Chapter 5 - The Confession
Everett stared at Gabriel, his shoulders slumped, his eyes haunted by a desperate, trapped look.
"Let me in, Gabriel," Everett whispered, his voice trembling. "Marlene's gone to her sister's house in Bridgeport, but... I couldn't go with her. I had to come back."
Gabriel didn't move. "You have no business being here, Dad. You helped her steal from your own granddaughter."
"I know," Everett choked out, a tear finally cutting a clean path down his weathered cheek. "God help me, I know. But you don't understand the whole story. You think we just decided to be greedy monsters."
"You forged my signature twenty times and stole a quarter of a million dollars," Gabriel said coldly. "What possible context justifies that?"
"Debt, Gabriel," Everett sobbed, gripping the doorframe for support. "Not luxury cars, not vacations. Debt. Marlene got mixed up in online investment schemes two years ago—cryptocurrency scams, high-yield fraud. She lost our life savings, then she started borrowing against our home equity line of credit. When the banks threatened foreclosure last year, she panicked. She found the trust paperwork in your file cabinet and... and she forced me to help her forge the first withdrawal."
Gabriel stared at his father, the anger in his chest shifting into a heavy, suffocating weight. "She dragged you into a federal crime to cover her gambling and scam losses?"
"She threatened to walk out, to leave me with nothing," Everett whispered, his head hanging low. "I was weak. I let her do it. But tonight, when you threw us out... she tried to log into the trust account from her phone to transfer the remaining balance into an offshore wallet. She's planning to run, Gabriel. She's going to strip that trust clean by morning, and she doesn't care who goes to prison for it."
Gabriel's blood ran cold. The online security alert he had received twenty minutes ago wasn't a fluke. Marlene was actively trying to liquidate the entire portfolio.
"Where is she?" Gabriel demanded, grabbing his father by the lapel of his jacket. "Where is she going?"
"Her sister's place in Bridgeport," Everett gasped. "But she has a laptop, she has your forged power-of-attorney documents... Gabriel, you have to stop her before she cleans out Amelia's future completely."
Gabriel let go of his father's jacket, stepping back into the foyer. He grabbed his car keys off the entryway table.
"Stay here," Gabriel ordered, his voice brooking no argument. "Don't touch anything. Don't leave."
May you like
He slammed the front door, sprinted to his car, and threw open the driver's side door. As he turned the ignition, he called Marcus Vance back on speakerphone.
"Marcus, change of plans," Gabriel barked as the engine roared to life. "We aren't waiting until 7:00 a.m. My mother is attempting an asset flight right now. I'm heading to Bridgeport to intercept her, and I need you to call the state police to meet me there."
