Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE WATCH
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
Norah was alive.
The babies were alive.
Daniel was beside her.
And Victor stood behind them.
But something was wrong.
Norah wasn't looking at Victor.
She was looking directly at the camera.
Her expression was calm.
Not frightened.
Not pleading.
Calm.
Gabriel zoomed in.
Her right hand rested against the baby's blanket.
Between her fingers was the gold necklace she had taken from the house.
She was holding it in a particular way.
Three fingers around the pendant.
One finger underneath.
Gabriel remembered their wedding.
Norah had once told him that her mother taught her a childhood signal.
Three fingers meant wait.
One finger meant danger.
Gabriel stared at the photograph again.
Wait.
Danger.
She was sending him a message.
“She doesn't want me to come alone,” he said.
Luca looked at the photograph.
“She wants you to think she does.”
Gabriel nodded.
For the first time in hours, he felt something other than rage.
Hope.
Small.
Fragile.
But real.
He called no one.
He told no one where he was going.
Instead, he returned to his father's office.
He placed the pocket watch on the desk.
Then he opened the old family Bible.
His father had always kept it there.
Inside the back cover was a handwritten sentence.
Gabriel had never noticed it.
A Costa man who protects his name will lose his family. A Costa man who protects his family may lose everything else.
Gabriel read it twice.
Then he understood why Norah had left.
She hadn't disappeared to punish him.
She had disappeared because staying beside him had become dangerous.
Not because of Bianca.
Not because of jealousy.
Because Gabriel had inherited a world that was closing around her.
He had been so busy protecting his empire that he had never asked what his empire was doing to his wife.
Luca entered.
“Where are you going?”
Gabriel looked up.
“To bring them home.”
“You can't go alone.”
“I know.”
“Then who are you taking?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You.”
Luca blinked.
“You don't trust me.”
“I don't.”
“Then why?”
“Because if my father trusted you with Norah's life, I need to know why.”
Luca nodded.
They drove to the meeting location.
It was an abandoned lakeside restaurant outside the city.
Snow had begun falling.
The building stood empty beside Lake Michigan.
Gabriel entered through the side door.
No gunfire.
No ambush.
Just silence.
Then Daniel appeared.
He was older than Gabriel expected.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Tired eyes.
But there was something familiar about him.
The shape of his jaw.
The same eyes as Norah.
Daniel looked at Gabriel for several seconds.
“You look like your father.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I've heard that before.”
Daniel's expression didn't change.
“I don't mean it as a compliment.”
Gabriel accepted that.
“Where is Norah?”
“With the babies.”
“Are they safe?”
“Yes.”
“Why did she leave?”
Daniel studied him.
“She didn't leave because she hates you.”
Gabriel's throat tightened.
“She left because she finally understood that loving you wasn't enough to make your world safe.”
That hurt.
Because it was true.
Daniel continued.
“Norah discovered Victor had been looking for her for years.”
“Why?”
“Because he believes she has something your father hid.”
“The ledger.”
Daniel nodded.
“But that's not the real secret.”
Gabriel waited.
Daniel removed a small envelope from his coat.
Inside was a photograph.
Norah's mother stood beside Gabriel's father.
Between them was a newborn baby.
Daniel.
On the back were three names.
Marianne. Richard Costa. Victor Vale.
Daniel pointed to his father's name.
“Your father didn't steal me.”
Gabriel stared.
“Then who did?”
Daniel looked at him.
“My father.”
Gabriel froze.
“Your grandfather.”
The words struck like a physical blow.
Daniel explained.
Gabriel's grandfather had been laundering money through medical charities.
When Marianne discovered it, she threatened to expose him.
He used Daniel as leverage.
Richard Costa, Gabriel's father, eventually turned against him.
That was why Richard had protected Daniel.
That was why Victor had been involved.
And that was why the old ledger mattered.
It contained evidence against Gabriel's grandfather.
But Victor had never stopped trying to recover it.
“Where is it?” Gabriel asked.
Daniel looked toward the lake.
“Your father hid it in the only place Victor would never search.”
“Where?”
Daniel reached into his pocket.
He removed a small brass bracelet.
It had belonged to Norah's mother.
Gabriel recognized it from the photograph.
Daniel handed it to him.
“Norah has the key.”
“The key to what?”
“The ledger isn't in a vault.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Then where?”
Daniel's eyes met his.
“Inside the family.”
Gabriel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Before Daniel could answer, Norah appeared.
She carried one baby against her chest.
The other slept in a bassinet beside her.
Gabriel's breath caught.
She looked exhausted.
Beautiful.
Alive.
He took one step toward her.
She raised a hand.
“Stop.”
Gabriel stopped.
Norah's eyes moved to his wedding ring.
“You're still wearing it.”
Gabriel looked down.
“I didn't know whether I had the right to take it off.”
“You lost that right before you walked into Bianca's hotel room.”
He lowered his head.
“I know.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
Then she said:
“I never wanted to punish you.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I tried.”
She walked closer.
“Six months ago, I found the first photograph.”
She showed him a copy.
Victor watching her mother.
“Three months later, I found your father's letter.”
Another document.
“Two weeks ago, I learned about Daniel.”
She looked at the babies.
“And last night, I realized somebody inside your organization knew exactly when I would give birth.”
Gabriel's stomach dropped.
“Who?”
Norah looked at Luca.
“I don't know.”
Luca's face hardened.
Norah continued.
“But I know one thing.”
She touched the baby's cheek.
“Someone gave Bianca access to information she shouldn't have had.”
Gabriel looked at Luca.
Luca shook his head.
“It wasn't me.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Everyone went quiet.
He looked at Gabriel.
“The person who betrayed you isn't in this room.”
Gabriel stared.
“Then who?”
Daniel pointed toward the old photograph.
“Your father's brother.”
Gabriel went still.
“My uncle died twenty years ago.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
He reached into his coat.
He removed a recent photograph.
A gray-haired man stood outside a Chicago restaurant.
Gabriel recognized him instantly.
His father's younger brother.
Matteo Costa.
Alive.
And standing beside Bianca.
Norah whispered:
“Your family secret never died, Gabriel.”
May you like
She looked toward the window.
“It just changed its name.”
