Chapter 6 - GABRIEL OPENED HIS EYES
Gabriel regained consciousness on the ninth day.
His first words were Ellie's name. His second question was whether the Northbridge vote had happened.
That order revealed the problem everyone around him had avoided.
Doctors found no major brain injury, but sedation and poor circulation had affected his memory. He recalled Adrian arriving, dismissing Sheila, and asking him to sign a revised voting document. He remembered refusing. He remembered giving Ellie the phone.
He did not clearly remember being restrained or seeing the syringe.
“Did Adrian say he intended to kill you?” Ortiz asked.
Gabriel closed his eyes. “I remember believing he would. I don't remember the exact words.”
His uncertainty strengthened his credibility but weakened the simple case prosecutors wanted.
The family court allowed supervised video calls with Ellie. Gabriel apologized without defending himself.
“I made you carry something that belonged with adults,” he told her. “You should never have had to save me.”
Ellie asked whether he was still going to die.
“Not tonight,” he said. “And next time I'm scared, I call grown-ups before I call you.”
Bell Meridian's board placed both brothers on leave and appointed an interim chief executive. Gabriel objected, then withdrew the objection. His illness and concealed symptoms were legitimate governance concerns.
The independent committee rejected Northbridge's current offer but opened a competitive financing process. Employees would not be forced to choose between Adrian's deal and collapse.
Investigators examined the original voting proxy. Gabriel had signed it knowingly. Adrian did not forge the authority he later tried to exploit.
The revised document Adrian brought to the library was different. It extended his voting control for seven years and approved the Chestnut Advisory payment. A draft on Adrian's laptop contained a signature block for Gabriel.
No signed copy was found.
Then forensic analysts discovered pressure marks on the leather writing pad beside Gabriel's chair. A sheet had been signed there before police arrived.
The top page was missing.
One guard, Calvin Ross, admitted Adrian had handed him an envelope and ordered him to burn it after Mara entered.
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Calvin had not burned it.
He had hidden it in his car.
