“I needed them to believe it.”
“You could have told me!”
“I couldn’t.”
She stared at him.
Then suddenly she realized something.
“You knew they were coming.”
“Yes.”
“You knew they would use my father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I would run.”
“Yes.”
Eliza stepped back.
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at her for a long moment.
“Because I needed them to lead me to Blackwood.”
Blackwood’s estate stood twenty miles north of Redemption.
It was enormous.
A mansion built from imported stone.
Iron gates.
Armed guards.
And beneath it, according to Gabriel, a network of tunnels.
“Why are we going there?” Eliza whispered.
“Because your father is there.”
“And Blackwood?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re going to kill them?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
That frightened her more than anything.
They entered through an old drainage tunnel beneath the estate.
Gabriel moved silently.
Eliza followed.
At the end of the tunnel, they heard voices.
They stopped.
Blackwood was speaking.
“You promised me the ledger.”
A second voice answered.
Eliza knew it instantly.
Her father’s.
“I need more time.”
“You’ve had three years.”
“Please.”
Blackwood laughed.
“Your daughter is the final payment.”
Eliza covered her mouth.
Gabriel looked at her.
She was shaking.
Her father continued.
“You said she would only work off the debt.”
“That was before you stole from me.”
“I didn’t steal it.”
Blackwood slapped him.
The sound echoed through the room.
“You did.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Eliza had never seen hatred like it.
Blackwood continued.
“The ledger tells me where every dollar went. Judges. Sheriffs. landowners. Politicians.”
He lowered his voice.
“And it tells me who helped you.”
Eliza’s father whispered:
“Gabriel Vale.”
Eliza looked at Gabriel.
His face was empty.
Blackwood laughed.
“The great Gabriel Vale.”
Eliza turned.
“What does he mean?”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Gabriel.”
Silence.
Then her father spoke again.
“She doesn’t know, does she?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“What?”
“That you aren’t here to rescue her.”
Eliza’s heart stopped.
Her father continued.
“You’re here because she is the only person who can open the safe.”
Gabriel looked at Eliza.
She felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“What safe?”
Her father laughed bitterly.
“The one your mother died protecting.”
The world seemed to tilt.
Eliza stared at Gabriel.
“My mother?”
He didn’t answer.
“Tell me.”
“Eliza—”
“Tell me!”
Her voice echoed through the tunnel.
Gabriel finally spoke.
“Your mother was not who you thought she was.”
Eliza shook her head.
“My mother died when I was six.”
“That’s what you were told.”
“By my father.”
“Yes.”
“Was she alive?”
Gabriel’s silence answered.
Eliza’s face went white.
“My mother is alive?”
“No.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Gabriel reached inside his coat.
He removed a small silver locket.
