"Did you kill him?"
The king looked at his son.
"No."
"Then who did?"
Gabriel's face changed.
He turned toward Thomas.
"Tell him."
Thomas froze.
Sofia looked between them.
May you like
"Tell him what?"
Gabriel whispered, "Thomas was there when Jonathan died."
