Chapter 2 - Vincent Promised Nora the Past Would Never Touch Her Again, Then Discovered Derek Had Been Sent to Her
Nora did not sleep that night.
Neither did Vincent.
He spent hours in the study.
She could hear quiet footsteps outside.
Security moved through the penthouse.
Doors were checked.
Cameras were reviewed.
Phones were examined.
The building became a fortress.
Nora hated it.
Not because she didn't understand why.
Because she knew what it meant.
Someone had become powerful enough to enter their lives without permission.
At five in the morning, she finally found Vincent in the kitchen.
He was standing at the window.
Coffee in one hand.
Phone in the other.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
He looked at her.
“You're supposed to be resting.”
She smiled faintly.
“That's what pregnant women do all day, apparently.”
He came toward her.
“Your throat.”
“It hurts.”
“I know.”
He touched the bruising gently.
“I hate this.”
Nora leaned against him.
“I know.”
He wrapped an arm around her.
“I need you to tell me everything Derek said.”
“I already did.”
“Everything.”
She closed her eyes.
“He wanted me back.”
“What else?”
“He asked about you.”
“How much?”
“He knew your name.”
Vincent's body tightened.
“He knew where we lived.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“He said I belonged to him.”
Vincent's voice lowered.
“He said anything specific?”
Nora hesitated.
“He said you were going to lose everything.”
Vincent stared.
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“Your father, his businesses, the baby, me.”
She looked at him.
“He said you would eventually leave me once you knew the truth.”
Vincent's expression changed.
“What truth?”
“I don't know.”
Before he could answer, Gabriel entered.
“Boss.”
Vincent turned.
“What did you find?”
Gabriel placed a tablet on the counter.
“We traced the payments to Derek.”
A map appeared.
Several transfers.
Different accounts.
Same source.
“Black Rose,” Gabriel said.
Vincent looked at him.
“You're sure?”
“As sure as we can be.”
“Who runs it?”
“No confirmed identity.”
“Then what do we know?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“They have a history with your family.”
Vincent frowned.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Nora listened.
Gabriel continued.
“Twenty years ago, your father was investigating a financial network.”
“Black Rose?”
“Yes.”
“Why did he stop?”
“He didn't.”
Vincent stared.
“What do you mean?”
“He disappeared.”
Nora felt cold.
Her father had disappeared years before she met Vincent.
Vincent's father had supposedly died of a heart attack.
Two families.
Two disappearances.
One network.
Gabriel opened another file.
A photograph.
Nora froze.
It was her father.
Standing beside Vincent's father.
And between them was a woman.
Black hair.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
Dangerous eyes.
Gabriel said:
“She was known as Rose.”
Vincent looked at the photograph.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because she was killed twenty-two years ago.”
Nora stared.
“Who was she?”
Vincent answered:
“My father's closest adviser.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
He zoomed in.
The woman was holding a small girl.
Nora.
Nora stopped breathing.
“That’s me.”
Vincent looked.
The little girl in the photograph was unmistakably Nora.
“She knew you,” Gabriel said.
Nora felt dizzy.
“How?”
Gabriel pointed to the date.
Nora had been five.
She had no memory of the woman.
But her mother had once warned her never to mention a certain name.
Rose.
Nora sat down.
“She was there.”
Vincent crouched beside her.
“What do you remember?”
“A garden.”
“What else?”
“A red rose.”
“Anything about your father?”
She closed her eyes.
“He was arguing with someone.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Could it have been Rose?”
“I don't know.”
Then she remembered something.
A necklace.
A small black rose pendant.
Her father had given it to her when she was six.
She had lost it years ago.
Vincent noticed the expression.
“What?”
“My mother had something.”
“What?”
“A box.”
“Where?”
“Back home.”
They returned to the small house Nora's father had left her.
It was untouched since his death.
Dust covered the furniture.
Nora opened the bedroom closet.
At the back was a metal box.
Inside:
Letters.
Photographs.
A black rose pendant.
And a key.
Vincent picked up the pendant.
His expression changed.
There was a symbol on the back.
A crown.
He knew it.
His family crest.
Nora stared.
“Our fathers knew each other.”
“Yes.”
“They were working together.”
“Yes.”
“And Rose knew both of them.”
“Yes.”
She looked at Vincent.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know.”
Silence.
Then Nora found a letter.
Her father's handwriting.
Nora,
If Rose ever finds you, do not let her know you remember.
Nora's hands shook.
Another line:
The person you should trust is Vincent.
She stared.
“Why your name?”
Vincent looked shocked.
“I don't know.”
They opened another letter.
This one was addressed to Vincent's father.
If anything happens to us, protect Nora.
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
“Your father asked mine to protect you.”
“Why?”
“They knew someone would come.”
Nora's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One message:
You're asking the right questions.
A second:
Ask Vincent what happened to his father the night yours disappeared.
Then another:
He has never told you the whole truth.
Nora looked at Vincent.
He had gone pale.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
She waited.
“Vincent?”
He finally said:
“My father did not die the night you were told.”
“What?”
“He disappeared.”
Nora stared.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Years.”
“And you never told me.”
“I wasn't certain.”
“But now?”
He looked at the black rose.
“Now I think our fathers disappeared together.”
Nora's heart pounded.
Then a shot shattered the front window.
Vincent pulled her down.
Security rushed in.
Another bullet struck the wall.
Gabriel yelled:
“DOWN!”
Vincent covered Nora with his body.
The firing stopped.
Silence.
He looked at her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He touched her stomach.
“What about the baby?”
“Fine.”
His eyes closed for one second.
Then his phone rang.
Gabriel.
“We found the shooter.”
“Who?”
A pause.
“Derek Hale.”
Vincent's face hardened.
“He escaped custody.”
Nora whispered:
“How?”
Gabriel answered:
“Someone inside the police station helped him.”
Vincent stood.
“They're coming for her.”
And Nora realized the nightmare was bigger than Derek.
The man who had once terrified her was only one piece.
May you like
Someone else had been waiting for twenty years.
---
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