Chapter 3 - HIS BROTHER’S DAUGHTER
Gabriel did not move when the alarm started.
For one impossible second, the sound seemed to belong to another building.
Another life.
His eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
Michael.
His younger brother.
The man Gabriel had buried eleven months earlier after a warehouse fire left a body burned beyond visual identification.
Dental records had confirmed him.
A coroner had signed.
Gabriel had stood beside the coffin.
He had not cried until everyone left.
Now Michael was smiling from a photograph with Hannah’s dead sister and an infant Gabriel had just held against his chest.
“Mr. Marlowe?”
Hannah’s voice finally reached him.
Gabriel looked up.
“You said your sister’s name was Melissa?”
“Yes.”
“Melissa Price?”
“Yes.”
“What did she do for work?”
“Accounting.”
“Where?”
“She freelanced. Mostly nonprofits and small companies.”
“Did she ever work for the Marlowe Foundation?”
Hannah went still.
“I think so.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Of course.
Michael had overseen several foundation projects before his death.
A door opened somewhere outside the laundry room.
Men shouted.
Gabriel immediately moved between Hannah and the hallway.
“Stay here.”
“What’s happening?”
“Security alert.”
Lucy began to fuss.
Gabriel took out his phone.
“Dominic.”
His security chief answered instantly.
“We have a breach on the service elevator.”
“Floor?”
“Fourteen.”
Gabriel’s face went cold.
His floor.
“Who?”
“Unknown female. Scrubs. Medical badge.”
Gabriel looked at Lucy.
“What does she want?”
“We’re stopping her now.”
Then the line went strange.
A shout.
Impact.
Dominic cursed.
The call ended.
Gabriel’s entire body changed.
“Lock the door.”
Hannah stared.
“What?”
“Now.”
She locked it.
Gabriel removed the pistol from the holster beneath his jacket.
Hannah’s face went white.
“Stay behind me.”
The handle moved.
Hannah grabbed Lucy tighter.
Someone knocked.
“Mr. Marlowe?”
A woman’s voice.
“I’m with Pediatric Family Services. We received a call regarding an infant in the residence.”
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
She stopped breathing.
Child services.
Exactly what she feared.
He walked toward the door but did not open it.
“Name.”
“Caroline Hayes.”
“Agency.”
“New York City Administration for Children’s Services.”
“Badge number.”
Silence.
Then:
“I can show you identification.”
“Slide it under the door.”
A card appeared beneath the gap.
Gabriel picked it up.
It looked legitimate.
That was the problem.
He had seen enough forged documentation in his life to know expensive fraud usually looked better than cheap truth.
He sent a photograph to his attorney.
Then called building security.
“Where is Dominic?”
No answer.
He tried again.
Marcus Vela, his second security officer, answered.
“Boss.”
“Where’s Dominic?”
“Stairwell. He went after the woman.”
“She’s outside my laundry room.”
Silence.
“What?”
Gabriel’s eyes sharpened.
“She’s here.”
Marcus swore.
“Then whoever Dominic chased wasn’t her.”
A diversion.
Two intruders.
One pulled security away.
The other came for Lucy.
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
She had understood.
Her face was paper white.
The woman outside knocked again.
“Mr. Marlowe, obstructing a welfare check can create serious legal complications.”
Gabriel smiled.
Wrong thing to say.
Real child-welfare investigators did not usually arrive without notice to a highly secure residence within minutes of a baby being discovered by the property owner.
Someone had known Lucy was here before Gabriel did.
That meant Hannah’s secret had not been as secret as either of them thought.
His attorney replied.
NO RECORD OF ANY ACS WORKER BY THAT NAME IN THE CURRENT DIRECTORY.
Gabriel texted Marcus.
NORTH HALL. SILENT.
Then said through the door:
“Caroline.”
“Yes?”
“You made one mistake.”
The woman stopped.
“What?”
“You came too quickly.”
Footsteps.
Running.
Gabriel opened the door.
The woman was already twenty feet away.
Marcus appeared from the opposite corridor.
She reached inside her coat.
Gabriel raised his weapon.
“Don’t.”
She froze.
Marcus moved in.
The object in her hand was not a gun.
A syringe.
Hannah gasped behind Gabriel.
Marcus forced the woman’s hand down and secured her.
Gabriel stared at the syringe.
“What is that?”
No answer.
“Who sent you?”
Nothing.
Then the other intruder was caught downstairs.
