“You told me you barely knew Gabriel.”
“I did barely know him.”
“He was investigating you.”
“He was confused and paranoid.”
Daniel suddenly spoke.
“The plane.”
Everyone looked at him.
He pressed his palm against the scar on his temple.
“I remember the plane.”
Emilia moved closer.
“What do you remember?”
“The smell of fuel. A red warning light. Someone shouting that the navigation system had failed.”
His breathing quickened.
“There was another man in the cockpit. He had a ring with a black stone.”
Victor slipped his right hand into his pocket.
Emilia had noticed that ring many times. Victor claimed it had belonged to his father.
She had never questioned it.
Daniel looked directly at him.
“You were there.”
Victor’s calm expression finally cracked.
“That is impossible.”
“You were standing near the hangar.”
“I was in London on the night of the crash.”
“No,” Daniel said. “You wanted me to sign something. I refused.”
Victor backed toward the door.
The twins moved closer to Emilia.
Nora’s voice was very small.
“Mom, is Victor a bad man?”
Emilia kept her eyes on her husband.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Yes, you do,” Victor said.
The softness in his voice frightened her more than anger would have.
For years he had been patient, attentive and dependable. He had helped her survive grief. He had raised the twins as though they were his own. He had stood beside Emilia at every public ceremony and every private collapse.
Now his familiar face looked like a mask.
Victor locked the library door.
Daniel placed himself between Victor and the children.
“What did you do to me?”
Victor sighed.
“You were supposed to die in the crash.”
Elsie began crying.
Emilia held both girls against her.
Victor continued as calmly as if discussing a delayed business meeting.
“The aircraft went down in the mountains. We found you before the rescue teams did. You had severe head trauma and no identification. Moving you was easier than expected.”
“Who is ‘we’?” Emilia asked.
The answer came from the corridor.
“I believe he means me.”
A woman’s silhouette appeared behind the glass panel in the door.
Emilia recognized the voice immediately.
Her mother, Beatrice Grant.
Victor unlocked the door, and Beatrice entered.
She was seventy-two, silver-haired and perfectly composed. She had controlled the Grant family for decades without ever raising her voice.
She looked at Daniel without surprise.
“So the hospital finally lost him.”
Emilia felt as though the floor had disappeared.
“You knew he was alive.”
Beatrice removed her gloves.
“I knew there was a possibility.”
“Do not lie to me.”
“Very well. Yes, I knew.”
Daniel leaned against the desk, struggling to remain upright.
“Why?”
Beatrice looked at him with cold disappointment.
“You were going to destroy everything my family built.”
“I was exposing theft.”
“You were preparing a scandal. Investors would have fled. Thousands of employees might have lost their jobs.”
Victor glanced toward her.
“That was never our agreement.”
Beatrice ignored him.
Emilia could barely form the words.
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“It was not empty. The remains of the pilot were inside.”
Nora screamed and covered her ears.
Emilia rushed the children into the small reading alcove.
“Do not listen,” she whispered. “Stay together.”
When she returned, Daniel was staring at Beatrice.
“You erased me.”
“We gave you excellent medical care.”
“Under a false name.”
“It was necessary.”
“You kept me from my wife and daughters.”
Beatrice’s expression remained unmoved.
“You remembered nothing. For years you were barely aware of your surroundings.”
“And when his memory began returning?” Emilia demanded.
Beatrice glanced at Victor.
“He handled it.”
Victor’s confidence vanished.
“That was not my decision.”
“You transferred Gabriel to Saint Orison,” Emilia said. “You visited him.”
Victor looked toward the rain-darkened windows.
“At first, I only delivered reports to your mother.”
“At first?”
“Then Gabriel began saying your name.”
Emilia felt sick.
“He remembered me.”
“Fragments of you.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I loved you.”
Daniel laughed once, bitterly.
Victor stepped toward Emilia.
“You were alone. You could barely get out of bed. The company was collapsing. The twins needed someone. I became that person.”
“You became my husband because you stole the truth from me.”
“I saved you.”
“You built our marriage beside a living man’s grave.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“You chose me.”
“I chose you because you made certain I had no other choice.”
Beatrice struck the desk with her cane.
“Enough. The evidence in the observatory must be destroyed before anyone else learns about it.”
Emilia looked toward the ceiling.
The observatory occupied the tower above the west wing.