Chapter 4 - The Father Who Sold His Daughter
Gabriel brought Rose to a private safe house overlooking the river.
It was not the estate.
Not another mansion.
It was a modern apartment hidden above an old bookstore.
Rose noticed immediately.
“No cameras?”
Gabriel paused.
“There are cameras.”
She stiffened.
“Then why bring me here?”
“Because only three people know this address.”
“Who?”
“Me, Cole, and now you.”
He left her a clean shirt, sweatpants, and a first-aid kit.
Then he walked out.
Rose stared after him.
That was unexpected.
She changed clothes.
The cuts on her feet burned badly.
She cleaned them herself.
An hour later, she found Gabriel in the kitchen.
He was making coffee.
Not ordering someone to make it.
Making it himself.
“You cook too?”
“I can boil water.”
Despite herself, Rose almost smiled.
He slid a mug toward her.
She sat.
“I want answers.”
“You'll get them.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
“Nathan.”
“Yes.”
“And you.”
Gabriel sat across from her.
“What do you want to know?”
“Why me?”
He looked at his coffee.
“Because your mother hid something before she died.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Rose stared.
“My father has been searching for it ever since.”
“What does it contain?”
“Names. Accounts. Routes. Payments.”
“And it proves the trafficking?”
“Among other things.”
Rose frowned.
“Then why hasn't anyone found it?”
“Because your mother didn't trust banks.”
“What did she trust?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You.”
Rose shook her head.
“I was fourteen.”
“You were still her daughter.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Rose as a teenager, standing beside her mother.
Her mother wore a gold pendant.
Rose touched the photograph.
“I remember this.”
“Your mother gave you the pendant on your fifteenth birthday.”
“Yes.”
“She told everyone it was a sentimental gift.”
Rose looked at him.
“It wasn't?”
“No.”
Gabriel pointed to the pendant.
“There is a hidden compartment.”
Rose's eyes widened.
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
Her breath caught.
She remembered.
The pendant was in her childhood jewelry box.
The box had been stored at her father's house.
But she had never worn it after her mother died.
“I thought it was lost.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Your father never found it.”
“So the ledger is inside?”
“Not the ledger.”
“A key?”
“Yes.”
Rose stood.
“Then we have to get it.”
“We will.”
“But Nathan—”
“First, we survive tonight.”
She looked toward the windows.
“Why?”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Because Richard knows I took you.”
Rose looked at him.
“What happens now?”
“Your father will try to make you disappear.”
“Again?”
“This time permanently.”
A chill moved down her spine.
That night, a message appeared on the television.
Richard stood at a podium surrounded by reporters.
“My daughter, Rose, is missing.”
Rose laughed bitterly.
“Missing.”
Gabriel remained still.
“He's telling everyone you were kidnapped.”
“By you.”
“Yes.”
Richard continued on screen.
“I beg whoever has my daughter to release her. I will pay any amount.”
Rose stared.
“He looks sincere.”
“He isn't.”
Then Richard said something that changed her expression.
“Rose has struggled emotionally since her mother's death. She may be confused or frightened.”
Rose's face went blank.
“He's calling me unstable.”
Gabriel nodded.
“He wants everyone to believe you're unreliable before you speak.”
Rose's fingers clenched.
“I hate him.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You have every right to.”
She shook her head.
“No. I hate what he did.”
Gabriel didn't interrupt.
Rose whispered, “I spent my whole life trying to make him proud.”
“And now?”
She looked at the television.
“Now I want the truth.”
Later that night, they broke into the family house.
Gabriel led the team through a service entrance.
Rose knew every hallway.
Every staircase.
Every hidden door.
The house felt smaller now.
Meaner.
She reached her old bedroom.
The furniture remained.
Her childhood books.
Photographs.
Even the stuffed rabbit she had slept beside at age ten.
She opened the jewelry box.
Empty.
Rose's heart dropped.
“He found it.”
Gabriel entered behind her.
“Maybe.”
She searched.
Then she remembered something.
Her mother had always hidden things behind the mirror.
Rose pulled it from the wall.
A tiny compartment appeared.
Inside was the pendant.
Rose gasped.
She picked it up.
Her mother's perfume seemed trapped in the metal.
Gabriel examined the clasp.
“There's a release.”
Rose pressed it.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
And a folded piece of paper.
Rose unfolded it.
Only one sentence.
“Trust the man who lets you leave.”
She stared.
Gabriel read it over her shoulder.
Neither spoke.
“Your mother knew about me?” Rose asked.
“Maybe she knew what kind of man I was.”
Rose looked at him.
“She wrote this before she died.”
“Yes.”
“You were already investigating my father then?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ever meet you?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
Rose lowered the note.
“Then how could she know?”
Gabriel's eyes darkened.
“Because people talk.”
A noise came from downstairs.
The sound of a door slamming.
Gabriel immediately grabbed Rose's hand.
They hid behind the hallway wall.
Voices.
Richard.
And another man.
“Search the bedroom.”
Rose recognized the second voice.
Uncle Marcus.
Her father's older brother.
The man who had always kissed her forehead at family dinners.
The man who had told her to trust her father.
Gabriel leaned close.
“Don't make a sound.”
Marcus spoke again.
“Where's the girl?”
Richard answered.
“Gabriel took her.”
Marcus laughed.
“Then Gabriel has exactly what we need.”
Rose's eyes widened.
“What?”
Gabriel whispered.
“The key.”
Marcus continued.
“Find it before Gabriel does.”
Rose looked down at the pendant.
Gabriel had already found it.
But there was more.
The key wasn't for the ledger.
It was for something hidden.
Something Marcus desperately wanted.
Gabriel motioned toward the window.
They escaped into the night.
Back at the safe house, Rose asked the question that had been burning inside her.
“What was my father planning to do with me?”
Gabriel was silent.
“Tell me.”
He finally said, “He intended to use your marriage to transfer ownership of a major portion of his company.”
Rose stared.
“He was giving me to you in exchange for protection.”
“Yes.”
“And if I had married you?”
“You would have inherited nothing.”
She frowned.
Gabriel looked into her eyes.
“You would have inherited the liability.”
Rose felt sick.
Her father had not merely sold her.
He had tried to use her as a shield.
A living shield.
Gabriel reached across the table.
He did not touch her.
He simply placed the wedding ring in front of her.
“Tomorrow, we're ending Richard's arrangement.”
Rose looked at the ring.
“How?”
May you like
Gabriel's gaze became cold.
“By making him regret ever thinking you were powerless.”
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