Chapter 2 - ROSE'S SECRET
Rose Moretti had always been impossible to intimidate.
At eighty, she had outlived two husbands, three political scandals, four family feuds, and every attempt Gabriel had ever made to tell her what to do.
But when Gabriel arrived at her house that night, she knew immediately that something had happened.
“You look terrible,” she said.
Gabriel removed his coat.
“Thank you.”
“I mean emotionally.”
“That is somehow worse.”
Rose smiled and returned to the kitchen.
She was making sauce.
Of course she was.
Gabriel followed her.
“Did you know someone photographed me and Claire?”
The wooden spoon stopped.
Only for a second.
Then Rose stirred the sauce again.
“People photograph everything.”
“Not like this.”
“What happened?”
Gabriel placed the photograph on the table.
Rose looked at it.
Her face became unreadable.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was across from Claire's studio.”
Rose sat down.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Gabriel felt something cold settle in his stomach.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“About what?”
Rose looked toward the window.
“Your father.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“My father has been dead for twelve years.”
“Death doesn't erase secrets.”
“I asked you a question.”
Rose sighed.
“Your father kept files.”
“What kind?”
“People.”
Gabriel stared.
“People?”
“Employees. Rivals. Friends. Women. Men. Anyone he believed might become useful later.”
“And Claire?”
Rose shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Then why did you bring her to me?”
“I didn't bring her.”
“You paid for twelve lessons.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rose folded her hands.
“Because you had forgotten how to be around people.”
“I run a company.”
“You command people.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Her answer was immediate.
“Commanding people is easy for you. Knowing them is not.”
Gabriel sat across from her.
“You knew Claire before I did.”
Rose looked down.
“I knew her grandmother.”
Gabriel's eyes sharpened.
“What?”
“Her grandmother, Evelyn Donovan.”
The name meant nothing.
Rose continued.
“She danced at a small ballroom near Lake Michigan when I was young. Your grandfather used to take me there.”
“You never mentioned her.”
“You never asked.”
“Why would her granddaughter matter to my family?”
Rose sighed.
“Because your father owed Evelyn a debt.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“What debt?”
“One he never intended to repay.”
Rose walked to an old cabinet.
She opened a drawer.
From beneath several handwritten recipes, she removed a small envelope.
Gabriel watched her return.
She placed it on the table.
“Your father gave me this twenty years ago.”
Gabriel didn't touch it.
“Why?”
“He told me to destroy it.”
“Did you?”
Rose's eyes met his.
“Obviously not.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
A younger version of Rose stood beside a man Gabriel recognized immediately.
His father.
Between them was a young woman with copper-red hair.
Gabriel's breath caught.
“Evelyn.”
Rose nodded.
“She worked in one of your father's charity programs.”
“Why was she in a photograph with him?”
“Because your father owed her a debt.”
“What debt?”
Rose's mouth tightened.
“One he never intended to repay.”
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
“Tell me.”
Rose looked away.
“Evelyn had discovered that your father was using charitable foundations to move money and hide favors.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“And she threatened him?”
“She confronted him.”
“What happened?”
“He threatened her family.”
Gabriel stood.
“Did he hurt her?”
“Not directly.”
“Rose.”
“He made her believe he could.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Rose continued.
“Evelyn left Chicago. She took her daughter with her.”
“And Claire?”
“She was born later.”
Gabriel looked at the photograph again.
“Why would someone tell me Claire isn't who I think she is?”
Rose's face changed.
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“Gabriel.”
“Rose.”
She sighed.
“There are things I never wanted you to know.”
“That's not an answer.”
“It is the only answer I have.”
Gabriel stepped toward the window.
Outside, snow had begun to fall.
“Someone sent me photographs of Claire.”
Rose stood.
“How many?”
“Four.”
“Then they're close.”
Gabriel turned.
“Close to whom?”
Rose didn't answer.
“Rose.”
She finally whispered, “Your father had a private security network.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I know.”
“No. You know about the men who guarded him.”
“What are you saying?”
“He had people watching people who were watching people.”
Gabriel stared.
“He kept records of everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Are those records still around?”
Rose's silence was answer enough.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You've lied to me all night.”
“I've protected you.”
“That is not the same thing.”
Rose flinched.
Gabriel immediately regretted the words.
She looked at him sadly.
“You sound like your father when you're angry.”
He looked away.
“I don't want to be him.”
“I know.”
She returned to the table.
“That's why I paid for the lessons.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Why really?”
Rose touched the photograph of him and Claire.
“Because I saw you smile.”
