Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER WHO WASN'T SUPPOSED TO EXIST
“Daniel Marlowe.”
The name hung in the hallway.
Gabriel felt as if someone had reached backward through decades and pulled a hidden thread through his entire life.
His wife's missing brother was alive.
And he had just left with Norah and the newborn twins.
“Where are they?”
Luca shook his head.
“They lost the trail outside the center.”
Gabriel's anger flared.
“You said you could find anyone.”
“I said I'd try.”
“Try harder.”
Luca didn't react.
Instead, he held out his phone.
“There is something you need to see.”
The screen showed security footage from the rehabilitation center.
Norah was wrapped in a dark coat.
One infant was strapped against her chest.
The other was carried in a small blanket by a gray-haired man.
Daniel.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
Norah looked exhausted.
But she wasn't afraid.
She was walking beside Daniel voluntarily.
That mattered.
“She trusts him,” Gabriel said.
“Yes.”
“Then we don't chase them.”
Luca looked surprised.
Gabriel continued.
“We find out why she went to him.”
They returned to the archive.
Miriam had remained behind.
She sat quietly, holding the old blue sweater.
Gabriel placed the photograph on the table.
“Tell me everything.”
Miriam looked at him.
“You won't like it.”
“I've stopped expecting to.”
She began.
Daniel had survived infancy.
Marianne had hidden him after Victor tried to use him as leverage.
He grew up under another name.
Eventually, he learned who he was.
But he never sought revenge.
“He wanted Norah to have a normal life,” Miriam said.
Gabriel frowned.
“Then why now?”
“Because he believed the Costa family was still watching her.”
Gabriel thought of the photograph.
The watch.
The note.
The warning.
“And he was right.”
Miriam nodded.
“Norah came to me three days ago because she discovered something.”
“What?”
“She found out that your father had protected Daniel.”
Gabriel stared.
“My father protected him?”
“Yes.”
Miriam handed him an envelope.
Inside was a letter from Gabriel's father.
It was dated seventeen years earlier.
Daniel,
I cannot undo what Victor did to your family. I can only make sure he never controls you again.
You are not responsible for the sins of men who came before you.
Norah must never become collateral damage.
Gabriel read the letter twice.
Then he noticed a second page.
It contained a list of names.
One name was circled.
Bianca Rinaldi.
Gabriel's stomach dropped.
“No.”
Luca took the page.
“Who is she?”
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
Bianca had always been presented as a glamorous stranger.
A woman he had met through business.
A woman who knew nothing about his family.
But the list said otherwise.
Miriam watched his face.
“You understand now.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Bianca knew about Norah.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She worked for Victor.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Gabriel remembered the previous night.
Bianca had asked questions.
Not about him.
About Norah.
Where she spent her time.
Who her doctors were.
When the babies were due.
He had dismissed it as jealousy.
Now every question felt different.
Luca swore quietly.
“Then Bianca may have been watching the house.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“But she didn't take the babies.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Miriam pointed to the letter.
“Because Victor didn't want the babies.”
Gabriel stared.
“He wanted Norah.”
“Why?”
“Because Norah knows where something is.”
“The ledger.”
Miriam nodded.
“Your father hid it.”
“Where?”
She shook her head.
“Norah doesn't know.”
Gabriel exhaled.
“Then what does she know?”
“That your father believed the ledger was connected to Daniel's disappearance.”
Gabriel looked at the child's drawing again.
The words seemed different now.
MY FAMILY IS COMING HOME.
He realized Norah had drawn it before she left.
She wasn't running blindly.
She was following a plan.
A plan she had built quietly while Gabriel thought she was simply becoming distant.
Luca suddenly looked at the photograph.
“There's something wrong.”
“What?”
“The man standing behind Norah's mother.”
Gabriel stared.
“Victor.”
“No.”
Luca pointed.
“Look at his left hand.”
Gabriel zoomed in.
Victor was holding something.
A small silver watch.
The same watch Gabriel had found beneath the bed.
But that wasn't what made his blood run cold.
Victor wasn't wearing it.
He was handing it to someone.
A second man.
Gabriel's father.
His father had received the watch from Victor.
And now Gabriel understood the note.
Don't trust Luca.
He turned toward his security chief.
“Did you know my father had the watch?”
Luca didn't answer.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
The admission came quietly.
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“How long?”
“Since the night your father died.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he ordered me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew you would blame me.”
“For what?”
Luca reached into his coat.
He removed an old envelope.
Inside was a bank photograph.
Gabriel stared.
It showed Luca meeting Norah two months before their wedding.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You knew her before I did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Luca's voice was tired.
“Because your father asked me to make sure she could leave if she ever needed to.”
Gabriel's anger faltered.
“You were protecting her.”
“Yes.”
“From me?”
“From what you might become.”
Gabriel looked away.
That hurt more than any accusation.
His phone rang.
This time, it wasn't a mysterious call.
It was a number he recognized.
Elise.
He answered.
“Gabriel, listen carefully.”
“What happened?”
“Norah came back.”
His heart jumped.
“Where?”
“She brought Daniel.”
“Are the babies safe?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
Elise hesitated.
“Not here.”
“Then where?”
“She left something for you.”
Gabriel's fingers tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“A watch.”
He looked at the old pocket watch in his hand.
Elise continued.
“Norah said you would understand.”
“What does it say?”
A pause.
Then Elise spoke.
“She said, ‘Tell Gabriel the babies are his. But the man who thinks he owns them is not their father.’”
The line went silent.
Gabriel stared at Luca.
“What does that mean?”
Luca's face had gone white.
“I don't know.”
For the first time, Gabriel believed him.
Then another message appeared on his phone.
A photograph.
Norah.
Holding both newborns.
Standing beside Daniel.
And behind them was a man Gabriel had not seen in twenty years.
Victor Vale.
May you like
Under the photograph were five words.
COME ALONE, OR SHE LEAVES FOREVER.
