Chapter 22 - SUNDAY LUNCH
Gabriel canceled Sunday lunch.
Martin arrived anyway.
He walked into the Tucson house carrying a bottle of wine and annoyance.
“What’s going on?”
Gabriel placed the disputed documents on the dining table.
Martin stopped.
Only for a second.
But Rachel saw it.
So did Gabriel.
“Where did you get those?”
“Claire.”
Martin’s face hardened.
“That woman?”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Careful.”
Martin looked at Rachel.
Then back at him.
“After everything she did?”
“What did she do?”
Martin stared at him.
“You know.”
“No.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I know what Dad said she did.”
Martin set the wine down.
“So now you’re rewriting history because she shows up crying?”
Rachel watched Gabriel’s hands.
Open.
Controlled.
He was trying not to become the man people expected him to be.
“Did you authorize these transfers?”
Martin glanced at the papers.
“No.”
“Your signature appears on three associated contracts.”
“I signed hundreds.”
“Did Dad tell you what the accounts were for?”
“No.”
“Did Claire?”
Martin paused.
Too long.
Gabriel noticed.
“What did she tell you?”
“Nothing useful.”
Rachel said quietly, “That wasn’t the question.”
Martin looked at her.
For the first time his composure cracked.
“You stay out of family business.”
Gabriel moved between them.
“Don’t speak to her like that.”
Martin laughed.
“There he is.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The man who forgets blood the second some woman decides he needs saving.”
Rachel felt the insult.
Gabriel felt something else.
Recognition.
“You said that before.”
Martin froze.
Gabriel stared at him.
“Fourteen years ago.”
A memory had surfaced.
At his father’s funeral, Martin had told him almost exactly the same thing about Claire.
Some woman deciding she needed to save him.
But Claire had already been gone for two years.
Gabriel had assumed Martin meant the audit.
Now the phrasing sounded different.
“You knew she contacted me.”
Martin looked away.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“How?”
Martin picked up his coat.
“This conversation’s over.”
Gabriel blocked the doorway.
“No.”
Martin looked at him.
Gabriel did not threaten him.
He simply said:
“My attorney already has copies.”
That changed everything.
Martin slowly removed his coat again.
Then he asked:
“How much did Claire tell you?”
May you like
Gabriel answered.
“Enough to know you’re scared.”
