Chapter 3 - The Secret Behind the Man Who Always Looked Away
The shooting lasted forty-three seconds.
Noel would remember that number forever because afterward Emmet told her exactly how long it had taken his people to secure the room.
Forty-three seconds.
Forty-three seconds in which three men were killed, two escaped, and she discovered what it felt like to be held against the chest of the most feared man in the city while gunfire tore through a birthday party.
When the emergency lights came on, Emmet was still holding her.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Look at me."
She did.
His hand moved carefully over her face, her shoulder, her arms.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
He exhaled.
It was the first time she had ever seen fear on him.
Not for himself.
For her.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"Someone wanted you dead."
"Why?"
"I don't know yet."
"You're lying."
His eyes met hers.
"I know more than I have told you."
"Then tell me."
He looked around.
"Not here."
They left through a private exit.
The car was waiting.
Luca drove.
Emmet sat beside Noel.
This time there was no space between them.
She didn't move away.
"Tell me," she said.
He stared through the windshield.
"My father had an accounting system."
"That sounds illegal."
"It was."
She gave him a disbelieving look.
"My family has been involved in organized crime for decades."
She swallowed.
"I figured."
That almost made him smile.
Almost.
"My father kept records of everything. Every payment. Every debt. Every favor. Every officer we bought. Every judge who owed us. Every name."
"Why would anyone want old records?"
"Because people are still alive."
Noel understood.
"You think I have them."
"I know you do."
Her breath caught.
"What?"
"Three years ago, when you started working at Sartori Holdings, a package was delivered to the wrong department."
"What package?"
"A small black ledger."
"I've never seen it."
"Exactly."
He leaned back.
"Because you never knew you had it."
She stared at him.
"How could I have something I've never seen?"
"The package was mislabeled. It was filed according to an old system."
He looked at her.
"You did what you always do."
"I organized it."
"Yes."
Noel's mind raced.
The fourth-floor archive.
The old shipping records.
The boxes she'd reorganized during her first year.
Her fingers curled.
"Where is it?"
"That's what we don't know."
"Then why me?"
"Because you are the only person who could have moved it without realizing its value."
She stared at him.
"People are trying to kill me because I filed paperwork?"
"Not just paperwork."
He reached into his coat and handed her a photograph.
It showed a box.
On the box was a code.
Noel's stomach turned.
She recognized it.
"That's from the archive."
Emmet watched her carefully.
"What else?"
She closed her eyes.
"I remember moving a box with that code."
"When?"
"Two years ago."
"Where did you put it?"
"I don't know."
He leaned forward.
"Think."
"I did!"
"Noel."
"Don't tell me to think!"
She snapped.
"I have been thinking for three years! I have been trying to survive on a salary you use me as a punching bag for! I have no idea why your people keep calling me upstairs, why you barely look at me, why you suddenly care whether I live or die!"
She stopped.
Her voice broke.
"I don't understand you."
Emmet said nothing.
The car slowed.
Finally, he said, "I was ordered to kill you."
Noel froze.
"What?"
"Three years ago."
He looked directly at her.
"My father believed you had stolen the ledger."
She stared at him.
"He was wrong."
"Yes."
"How do you know?"
"Because I investigated."
"And?"
"And I found out the person who stole it wasn't you."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the person who stole it was someone close to my family."
"Who?"
"My brother."
Noel went silent.
"Your brother is dead."
"Yes."
She looked at him.
"How?"
"Because he tried to kill me."
The car stopped outside the townhouse.
Emmet didn't get out.
Neither did Noel.
"My brother believed I would hand you over to him."
"Would you?"
"No."
"Why?"
He looked at her for a very long time.
"Because by then, I was already in love with you."
The words didn't make sense.
Noel stared at him.
"You don't even know me."
"I know you wake up at 5:40 when you're worried."
She blinked.
"I know you skip breakfast when Sadie needs something."
Her throat tightened.
"I know you keep emergency cash inside the second drawer of your desk."
She didn't move.
"I know you hum when you're filing documents."
"How do you—"
"I know you buy the cheapest coffee but always leave two dollars for the delivery driver."
Her eyes filled.
"I know you pretend you're strong because you don't have time to be anything else."
He reached for her hand.
She looked down at it.
His fingers stopped just before touching hers.
"I stayed away because every person I loved became a weapon someone could use against me."
Noel whispered, "And me?"
"You became the most dangerous weapon of all."
"Why?"
"Because I couldn't bear the idea of anyone hurting you."
She finally let him take her hand.
His thumb moved once across her knuckles.
Then the front door opened.
Luca stood there.
"Boss."
Emmet looked up.
"What?"
"We found the package."
Noel's heart stopped.
"Where?"
Luca looked at her.
"Your apartment."
They returned to the South End under heavy protection.
Mrs. Puit was waiting downstairs.
"Noel!"
Noel ran to her.
"Where's Sadie?"
"Sleeping."
Relief nearly dropped her to her knees.
She ran upstairs.
The apartment looked untouched.
Except for the bookshelf.
One book had been removed.
Noel frowned.
She walked toward it.
A small black box sat behind the remaining books.
Emmet stepped in front of her.
"Don't."
"I know what that is."
"Do you?"
She nodded.
"When I was reorganizing the archive, I found an old key in a box marked with the same symbol."
Emmet stared at her.
"You kept it?"
"In a drawer."
"Where?"
She pointed.
He opened it.
Inside was a brass key.
The box unlocked.
Inside was a ledger.
Black leather.
Worn edges.
And on the first page, written in faded ink, were dozens of names.
Noel recognized one.
Emmet recognized ten.
Luca recognized twenty.
Then Noel turned another page.
And her entire body went cold.
At the bottom of the list was a name she knew from childhood.
Her father.
She looked at Emmet.
"My father worked for your family."
Emmet's expression hardened.
"Apparently."
"He disappeared when I was nine."
Nobody spoke.
Noel turned the page.
Under his name was another.
Her mother's.
Then beneath that, a note written in red ink.
THE DAUGHTER WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.
Noel stopped breathing.
The handwriting looked fresh.
May you like
And underneath it was a date.
Tomorrow.
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