Chapter 2 - The Man Following Her Through the Rain
Rose reached the Blue Willow Diner at 2:13 in the morning.
The neon sign buzzed overhead.
Half of the letters were dark, leaving the words BLUE WIL-OW flickering against the rain.
She pushed through the glass door.
A bell chimed.
Warm air struck her frozen skin.
The waitress behind the counter looked up and nearly dropped a coffee pot.
“Oh my God.”
Rose stopped.
She suddenly remembered what she looked like.
Barefoot.
Bloodied.
Wearing a shredded wedding dress.
Hair half-destroyed.
Mascara running down her face.
“I just need somewhere warm.”
The waitress stared at her for a long moment.
Then she put the coffee pot down.
“Sit.”
Rose collapsed into a booth.
“Coffee?”
“Yes.”
“Food?”
Rose hesitated.
“When was the last time you ate?”
“I don't remember.”
The waitress disappeared into the kitchen.
A minute later, a mug appeared.
Rose wrapped both hands around it.
The heat hurt.
It also felt wonderful.
She took one sip.
Then another.
Her eyes closed.
For the first time that night, she felt something dangerously close to safety.
“Excuse me.”
Rose opened her eyes.
An elderly man sat in the booth opposite her.
She startled.
“I don't mean to bother you.”
He wore a gray cap and old navy jacket.
“You look like someone who needs help.”
Rose glanced toward the door.
“No one can know I'm here.”
The man studied her.
“Are you being followed?”
Rose's pulse jumped.
“I don't know.”
The man nodded slowly.
“Then don't assume you're safe just because the door is locked.”
Rose stared at him.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded cloth.
“Wrap your feet.”
She took it.
“Thank you.”
The man stood.
“What's your name?”
Rose hesitated.
“Anna.”
He smiled faintly.
“Good name.”
Before Rose could answer, he walked toward the restroom.
Something felt wrong.
Not dangerous.
Just familiar.
She looked down at the cloth.
A small embroidered flower was sewn into one corner.
A blue willow.
Her breath stopped.
She turned toward the restroom.
The man was gone.
“Wait.”
She jumped up.
The diner suddenly seemed too quiet.
“Sir?”
No answer.
Rose rushed toward the restroom and pushed the door open.
Empty.
There was a back exit.
She looked at it.
Then at the embroidered cloth.
Her heart began to race.
Nathan had used the same symbol.
Blue Willow.
Not the diner.
The symbol.
Someone knew.
Outside, an engine started.
Rose pushed the back door open.
A black SUV disappeared around the corner.
Two blocks away, Marco watched from his sedan.
“Something happened,” Elias said.
“What?”
“Her tracker moved.”
Marco checked the screen.
“That's impossible.”
“Unless someone else has one.”
Marco's jaw tightened.
“Call the boss.”
At the estate, Gabriel answered on the first ring.
“What?”
“Sir, she made contact with an unknown male at the Blue Willow.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“Describe him.”
“Late sixties. Gray cap. Navy jacket.”
Gabriel went still.
“Did he touch her?”
“No.”
“Did he speak to her?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
Cole noticed.
“Who is he?”
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
He walked toward the main desk and opened a secure file.
A photograph appeared.
The same man.
But twenty years younger.
“That's Victor Hale.”
Cole stared.
“The customs investigator?”
“Formerly.”
“He was presumed dead.”
Gabriel shut the file.
“He isn't dead.”
“And he found Rose?”
“No.”
Gabriel looked toward the rain.
“He found her because he wanted me to know he had.”
Across town, Rose sat in the back room of a small all-night laundromat.
The owner had given her a blanket and let her stay until dawn.
She finally found a public phone.
She dialed Nathan's old number.
Disconnected.
She tried the second number.
Nothing.
Then she remembered the note he had slipped beneath her bedroom door.
She had kept it in her purse.
Which was still at Gabriel's estate.
Her chest tightened.
She looked through the small pile of possessions she had left in the torn dress.
A brass key.
A hairpin.
The embroidered cloth.
No answers.
Then she noticed something sewn inside the cloth.
A tiny paper strip.
Rose carefully unfolded it.
Five words.
“Look under father's first ship.”
Her hands began to shake.
Nathan knew something.
Something about their father.
Something about the shipping company.
Something worth disappearing over.
Rose had spent years assuming Richard's company was failing because of debt.
But maybe the company was hiding something.
She looked at the dark laundromat window.
A shadow moved across it.
Rose froze.
The shadow stopped.
Then a knock came.
Three times.
Soft.
Measured.
Rose stepped back.
Another three knocks.
She did not answer.
The door opened.
A woman entered.
She was in her forties, with dark hair pulled into a tight bun.
“Rose.”
Rose recoiled.
“How do you know my name?”
The woman shut the door.
“Because your brother asked me to find you.”
Rose's mouth fell open.
“Where is Nathan?”
“He's alive.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Where?”
The woman looked toward the window.
“Not safe to say here.”
Rose's voice broke.
“Please.”
The woman took a breath.
“He believed your father was laundering money through the docks, but that's only half of it.”
Rose stared.
“What is the other half?”
“The missing shipments.”
“What shipments?”
“Human beings.”
The room spun.
Rose grabbed the table.
“No.”
“Your father's company has been moving people through cargo manifests for years.”
Rose shook her head.
“My father couldn't—”
“He did.”
The woman stepped closer.
“And Gabriel's organization has been investigating it.”
Rose stared at her.
“What?”
Before the woman could continue, headlights appeared outside.
Black vehicles.
Not police.
Not taxis.
Three of them.
The woman swore.
“They found us.”
Rose backed away.
“Who?”
“Your father's men.”
Then a gunshot shattered the laundromat window.
The woman grabbed Rose.
“Run!”
They escaped through the rear corridor as glass rained onto the floor.
Rose ran barefoot again.
But this time she was not only running from Gabriel.
She was running toward the truth.
Outside, two blocks away, Marco heard the gunshot.
“Boss.”
Gabriel was already standing.
“Where is she?”
“Moving east.”
“Distance?”
“Three blocks.”
“Get her.”
“What about the two-block rule?”
Gabriel's eyes turned ice-cold.
“That rule ended when someone fired a gun.”
He grabbed his coat.
Cole followed.
“Where are we going?”
Gabriel's answer was immediate.
“To bring my bride home.”
Cole blinked.
“You're going to force her back?”
Gabriel stopped.
“No.”
He looked toward the dark city.
“I am going to make sure she understands that my house was never the cage.”
May you like
And for the first time that night, Gabriel admitted something to himself.
He had never been this worried about anyone.
