Chapter 3 - The Secret Behind the Locked Nursery
Security alarms echoed through the house.
Men shouted from downstairs.
Footsteps thundered across the marble floor.
Gabriel grabbed my wrist.
“Stay behind me.”
A gunshot cracked outside.
I flinched.
Leo ran into the room.
“Front gate breach.”
Gabriel’s expression became deadly calm.
“How many?”
“Three vehicles.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Then lock everything.”
Leo disappeared.
Gabriel pushed a hidden panel beside the bookshelf.
A steel door opened.
I stared.
“You have a panic room?”
“You’re surprised?”
“I’m surprised it’s behind a bookshelf.”
He pulled me inside.
The room was small and reinforced.
One chair.
A monitor.
A phone.
A gun locker.
I stared at him.
“You live like this every day?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I know what happens when people stop being afraid.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
We heard footsteps outside.
Someone shouted.
Then another gunshot.
Gabriel watched the monitor.
His men were moving through the house.
Five minutes later, Leo returned.
“Clear.”
Gabriel opened the door.
The hallway smelled faintly of smoke.
I saw a bullet hole in the wall.
“Are you okay?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“I’m fine.”
“You were almost shot.”
“I’ve been almost shot before.”
He said it casually.
I didn’t understand how a human being could sound so normal while discussing something like that.
Then I noticed blood on his sleeve.
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Sit.”
He stared at me.
“Excuse me?”
“Sit.”
He actually obeyed.
I examined his arm.
A shallow graze.
Nothing serious.
I cleaned it.
Gabriel watched me silently.
“You really are studying nursing.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother worked two jobs. We didn’t have much. I wanted a profession where helping someone mattered even when nobody thanked me.”
His eyes lowered.
“Does your mother know?”
“Know what?”
“That you’re here.”
I stopped.
“She knows I met you.”
He looked away.
“Call her.”
“She won’t answer.”
“Try again.”
I did.
Straight to voicemail.
Gabriel stood.
“Then we need another plan.”
“What plan?”
He walked toward the second floor.
“The nursery.”
I followed.
At the end of the hallway was a door covered by an old lock.
Gabriel took out a key.
“You keep a nursery?”
“It hasn’t been used in twenty years.”
He unlocked it.
Dust floated through the air.
A small white bed stood against the wall.
A faded yellow blanket.
Old toys.
A music box.
Everything looked frozen in time.
I walked closer.
A teddy bear sat on the shelf.
Its ear was torn.
I remembered that bear.
Not from Gabriel’s house.
From mine.
I reached for the music box.
Gabriel caught my hand.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“My sister owned it.”
I looked at him.
He opened it himself.
A soft melody played.
I knew the tune.
My stomach dropped.
“Rosa used to sing that.”
Gabriel went still.
“What?”
“When I was little. She sang it whenever my mother worked late.”
He stared at me.
“That song belonged to my mother.”
“No.”
He looked confused.
“I remember Rosa singing it.”
“What were the words?”
I closed my eyes.
A fragment came back.
“Sleep now, little bird…”
Gabriel stepped backward.
“Little bird.”
I nodded.
He looked at the bed.
Then at me.
“Why would Rosa call you that?”
“I don’t know.”
A hidden drawer in the crib opened when I touched the wooden rail.
Inside was a photograph.
My photograph.
I recognized the blouse.
The photograph had been taken when I was perhaps six.
Me.
My mother.
Rosa.
My blood ran cold.
“What is this doing here?”
Gabriel took it.
He studied it.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
She will forget if we keep her away from the truth.
Gabriel looked at me.
“Who wrote this?”
I recognized the handwriting.
“My mother.”
He closed his eyes.
I stepped away.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Suspected what?”
“That your mother was connected to my family.”
“But you didn’t know how.”
“No.”
I pointed at the photograph.
“She brought me here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you ever meet me as a child?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I never saw you.”
He paused.
“Not that I remember.”
The phrase bothered me.
“What does that mean?”
“Trauma can alter memory.”
I stared at him.
“You said you were thirteen when the house burned.”
“Yes.”
“You remember the fire?”
Fragments.
He looked at the crib.
“Smoke. Screaming. My mother shouting. My father bleeding.”
“And your sister?”
“Gone.”
“Do you remember Rosa?”
He nodded.
“She pulled me from the hallway.”
My heart tightened.
“Then why did she disappear?”
Gabriel opened the photograph again.
“Maybe because she was saving someone.”
The door opened.
Leo entered.
“We found something.”
He handed Gabriel a folder.
“Paulie’s medical records.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What about them?”
“The poison wasn’t random.”
I stepped closer.
Leo continued.
“Someone used a compound that damages the liver slowly.”
“Meaning?”
“Paulie wasn’t supposed to die immediately.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“He was supposed to survive.”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
“To scare you.”
I felt cold.
“Someone wants Gabriel afraid.”
Leo nodded.
“They wanted you paranoid enough to stop eating.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“And then you walk into my life with Rosa’s recipe.”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
The words surprised me.
Then Leo pulled another sheet from the folder.
“There’s more.”
He placed a lab report on the desk.
“The chemical was found in a bottle of wine from Gabriel’s private residence.”
Gabriel stared at it.
“Who had access?”
Leo hesitated.
“Paulie.”
Gabriel looked stunned.
“No.”
“We searched everything.”
“Paulie would never betray me.”
Leo’s voice softened.
“We may have to consider it.”
Gabriel walked toward the window.
I watched his hands.
They were trembling again.
I said quietly, “There may be another explanation.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Someone wanted you to believe Paulie poisoned himself or that Paulie betrayed you.”
“Why?”
“To isolate you.”
“From whom?”
I looked at him.
“Everyone.”
He said nothing.
Then my phone rang.
This time it was an unknown number.
I answered.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“Norah Bennett.”
“Yes?”
“You should stop asking questions.”
“Who is this?”
“You’re already carrying your mother’s secret.”
My throat tightened.
“What secret?”
“You’ll know soon.”
The call ended.
I looked at Gabriel.
The screen on his security monitor suddenly went black.
Then a single message appeared.
YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE WRONG DEAD GIRL.
Gabriel stared.
“What does that mean?”
I whispered the only thought in my head.
“My mother.”
“What?”
“My mother told me once that some people survive by becoming someone else.”
I looked toward the locked nursery.
“What if she wasn’t talking about your sister?”
Gabriel’s face changed.
“You think…”
“I think the girl in that photograph may not be who we think she is.”
He stared at me.
Then Leo shouted from downstairs.
“Gabriel!”
We ran.
A man had been caught trying to escape through the kitchen.
One of Gabriel’s guards dragged him into the dining room.
Gabriel approached.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled.
“You really don’t remember?”
Gabriel froze.
The stranger looked at me.
“She does.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
The man laughed.
“Your mother didn’t raise you to be a nurse.”
May you like
He looked at Gabriel.
“She raised you to be bait.”
