Chapter 4 - The Lie Between Them
Nora read the message again.
Then again.
As if repetition might make it less impossible.
It did not.
“My mother died in a car accident.”
Gabriel remained silent.
Nora looked up.
“Didn't she?”
His silence changed everything.
Her face slowly emptied.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You recognized something.”
“Nora—”
“You knew.”
“I knew her name.”
The confession came quietly.
Nora stepped backward.
“What?”
Gabriel removed his jacket and laid it over the chair with unnatural precision.
“When you first came to work for me, your surname bothered me.”
“Why?”
“Because my father once mentioned an Evelyn Hayes.”
Nora’s mother.
Her heartbeat accelerated.
“What did he say?”
“Very little.”
“Gabriel.”
“He said she saved his life.”
Nora stared.
“From what?”
“I never knew.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I have never lied to you.”
Her laugh was sharp.
“You never told me my mother knew your father.”
“That isn't the same as lying.”
“It is when you deliberately hide the truth.”
Gabriel absorbed the accusation.
For once, he did not fight back.
Nora’s eyes filled, but she refused to let the tears fall.
“My mother died when I was seventeen.”
“I know.”
“I spent years believing she fell asleep behind the wheel.”
Gabriel’s gaze hardened.
“I’m going to find out what happened.”
“No.”
He frowned.
“No?”
“You don't get to decide that.”
“Nora—”
“She was my mother.”
“And whoever sent that photograph put you inside this.”
“I was already inside it.”
Her voice broke.
“You just didn't tell me.”
That silenced him.
Nora turned toward the hallway.
“I’m leaving.”
“No.”
She faced him.
“Do not start.”
“You're not leaving while somebody is targeting you.”
“You don't own me.”
“I know.”
The answer came so quickly she stopped.
Gabriel approached slowly.
“I know that.”
Something in his voice was different.
No command.
No territorial anger.
Just fear.
“You want to hate me tonight? Hate me.”
He paused.
“You want to scream? Scream.”
Another step.
“But until I know who sent that photograph, please don't ask me to watch you walk into the street unprotected.”
Please.
Nora had heard Gabriel threaten judges more gently than most men requested dinner.
But she had almost never heard him say please.
Her anger remained.
Yet she stayed.
At dawn, Marco arrived carrying a sealed file.
He placed it on the table.
“I found the accident report.”
Nora sat opposite Gabriel.
Marco opened it.
Evelyn Hayes had died on October 17, eighteen years earlier.
The same date Vittorio Rossi had supposedly been murdered.
Nora looked at Gabriel.
Neither spoke.
Marco continued.
“Both deaths happened within ninety minutes.”
“Locations?” Gabriel asked.
“Vittorio was officially killed outside a warehouse near Cicero.”
“And Evelyn?”
“Lake Shore Drive.”
Marco hesitated.
“The officer who signed both initial reports was the same man.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Who?”
“Patrick Doyle.”
Nora frowned.
“Why does that name sound familiar?”
Gabriel knew.
His face became cold.
“Because Patrick Doyle is now Police Commissioner Doyle.”
The implications settled heavily.
Nora opened her mother's report.
One detail caught her eye.
PERSONAL EFFECTS RECOVERED.
Wallet.
Watch.
Earrings.
Silver ring.
She stopped breathing.
“Gabriel.”
He leaned over.
Nora pointed.
“A silver ring was recovered from my mother's car.”
Gabriel looked toward the braided band lying inside an evidence bag.
Someone had possessed it since the night Evelyn died.
Someone connected to the accident.
Someone had now returned it.
Marco's phone vibrated.
He answered.
Listened.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
Gabriel stood.
Marco ended the call.
“The alderman from dinner is dead.”
Nora went pale.
“How?”
“Car explosion.”
Gabriel's expression remained unreadable.
Marco continued.
“And there was something inside the vehicle.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
Gabriel already knew.
“Of Nora?”
Marco nodded.
Nora looked at Gabriel.
This was no longer jealousy.
No longer an old boyfriend.
Someone was dismantling their lives piece by piece.
Then Marco said the sentence that changed the investigation.
“The photograph was taken yesterday.”
May you like
He looked directly at Nora.
“Inside this penthouse.”
