Chapter 16 — The Man Who Ordered the Original Murder
They moved into the old wine cellar.
The fire upstairs had been contained.
But nobody trusted the building anymore.
Arthur sat against the wall, his shoulder bandaged.
Evelyn placed an old leather folder on the table.
“This belonged to Eda.”
Tessa stared at it.
“I've never seen it.”
“Because she didn't want you to.”
Evelyn opened the folder.
Inside was a single handwritten page.
At the top:
DECEMBER 2 — 11:40 P.M.
Below it were three names.
GABRIEL CALLAHAN.
DANIEL CALLAHAN.
ELIAS VALE.
Tessa's breathing stopped.
Ronan pointed to Elias's name.
“He was involved.”
Elias didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
Ronan's voice became cold.
“What did you do?”
“I helped your mother escape.”
“And then?”
“I failed her.”
“That's not an answer.”
Elias looked down.
“Your father found her.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“Crescent Island.”
Ronan closed his eyes.
For fourteen years, he'd imagined his mother dying alone.
A hospital room.
A gunshot.
A funeral.
A grave.
Now he learned she had survived.
And someone had hunted her.
Evelyn turned another page.
There was a photograph.
A man stood beside a black car.
His face was partially hidden.
But the ring was unmistakable.
Black onyx.
Tessa recognized it immediately.
“That's him.”
Arthur nodded.
“That's the man Eda feared.”
Ronan stared at the photograph.
“Gabriel?”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the man beside him.
“The man who gave Gabriel his orders.”
Ronan leaned closer.
His face slowly went pale.
Because he recognized him.
Not from his childhood.
Not from old photographs.
From his own life.
A man who had attended every major Callahan event.
A man who had advised Ronan after his father's death.
A man who had sat at his table.
A man everyone considered family.
Ronan whispered:
“Elias.”
Elias closed his eyes.
“No.”
Ronan looked at him.
“Then who?”
Arthur answered.
“Samuel Pierce.”
The dead doctor.
The doctor who signed the transfer.
The doctor who had supposedly died.
The doctor who had access to Ronan's mother at Mercy Home.
Marcus immediately understood.
“He controlled the medical records.”
“Yes.”
“He controlled the transfer.”
“Yes.”
“And he could falsify the death certificate.”
Arthur nodded.
“But that still doesn't make him the mastermind.”
Evelyn's hand trembled.
“No.”
She opened the final page.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
GABRIEL CALLAHAN.
Underneath it was one sentence:
REMOVE HER BEFORE SHE TALKS.
Ronan stared at it.
His father had signed the order.
But Evelyn shook her head.
“That isn't the original order.”
“What?”
She reached into the folder.
“Eda found the first one.”
She unfolded another document.
This one was older.
The handwriting was different.
The signature wasn't Gabriel's.
It belonged to someone else.
Someone who had controlled the Callahan empire from the shadows.
Someone who had moved money through Beaumont House.
Someone who had paid Arthur.
Daniel.
Samuel Pierce.
And Elias Vale.
Ronan looked at the name.
He couldn't breathe.
His entire body went rigid.
Tessa moved beside him.
“Ronan?”
He didn't answer.
Because the name on the page belonged to the man who had taught him everything about loyalty.
The man who had told him his mother died protecting him.
The man who had held him at her funeral.
The man who had promised:
One day, you'll understand why she had to die.
Ronan whispered:
“My father.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
She turned the page.
The real signature was underneath.
Gabriel Callahan was following his orders.
Ronan's eyes widened.
“Then whose?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Your grandfather's.”
Ronan stopped breathing.
His grandfather had supposedly died twelve years before.
Evelyn whispered:
“He wasn't dead.”
“He was the first architect.”
Ronan stepped backward.
“No.”
“He ordered the original murder.”
The room fell silent.
Then Elias spoke.
“He also ordered your mother's disappearance.”
Tessa looked at him.
“And where is he now?”
Elias looked toward the cellar door.
His face was suddenly terrified.
“Closer than you think.”
The door opened.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
“You should have left the dead buried.”
Ronan raised his gun.
May you like
And for the first time in fourteen years—
he heard his grandfather's voice.
