Chapter 6 - Raphael Finally Learned Why His Wife Was Running
Raphael walked into the clinic without an escort.
That alone startled everyone.
He found Tessa in the treatment room.
She turned.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then she crossed the room.
He caught her before she could think.
The embrace was not elegant.
Not controlled.
It was desperate.
Tessa buried her face against his chest.
“You came.”
“I told you I would.”
“You shouldn't have.”
“I know.”
She stepped back.
His eyes moved over her face.
“You're thinner.”
“Long shifts.”
“Are you sleeping?”
“Sometimes.”
“Eating?”
“Don't.”
“I missed you.”
She looked away.
“I know.”
Raphael touched her cheek.
She didn't pull away.
But she did not lean into him either.
“We need to talk.”
“I know.”
They went outside.
The mountains stretched behind them.
Tessa told him everything.
Her father's notebook.
Sloan.
The classified medical record.
The message.
The warning.
Raphael listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he said,
“You should have told me.”
“I didn't know.”
“You suspected.”
“Not enough.”
“You were afraid I'd dismiss it.”
Tessa nodded.
He looked ashamed.
“I probably would have.”
“Yes.”
Raphael stared at the ground.
“That dinner.”
“What about it?”
“I spent years convincing myself that you didn't understand my world.”
He looked at her.
“The truth is, you understood it better than I ever did.”
She didn't respond.
He continued.
“You've been surviving mine since before we met.”
Tessa's eyes filled with tears.
“I never wanted that life.”
“I know.”
“And I never wanted to leave you.”
“You did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because staying beside you meant becoming someone who tolerated being humiliated as long as the private version of you loved me.”
Raphael nodded.
“I deserved that.”
She touched the wedding ring.
“I didn't want to hate you.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He looked at her.
“Because I don't know how to stop loving you.”
The silence between them felt different now.
Not empty.
Possible.
Then Tomas arrived.
“Boss.”
Raphael turned.
“What?”
“We found the person behind the messages.”
Tessa stood.
“Who?”
Tomas looked at Raphael.
“Gabriel Serrano.”
Raphael's expression went cold.
“My brother.”
Tessa stared.
“You told me your brother died.”
“I believed he did.”
“When?”
“Sixteen years ago.”
Tomas handed Raphael a file.
Inside was a photograph of Gabriel as an adult.
He was alive.
And standing beside Sloan.
Tessa's stomach dropped.
Raphael turned the photograph over.
On the back was a date.
The same date as the auction dinner.
“This was taken before Sloan entered the family.”
Tessa looked at him.
“Then she was planted.”
“Yes.”
Raphael closed his eyes.
“By Gabriel.”
“Why?” Tessa asked.
“To destroy me.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“He doesn't want your empire.”
“What does he want?”
“You.”
Raphael frowned.
“He wants me dead.”
“No.”
Tessa stepped closer.
“He wants you broken.”
She remembered the message.
He was always more useful alive.
“To what?”
Tessa thought about the notebook.
The accounts.
Her father's name.
The humanitarian network.
The old photographs.
Then she realized.
“He wants the Serrano operation back.”
Raphael nodded.
“That would make sense.”
“No.”
Tessa shook her head.
“It's bigger.”
“How?”
“Because my father worked for your father.”
“Yes.”
“And Sloan worked for Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
“And both of them were in Nepal.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward the mountain horizon.
“They aren't trying to rebuild your empire.”
Raphael's face hardened.
“What are they building?”
Tessa answered.
“A network that doesn't belong to any one family.”
Tomas went still.
Raphael looked at him.
“Get everyone.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
Tessa frowned.
“New York?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if Gabriel is moving now, the target isn't Nepal.”
Tessa's heartbeat quickened.
“Then what is it?”
Raphael looked at her.
“The people I trust.”
He paused.
“And you're one of them.”
That night, the clinic was evacuated.
Tessa hated leaving.
But she understood.
The threat had become too large.
Before boarding the helicopter, she looked at Raphael.
“If we go back, things will change.”
“They already have.”
“You can't go back to being who you were.”
“I don't want to.”
She stared at him.
“Promise.”
Raphael took her hand.
“I promise.”
They flew into the night.
Neither noticed the satellite phone hidden in Tomas's bag.
Neither knew that someone had already sent their location to Gabriel.
May you like
And someone else had already been waiting in New York.
Sloan Mercer.
