Chapter 5 - The Night the Hayes Family Died
I woke in a hospital.
For one terrifying second, I didn’t know where I was.
Then I remembered.
Amelia.
My supposed name.
My supposed life.
My supposed death.
Gabriel sat beside the bed.
He hadn’t left.
Leo stood near the window.
A nurse checked my vitals.
“Do you know your name?”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Norah.”
The answer came automatically.
The nurse smiled.
“Good.”
After she left, Gabriel said, “You don’t have to call yourself Amelia.”
I stared at him.
“What do you want me to call you?”
“Whatever you choose.”
That was the first kind thing he had said.
And somehow it hurt more than everything else.
“Tell me the truth.”
He nodded.
“My father was involved in organized crime before I was born.”
I said nothing.
“My mother hated it.”
He continued.
“She wanted out. She planned to testify.”
“Against your father?”
“No.”
“Against someone inside his organization.”
Gabriel looked away.
“Someone more powerful.”
“Who?”
“We never knew.”
“What about Project Dawn?”
“My father’s network had a private intelligence operation. Project Dawn was a system for tracking corrupt officials, rival organizations, and financial movements.”
I understood.
“And my mother knew about it.”
“Yes.”
“She tried to expose them.”
“Yes.”
“And Rosa helped.”
“Yes.”
“Then the fire…”
“Wasn't an accident.”
I closed my eyes.
“Who started it?”
“We don't know.”
Gabriel handed me a photograph.
A younger Paulie.
Standing beside Richard Hayes.
I looked at him.
“He was involved?”
“Paulie grew up with us.”
“He knew?”
“He knew more than he admitted.”
“What about my mother?”
“Eleanor Cross rescued you from the fire.”
“She became Claire Bennett.”
Gabriel nodded.
“She believed the people responsible would hunt you.”
“Why did she never tell me?”
“Because you forgot.”
“What?”
“Your memory loss was severe. Doctors told her that forcing the memories back could cause more trauma.”
I looked at my hands.
“Then why did Rosa teach me the recipe?”
Gabriel gave a sad smile.
“Because she hoped your memories would return naturally.”
I swallowed.
“Did she know who I really was?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she promised your mother.”
I turned toward the window.
Rosa had carried the truth for twenty years.
And died because of it.
That evening, the doctor released me.
Gabriel insisted I stay at his home.
I refused.
He didn't argue.
Instead he said, “Take Leo.”
“I don't need a bodyguard.”
“You have a bodyguard now.”
“I can say no.”
“So can I.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You’re impossible.”
He almost smiled.
It was the first time I saw the man beneath the legend.
That night, I dreamed again.
I was four.
My brother was thirteen.
We were playing near the staircase.
My mother was crying.
My father argued with a man whose face I couldn't see.
Then a woman entered.
Rosa.
She looked terrified.
She grabbed my hand.
“Little bird, listen to me.”
A loud sound exploded.
My father fell.
My mother screamed.
The hallway filled with smoke.
Rosa carried me.
Someone shouted.
“Take the girl!”
She pushed me into a car.
The last thing I heard was Gabriel screaming my name.
Not Amelia.
A nickname.
“Mia!”
I woke up crying.
At 3:12 a.m., Gabriel was standing in the doorway.
“You okay?”
I nodded.
Then I whispered, “You called me Mia.”
His eyes widened.
“You remembered.”
“I remembered you.”
He stepped closer.
“What else?”
“Rosa.”
I swallowed.
“She put me in a car.”
Gabriel sat on the edge of the bed.
“Who was driving?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“I couldn’t see her.”
“Anything else?”
“She wore a silver ring.”
Gabriel froze.
“What kind?”
“A ring with a black stone.”
He stood.
“Leo.”
The enforcer appeared.
Gabriel said, “Bring the files on Margaret Vale.”
I looked at him.
“Who is Margaret Vale?”
“My father’s attorney.”
“She’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“She disappeared twenty years ago.”
A cold realization formed.
“How many people connected to that night vanished?”
Gabriel answered quietly.
“Everyone who knew the truth.”
The next morning, we found Margaret.
Not in hiding.
In a private retirement home.
She was seventy-eight.
When she saw Gabriel, tears filled her eyes.
“You survived.”
“So did my sister.”
Margaret looked at me.
Then her face collapsed.
“Oh God.”
“You know her?”
“I knew the little girl.”
“What happened that night?”
Margaret trembled.
“Your mother discovered Project Dawn had been turned into something else.”
“What?”
“Not surveillance.”
“Then what?”
“A blackmail network.”
Gabriel stiffened.
Margaret continued.
“Politicians. Judges. Police commanders. Business owners. They collected secrets and used them to control the city.”
“Who controlled it?”
Margaret looked at Gabriel.
“Your father thought he did.”
“And?”
“He was wrong.”
“Who did?”
Margaret stared at me.
“A person who was never supposed to inherit the network.”
I asked, “Who?”
Margaret whispered:
“Your mother.”
The room went silent.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“My mother?”
“Evelyn was the architect behind Project Dawn.”
I stared at him.
Margaret continued.
“She built it to protect your family. Someone else corrupted it.”
“Who?”
Margaret’s hands shook.
“Paulie’s father.”
Gabriel went still.
Then Margaret said the name.
Anthony D’Amico.
Paulie’s father.
The real mastermind.
But he had died fifteen years ago.
Or so everyone believed.
Margaret handed Gabriel an envelope.
“It contains the evidence.”
Before Gabriel could open it, the window shattered.
A bullet tore through the room.
Margaret fell.
I screamed.
Gabriel pulled me down.
Leo returned fire.
The shooter disappeared.
Margaret was bleeding heavily.
I pressed my hands against the wound.
“I’m a nursing student.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Can you save her?”
“I can try.”
For ten minutes I worked.
Pressure.
Bandages.
Calm breathing.
Instructions.
Finally the ambulance arrived.
Margaret survived.
But the envelope was gone.
Someone had stolen it.
And on the floor beside the shattered window was a silver ring.
May you like
Black stone.
The same ring from my memory.
