“Boss, we have a problem. Nathan just arrived at the estate.”

Gabriel stared at the screen.

His younger brother was standing downstairs, probably expecting the usual Thursday evening dinner, completely unaware that his name had just appeared in a folder containing evidence of betrayal, stolen money, and secret meetings with Victor Cain.

Gabriel slipped the micro SD card into his desk drawer.

“Don’t let him know I’ve seen anything.”

Marco replied immediately.

“Understood.”

Gabriel looked toward the hallway.

Lily’s bedroom door was slightly open. He could hear her talking to Mr. Honey, explaining that Bruno was still in trouble and wasn’t allowed near her toys.

For a moment, Gabriel considered sending Nathan away.

But then he remembered Daniel’s handwritten warning.

If you ever find this, do not trust the first answer.

He needed to know how much his brother had been involved.

And more importantly, he needed to know why Daniel had hidden the evidence inside Lily’s teddy bear.

When Gabriel entered the dining room, Nathan stood beside the fireplace holding a bottle of expensive wine.

“Big brother!”

He smiled and opened his arms.

Gabriel returned the embrace.

For three years, that gesture had felt natural.

Tonight, it felt like embracing a stranger.

“You’re late,” Gabriel said.

“Traffic. You know how Chicago is.”

Nathan poured himself a drink.

“Where’s Olivia? And where’s our little princess?”

“Upstairs.”

“Still awake?”

“She has questions about her teddy bear.”

Nathan laughed.

“That little troublemaker. I should buy her another one.”

Gabriel watched him carefully.

“Daniel bought that bear.”

Nathan’s hand stopped halfway toward his glᴀss.

Only for a second.

Then he smiled.

“Right. I remember.”

Gabriel sat down.

“Do you?”

Nathan looked at him.

“What?”

“Daniel. Do you remember the last time you saw him?”

The room became strangely quiet.

“Of course. Why are you asking?”

“Just thinking about old friends.”

Nathan lowered his glᴀss.

“Daniel was loyal. We all miss him.”

Gabriel nodded slowly.

Then he asked the question he’d been waiting to ask.

“Did you ever meet Victor Cain?”

Nathan’s expression barely changed.

“Victor? The old bastard from the South Side?”

“That’s him.”

“Not personally. Why?”

Gabriel leaned back.

“Interesting.”

Nathan frowned.

“What’s interesting?”

“Nothing.”

They continued dinner, but the conversation never recovered.

Nathan talked about business, the shipping schedule, and a property acquisition in Toronto.

Gabriel listened.

Every sentence sounded rehearsed.

Finally, Nathan stood.

“I should get going. I’ve got an early meeting.”

Gabriel nodded.

“Of course.”

Nathan reached the doorway.

Then Gabriel spoke.

“One more thing.”

Nathan turned.

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember the north dock? Three trucks. Four in the morning. A manifest listing textiles?”

Nathan’s face went completely still.

The wineglᴀss slipped slightly in his hand.

“Where did you hear that?”

Gabriel smiled without warmth.

“That’s what I wanted to know.”

For several seconds, neither brother moved.

Then Nathan laughed.

“You’re tired, Gabriel. You’ve been working too much.”

He walked out.

Gabriel waited until the front door closed.

Then he called Marco.

“Follow him.”

“Understood.”

“And Marco?”

“Yes, boss?”

“Don’t touch him. I want to know where he goes and who he meets.”

At 10:40, Olivia found Gabriel sitting alone in his study.

She carried two cups of tea.

“You’re still working?”

He looked up.

“Something like that.”

She placed a cup beside him.

“Is it about Daniel?”

Gabriel froze.

Olivia sat opposite him.

“I saw your face when Lily brought you that bear. You looked like you’d seen a ghost.”

He studied her.

“How much did Daniel tell you before he died?”

Her expression changed.

“Why?”

“Just answer me.”

Olivia looked down at her hands.

“Three weeks before the accident, Daniel came to see me. He was frightened.”

“Of what?”

“He said someone was stealing from the company. He believed someone close to the family was involved.”

Gabriel’s jaw тιԍнтened.

“Did he mention Nathan?”

Olivia shook her head.

“Not directly.”

“Did he leave anything with you?”

She hesitated.

Then she reached into her handbag and removed a small folded pH๏τograph.

It showed Daniel holding Lily as a newborn.

On the back was a handwritten message.

If Gabriel ever finds the bear, tell him to look beyond the money.

Gabriel read it twice.

“Why didn’t you show me this before?”

“Because Daniel made me promise not to.”

“Why?”

Olivia’s eyes filled with tears.

“Because he said the person responsible might be someone you loved more than your own life.”

Gabriel slowly placed the pH๏τograph on his desk.

