Chapter 3 - The Woman Gideon Buried Two Years Ago Called Me From a Number Nobody Could Trace, and She Knew the One Secret He Had Never Told AnyoneThe call came at 2:14 a.m.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
“Is Gideon there?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Don't tell him it's me.”
I frowned.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“Elena.”
My heart stopped.
I handed him the phone.
He listened.
His face changed.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because they are listening.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.”
He closed his eyes.
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
“Then tell me where you are.”
“I need you to trust Clara.”
He looked at me.
My name.
She knew my name.
“How?”
“I've been watching you.”
The call ended.
Gideon stared at me.
“She knows you.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“But she said trust me.”
He nodded.
That was enough.
We moved carefully.
Elena sent instructions.
A bus station.
A locker.
A key.
Inside was a file.
The file revealed her years underground.
She had survived.
She had been hiding from Marco.
And she had been gathering evidence.
But she had one problem.
Gideon's poisoning wasn't Marco's idea alone.
He was working for someone higher.
Someone from Gideon's father's generation.
A man believed dead.
Richard Voss.
Former partner.
Former family friend.
And the man who had arranged Elena's disappearance.
We traced him.
He owned properties under false names.
One in Montreal.
One in New York.
One in Boston.
The Boston location was a private club.
We went there.
Gideon entered first.
I stayed behind.
Richard was waiting.
He looked old.
Calm.
Almost gentle.
“Your father would be proud.”
Gideon's expression hardened.
“What did you do to Elena?”
“I gave her a chance to live.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“She was going to destroy the family.”
“She loved me.”
“Exactly.”
Richard smiled.
“Love made her weak.”
Gideon's hand tightened.
“You poisoned me.”
Richard laughed.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“What's the right one?”
Richard leaned closer.
“Who benefits if you stop breathing?”
Gideon's eyes narrowed.
“Marco.”
Richard smiled.
“Marco is a knife.”
“Then who holds it?”
Richard didn't answer.
The club doors opened.
Marco walked in.
Alive.
Gideon turned.
Marco raised his hands.
“I don't want trouble.”
Gideon stared.
“You've been poisoning me.”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“You poured the whiskey.”
“Yes.”
“It contained thallium.”
“Yes.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Then you poisoned him.”
Marco shook his head.
“I was trying to keep him alive.”
Silence.
Gideon looked furious.
“Explain.”
Marco finally confessed.
Richard had been poisoning Gideon.
Marco discovered it months earlier.
He couldn't expose Richard without triggering a war.
So he secretly controlled the dosage.
But the plan failed.
Gideon's condition worsened.
Marco continued.
“I used the same glasses.”
“Why?”
“To make Richard think I was still cooperating.”
Gideon stared.
“And my doctors?”
“Compromised.”
“My medicine?”
“Compromised.”
“My food?”
“Compromised.”
“The glass?”
“Compromised.”
Gideon looked at me.
I understood.
The hand filling his glass belonged to Marco.
But the person ordering the poisoning was Richard.
Marco had been trying to outmaneuver him.
The question was why he never told Gideon.
“Because I knew Gideon wouldn't believe me.”
Marco's voice broke.
“Not after Elena.”
Gideon looked away.
“You should have told me.”
“I tried.”
“No.”
Gideon shook his head.
“You kept secrets.”
“So did she.”
He looked at the door.
“Elena.”
The room went silent.
She appeared.
Alive.
Older.
Thin.
But smiling.
Gideon stopped breathing.
She walked toward him.
“I’m sorry.”
He couldn't move.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every person I trusted was watching.”
He stepped closer.
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I mourned you.”
“I know.”
“And I hated myself.”
“I know.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I wanted to come home.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because the man who poisoned you was still inside your life.”
Gideon looked at Richard.
Richard smiled.
Then pulled a gun.
Everything happened quickly.
Marco tackled him.
I screamed.
The gun went off.
Richard ran.
Gideon grabbed Elena.
She collapsed.
He held her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He kissed her forehead.
I looked away.
Some reunions were not meant to be watched.
But the story was not over.
Because Richard had escaped.
And he had one final weapon.
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He had taken control of Gideon's company through a hidden voting agreement.
The poison was only the beginning.
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