Gabriel Had Been Loyal to the Wrong Person Before He Was Loyal to Sebastian
Chapter 07 - Gabriel Had Been Loyal to the Wrong Person Before He Was Loyal to Sebastian
Gabriel asked to meet me.
I said no.
Then yes, with Rachel present.
Not because I feared him physically.
Because memory becomes slippery around guilt.
We met in Rachel’s office.
Gabriel looked tired.
No expensive watch.
I noticed.
He sat.
“I’m sorry about the ten thousand.”
“You’re sorry now?”
“Yes.”
“Why was it coded medical acquisition?”
“Because that security account has limited categories.”
“That is an absurd sentence.”
“I know.”
“Did Sebastian tell you to investigate my finances?”
“No.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To know whether money would make you easier to hire.”
He did not hide behind safety.
I respected that more than I wanted.
“You used Oliver.”
“Yes.”
“You mentioned him because you thought I would say yes if I believed you could reach my son.”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“That was a threat.”
“Yes.”
Rachel stayed silent.
Good lawyer.
I continued.
“Did Sebastian know?”
“No.”
“Would you have told him?”
“Probably not.”
Honest.
Ugly.
Then Gabriel said:
“I learned it from Carlo.”
The sentence could have become an excuse.
He did not let it.
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
“When I was twenty-two, Carlo taught me that information keeps people safe because it tells you where pressure will come from.”
He looked at his hands.
“I stopped noticing the difference between knowing vulnerability and using it.”
That sounded like the whole Lombardi family.
Then Rachel asked about Margaret’s letter.
Gabriel repeated what we knew.
He gave it to Carlo.
Did not read all of it.
Then 2008.
Sebastian saw toe movement.
Gabriel remembered.
More than he had admitted.
Sebastian called Hall.
Hall came to the house.
Tested him.
Said reflex.
Sebastian demanded another specialist.
Gabriel was told to cancel the appointment because Sebastian had become “fixated.”
“Did you?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
I stared.
“What?”
“I called the office.”
“Why?”
“Carlo told me Sebastian had stopped sleeping. He was refusing pain medication. He had smashed a mirror after Hall left.”
“That is not medical authority.”
“I know.”
“Did Sebastian know you canceled?”
“No.”
My stomach turned.
“How many times?”
“One appointment.”
“One is enough.”
“Yes.”
Rachel asked:
“Anything else?”
Gabriel took time.
Then:
“In 2011, he asked me to find Naomi Keane.”
Sebastian’s original surgeon.
My body went cold.
“I found her practice.”
“What did you do?”
“I gave the number to Carlo.”
Of course.
“Did Sebastian get it?”
“I don’t know.”
He did not.
We knew.
Gabriel looked at me.
“I spent years thinking I protected him from people who wanted access.”
“And?”
“I was protecting Carlo’s access.”
That landed.
Then the final question.
“Why are you telling us now?”
Gabriel looked toward the window.
“Because Sebastian fired me.”
I blinked.
“When?”
“This morning.”
Not dramatic.
No shouting.
Sebastian removed him as head of personal security.
Gabriel remained available for investigation.
No estate access.
No medical access.
No private information.
“Did he forgive you?”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“No.”
“Do you think he should?”
“No.”
Then Rachel slid a consent form across.
“Would you testify about the 2008 cancellation and Carlo’s instructions?”
Gabriel signed.
No bargain.
No job promised.
Then he said:
“There’s something else.”
Of course.
The rehab video.
The mini-DV cassette had timecode gaps.
Rachel’s forensic technician recovered metadata from a second tape stored in Hall’s cabinet.
Longer footage.
Margaret O’Donnell working with Sebastian.
Toe movement.
Ankle flicker.
Left thigh contraction.
Not walking.
Not dramatic.
Repeated motor activity.
Then a conversation after Sebastian left the room.
Hall and Carlo.
Audio poor.
Enough.
Hall:
If Keane sees this, she’ll push revision.
Carlo:
And then?
Hall:
Maybe pain improves. Maybe some motor return. Maybe nothing. Surgery is risky.
Carlo:
What happens to the trust classification if there is motor return?
Hall:
That’s not my field.
Carlo:
It becomes mine if the bank decides “permanent” was premature.
Silence.
Then Hall:
I can document that function is nonfunctional and prognosis remains poor.
Carlo:
Do that.
Not:
Lie.
Not:
Paralyze him.
Do that.
Language narrow enough for conscience.
Wide enough for damage.
Rachel said the recording could transform the civil case.
Potential criminal financial fraud too, depending on use in bank certifications.
Carlo’s lawyers requested settlement discussion within twenty-four hours.
Sebastian refused immediate settlement.
Not out of revenge.
He wanted independent valuation first.
Growth.
Then I asked Gabriel:
“Why was Hall filming rehab?”
“Carlo requested private documentation for insurers and the trust.”
Everything circled back.
Sebastian’s body had been filmed to prove incapacity.
The same tape now proved retained function.
Then Gabriel handed Rachel a small envelope.
“What is that?”
“My resignation from every Lombardi security company.”
Rachel frowned.
“You don’t have to give me that.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“I don’t want Sebastian thinking I’m leaving because he fired me.”
“What do you want him thinking?”
“The truth.”
He took time.
“I don’t know how to do the job without becoming the person who decides what other people should know.”
That was more insight than I expected.
Then he left.
The next day, Sebastian called.
Not to discuss Gabriel.
He said:
“Dr. Chen wants me in inpatient rehab for three weeks.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“I hate it.”
“Also reasonable.”
“They have visiting hours.”
“Yes.”
“I hate those too.”
I smiled.
Then:
“Will you come?”
I looked at my calendar.
Job interviews.
Oliver’s pulmonology appointment.
Work.
Life.
“I can come Sunday.”
A pause.
“Sunday.”
Not now.
Not on command.
Sunday.
Then my email chimed.
St. Catherine Rehabilitation.
Offer.
Full-time staff therapist in neurologic outpatient rehab.
Benefits.
Pediatric insurance beginning first month.
Salary lower than I wanted.
Higher than I had.
I stared at it.
Then laughed.
Sebastian asked:
“What?”
“I got a job.”
“Where?”
“St. Catherine.”
Silence.
Then:
“Congratulations.”
No offer to improve it.
No call to a board member.
Just congratulations.
I almost loved him for that.
Almost.
Then Rachel texted.
CARLO’S VALUATION FILE CAME IN.
She attached one page.
The terminal assets Carlo acquired after Sebastian’s crash had been undervalued by nearly sixty million dollars in today’s terms.
But buried in the appraisal was another signature.
Not Carlo.
Not Hall.
Lorenzo Lombardi.
Sebastian’s father.
Dated three days before the crash.
May you like
He had already planned to transfer those terminals away from Sebastian.
The financial motive we thought explained everything might have started before Sebastian was ever injured.
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