Chapter 8 - THE SINS OF THE FATHER
Charles Navarro had been alive the entire time.
Gabriel had told Genevieve his father disappeared seven years earlier.
He had not said everyone believed him dead.
Nor had he said Gabriel had helped him disappear.
By dawn, they stood outside the burned wing of Navarro House.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
Genevieve appreciated that he didn't insult her with excuses.
“Why?”
“My father offered evidence against Whitmore years ago in exchange for protection.”
“To whom?”
“Federal authorities.”
“Then why hide him?”
“Because the agreement collapsed.”
Gabriel looked toward the burned windows.
“Someone inside the investigation leaked his location. I moved him before Whitmore could reach him.”
“And you've hidden him for seven years?”
“Yes.”
Genevieve folded her arms.
“Where?”
“Vermont.”
She stared.
“You hid a former organized-crime boss in Vermont?”
“He learned woodworking.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped her.
Gabriel stared.
Then he laughed too.
It was the first time Genevieve heard it.
Warm.
Unexpected.
Human.
The moment lasted only seconds.
Declan approached.
They had traced the kidnappers.
Charles was being held at an abandoned freight terminal once owned by Hayes Logistics.
Genevieve immediately understood.
“Preston had a backup plan.”
Although wounded and in custody, Preston still had loyal men outside.
Harrison’s network was collapsing. Arrests had begun. Bank accounts were frozen.
Someone wanted the final witness eliminated.
Federal agents surrounded the terminal.
Charles was recovered alive.
But the rescue brought another truth.
Charles demanded to see Genevieve.
He was older than she expected.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
Nothing like Gabriel.
“I knew your father,” he said.
Genevieve remained standing.
“Everyone seems to.”
Charles smiled sadly.
“Thomas was irritatingly decent.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He saved Gabriel.”
She looked at Gabriel.
“What?”
Charles glanced at his son.
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“Tell her.”
So Charles did.
Twenty-two years earlier, Maria Navarro had discovered the corruption network.
When Charles refused to help her expose it, she planned to leave with Gabriel.
Harrison discovered the plan.
A staged robbery was arranged.
Maria died.
Gabriel, then sixteen, was supposed to die too.
Thomas Hayes found out.
He secretly moved Gabriel out of the city hours before the attack.
Genevieve stared at Gabriel.
“You knew?”
“Not until years later.”
“Dad saved you.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“I didn't know how.”
Genevieve turned away.
The room blurred.
All this time, Thomas had been part of Gabriel’s life too.
Not closely.
But enough.
“He trusted you because of that.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No. Your father didn't trust easily. He contacted me because he knew I owed him a debt.”
Charles interrupted.
“That's not entirely true.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Charles smiled faintly.
“Thomas liked you.”
Gabriel appeared genuinely offended.
“He threatened to break my jaw.”
“He liked you cautiously.”
Genevieve laughed through tears.
That sounded exactly like her father.
Later, outside the terminal, Gabriel found her alone.
“Genevieve.”
She turned.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I've spent most of my life believing information keeps people alive.”
“Sometimes it does.”
“And sometimes hiding it hurts them.”
“Yes.”
He came closer.
“I don't know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“This.”
He gestured between them.
For once, Gabriel Navarro—the man everyone feared—looked uncertain.
Genevieve's heart softened.
“Try telling the truth.”
“I think about you constantly.”
She blinked.
“That was aggressively truthful.”
“You requested it.”
A smile pulled at her mouth.
He continued.
“I hated watching you walk into that estate. I hated every second you were near Preston. And when he pointed that gun at you, I understood that whatever happens after this, I don't want a life where I only know you're safe because someone else tells me.”
Genevieve's breath caught.
“Gabriel—”
“I know this isn't the time.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“It really isn't.”
Then she kissed him.
Gabriel froze for half a heartbeat.
His hand rose carefully to her cheek.
The kiss was nothing like the chaos surrounding them.
Slow.
Gentle.
Almost cautious.
When they separated, Genevieve rested her forehead against his.
“You're still keeping secrets.”
“One.”
She pulled back.
“What?”
Gabriel reached inside his coat.
He handed her an envelope.
Thomas's handwriting covered the front.
For Gabriel, when Jenny finally knows everything.
Genevieve stared at it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Charles.”
She opened it.
Inside was one page.
Thomas had written only a few lines.
Genevieve read them.
Then looked at Gabriel.
“What does it say?” he asked.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“My father knew.”
“Knew what?”
She handed him the letter.
Thomas's final line read:
If my daughter ever finds herself standing beside you, Gabriel, don't protect her by deciding for her. Stand beside her and let her decide who she wants to become.
Gabriel read it twice.
Then Genevieve noticed something beneath the letter.
A second document.
She unfolded it.
Her expression changed.
It was a birth certificate.
And the mother's name was:
Eleanor Whitmore.
May you like
But the child listed beneath it was not Preston.
It was Gabriel Navarro.