A man wearing building-maintenance clothes.
Both carried disposable phones.
Both had photographs of Hannah.
And Lucy.
Gabriel felt something colder than rage.
Someone had been watching them.
He returned to the laundry room.
Hannah stood against the wall holding Lucy.
The baby sensed the fear now.
She was crying.
Gabriel approached carefully.
“Give her to me.”
Hannah stared.
“Why?”
“Because your hands are shaking.”
She looked down.
They were.
Reluctantly, she passed Lucy over.
Gabriel held the baby the way he had earlier.
Awkwardly.
Too stiff.
Lucy cried harder.
“What am I doing wrong?”
Hannah almost laughed despite herself.
“Everything.”
“Helpful.”
“Support her bottom.”
He adjusted.
“Closer.”
He pulled Lucy against his chest.
The crying softened.
Hannah wiped her face.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Did Melissa ever mention Michael Marlowe?”
“No.”
“Never?”
“She called Lucy’s father Mike.”
His jaw tightened.
“Mike what?”
“Cole.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
Michael had used their mother’s maiden name.
Cole.
“How long were they together?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
“Maybe a year.”
A year.
While Gabriel and Michael barely spoke.
Their last argument had been vicious.
Michael accused Gabriel of becoming exactly like their father.
Gabriel accused Michael of wanting the protection of the Marlowe name without accepting its responsibilities.
Michael left the family businesses.
Six months later, he was dead.
Gabriel had never known there was a woman.
Or a baby coming.
“Why would he hide her from me?”
Hannah’s eyes softened.
“I think he was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
“He was afraid of me.”
Hannah did not lie.
“Maybe.”
The answer hurt more than certainty.
Gabriel’s phone rang.
Dominic.
“Boss, where are you?”
“Laundry room.”
“I’m coming.”
Gabriel looked at the door.
“Come alone.”
A pause.
“Of course.”
He ended the call.
Hannah noticed.
“You don’t trust him.”
“I trust very few people.”
“You called him first.”
“Yes.”
“That means you did.”
Gabriel stared.
Annoyingly accurate.
Five minutes later Dominic Shaw entered.
Forty-five.
Tall.
Dark suit.
A pale scar beneath his right eye.
He had worked beside Gabriel for fifteen years.
Saved Gabriel’s life twice.
Carried Michael’s coffin.
Dominic looked at Lucy.
Then froze.
The change lasted less than a second.
Gabriel saw it.
Recognition.
Not surprise at a random baby.
Recognition.
Gabriel’s voice became quiet.
“You know her.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What?”
“The baby.”
“No.”
“You looked at her.”
“There’s an infant in your arms. I’m allowed to look surprised.”
Gabriel held up the photograph.
Dominic’s face changed.
This time he could not hide it.
Michael.
Melissa.
Lucy.
“Where did you get that?”
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Not “who is that?”
Where did you get that?
Hannah heard it too.
Dominic realized.
Too late.
Gabriel placed Lucy carefully into Hannah’s arms.
Then stepped toward the man he had trusted with every door, every schedule, every threat.
“You knew Michael had a daughter.”
Dominic said nothing.
“How long?”
“Gabriel.”
“How long?”
Dominic looked at Hannah.
Gabriel moved between them.
“Look at me.”
Finally:
“Since before Michael died.”
The room went silent.
Gabriel’s hands curled.
“You let me bury my brother without telling me he had a child.”
“It wasn’t my secret.”
“He was dead.”
“Melissa asked me not to tell you.”
Hannah looked shocked.
“You knew my sister?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“She contacted me after Michael died.”
“Why?”
“Because she was scared.”
“Of what?”
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
“Of the family.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“What family?”
Dominic did not answer.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Michael died in a fire.”
“Yes.”
“Melissa died in a car accident.”
“Yes.”
“Someone has searched Hannah’s apartment three times.”
Dominic went still.
“And two people just entered my residence looking for Lucy.”
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“You are going to tell me what my brother knew.”
Dominic stared at him.
Then said something Gabriel never expected.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if Victor knows the child is alive, none of you are safe.”
Hannah frowned.
“Victor?”
Gabriel knew exactly who he meant.
Victor Marlowe.
His father’s older brother.
Chairman emeritus of Marlowe Holdings.
The man who taught Gabriel how to negotiate.
How to survive.
How to recognize betrayal.
May you like
The closest thing Gabriel had left to a father.
And Dominic had just told him to fear him.