His brother.

The man he’d protected since childhood.

The man who had just sat across from him at dinner.

Suddenly, the room felt very small.

At 12:16 a.m., Marco called.

“Boss, Nathan didn’t go home.”

“Where is he?”

“An old warehouse near the river.”

Gabriel stood immediately.

“Who is he meeting?”

There was a pause.

“Victor Cain.”

Gabriel closed his eyes.

For a moment, he saw Nathan at seventeen, sitting beside his hospital bed after the stabbing.

Then he saw the pH๏τograph from Daniel’s memory card.

His brother standing beside the man who had spent years trying to destroy their family.

“Send me the location.”

“Boss, there’s something else.”

“What?”

“Victor wasn’t alone.”

“Who was with him?”

Marco lowered his voice.

“Someone we’ve been looking for since Daniel died.”

Gabriel gripped the phone.

“Name.”

“Richard Voss.”

Gabriel went completely still.

Richard Voss had been Daniel’s closest business ᴀssociate.

He had supposedly died in a warehouse explosion three years earlier.

The same explosion that had taken Daniel’s life.

Gabriel’s voice dropped.

“You’re certain?”

“I saw his face.”

Gabriel looked at the locked folder on his laptop.

The folder Daniel had deliberately made difficult to access.

Perhaps the money transfers and Nathan’s betrayal were only the beginning.

“Get everyone ready,” Gabriel ordered. “But nobody fires unless I give the command.”

“Understood.”

He reached for his coat.

Then a tiny voice came from the doorway.

“Mr. Gabriel?”

He turned.

Lily stood there in her pajamas, holding Mr. Honey.

“Where are you going?”

Gabriel immediately softened his expression.

“Just taking care of something, princess.”

She rubbed her eyes.

“Are you going to be home tomorrow?”

He knelt in front of her.

“Yes.”

“Promise?”

He looked at the little girl whose father had died protecting a secret and whose mother had unknowingly brought that secret into his home.

“I promise.”

Lily hugged his neck.

Then she whispered:

“Uncle Nathan came to see me yesterday.”

Gabriel stopped breathing.

“What did you say, sweetheart?”

“He asked about Mr. Honey.”

Gabriel slowly pulled back.

“What did he ask?”

Lily hugged the teddy bear тιԍнтer.

“He wanted to know if I still played with him.”

Gabriel kept his voice gentle.

“And what did you tell him?”

“That he’s my favorite.”

She looked down at the bear.

“Then Uncle Nathan said I should give him to him because he used to belong to Daddy.”

A cold feeling moved through Gabriel’s chest.

“Did you give him the bear?”

Lily shook her head.

“No. I told him Mr. Honey was mine.”

Gabriel kissed her forehead.

“You did the right thing.”

But Lily wasn’t finished.

She looked toward the hallway, then whispered something that made Gabriel’s blood run cold.

“Uncle Nathan also said Daddy was a bad man.”

Gabriel stared at her.

“What?”

“He said Daddy stole money and made people angry. He said that’s why Daddy went away.”

A tear slipped down Lily’s cheek.

“Mr. Gabriel, was my daddy bad?”

Gabriel pulled her into his arms.

“No, sweetheart. Your daddy was a good man.”

“Then why did Uncle Nathan say that?”

Gabriel had no answer.

Not yet.

He carried Lily back to her bedroom, tucked her beneath the blankets, and placed Mr. Honey beside her pillow.

Then he returned to his study.

He opened Daniel’s encrypted folder again.

This time, he noticed something beneath the pᴀssword prompt.

A small message.

THREE PEOPLE KNOW THE TRUTH. ONE IS ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. ONE IS LYING. ONE IS PROTECTING THE CHILD.

Gabriel stared at the screen.

Then he heard his phone vibrate.

A message from Marco.

12:31 A.M. — UNKNOWN NUMBER

A second message arrived.

It contained a pH๏τograph.

Gabriel opened it.

The image showed Daniel standing outside the Moretti estate on the night he died.

Beside him stood a woman.

Gabriel enlarged the pH๏τograph.

His face went pale.

It was Olivia.

And beneath the pH๏τograph was one final sentence:

“Ask your maid what happened the night Daniel died.”

Gabriel slowly lowered his phone.

For the first time in years, he didn’t know whom to trust.

Not his brother.

Not his business partners.

Not even the woman who had been raising Daniel’s daughter under his roof.

Then he looked toward Lily’s bedroom.

Whatever the truth was, one thing had become certain.

He would not allow anyone to use that little girl to finish what they had started three years ago.

And tomorrow morning, Gabriel Moretti was going to discover why Daniel had hidden the evidence inside the one toy Lily refused to sleep without.