He said nothing.
“I haven't seen you smile like that in years.”
“That's it?”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“I knew Claire's grandmother. I knew her mother. And I knew your father was terrified of the Donovan family for reasons you were never told.”
Gabriel froze.
“My father was afraid of them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rose looked toward the dark hallway.
“Because Evelyn had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“Something that could have destroyed him.”
Gabriel's phone vibrated.
Matteo.
He answered.
“What?”
“We found the camera operator.”
Gabriel straightened.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Name?”
“She used three names.”
“Give me one.”
“Adrian Vale.”
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“Adrian is a man.”
“I know.”
Matteo's voice lowered.
“That's why this gets worse.”
Gabriel looked at Rose.
“Send me everything.”
“Already doing it.”
The call ended.
Gabriel stared at Rose.
“Who is Adrian Vale?”
Rose's face went pale.
“You know him.”
“I've met him twice.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You knew him when you were a child.”
Gabriel's stomach tightened.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father trusted him.”
“Trusted him with what?”
Rose looked at the photograph.
“With you.”
Gabriel stopped breathing.
“My father never trusted anyone with me.”
“He trusted Adrian.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian was there the night your father decided the Donovan family had to disappear.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“And Claire?”
Rose's eyes filled with tears.
“Claire survived.”
The kitchen seemed to tilt.
“Survived what?”
Rose looked directly at him.
“The thing your father spent twenty years making sure nobody remembered.”
She reached for Gabriel's hand.
“Don't ask what Adrian wants.”
“Why?”
“Ask what he knows.”
Gabriel looked at the old photograph.
The young Rose.
His father.
Evelyn Donovan.
Three people connected by a secret that had somehow survived twenty years.
And somewhere in that secret was Claire.
His phone vibrated again.
Unknown number.
One message.
ASK ROSE WHAT HAPPENED TO THOMAS.
Gabriel looked up.
“Who's Thomas?”
Rose closed her eyes.
When she opened them, the fear was unmistakable.
“Claire's father.”
Gabriel's blood ran cold.
“What happened to him?”
Rose whispered, “He never abandoned his family.”
Then she looked toward the locked kitchen door.
“He disappeared because someone made sure he could never come home.”
A car engine sounded outside.
Gabriel turned sharply.
Headlights swept across the windows.
Rose grabbed his wrist.
“Don't go outside.”
“Why?”
“Because if they're here tonight, they're not here for me.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“Then who?”
Rose looked toward the photograph.
“Claire.”
The headlights outside Rose's house disappeared after several seconds.
Gabriel waited until the street was quiet again before moving.
“Stay here,” he told Rose.
She gave him a look.
“You're not my father.”
“Thank God.”
Claire almost laughed despite herself.
The tension broke for one second.
Then Rose reached into a drawer and removed an old kitchen ledger.
“Take this.”
Gabriel opened it.
At first, it looked like recipes.
Tomato sauce.
Bread.
Coffee.
But certain ingredients had dates beside them.
And numbers.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“These aren't recipes.”
“No.”
“Accounts?”
Rose nodded.
“Your father used ordinary household books to hide information.”
Claire looked at the pages.
“Why would my mother be connected to this?”
“Because she knew how to read them.”
Rose pointed to a line.
“Your mother understood the code.”
Gabriel turned another page.
A sequence of letters appeared beside the number 312.
RAVEN.
Then DONOVAN.
Then a date.
Claire's birthday.
She stopped breathing.
“My birthday.”
Rose nodded.
“I remember.”
Claire stared at her.
“You remember my birthday?”
“I remember every year.”
“Why?”
“Because I promised your mother I would.”
Claire looked away.
Rose's eyes filled.
“I was supposed to visit you every year.”
“But you didn't.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Rose swallowed.
“Because someone followed me.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Who?”
“I never learned his name.”
Claire turned back.
“How did you know where we lived?”
“Your mother sent letters.”
“You have them?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Rose pointed upstairs.
“Under the floorboard in my bedroom.”
They found a small wooden box.
Inside were twenty-one letters.
Most were unopened.
Claire touched the first envelope.
Her mother's handwriting.
She opened it.
Rose,
If Gabriel ever becomes like his father, stay away from him.
Claire looked at Gabriel.
He didn't flinch.
The second letter was different.
If Gabriel ever learns the truth, tell him I never blamed him.
The third contained only one sentence.
Please protect my daughter from the raven.
Claire looked up.
“What is the raven?”
Rose shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Gabriel did.
Or thought he did.
The raven was not simply a symbol.
It was a network.
A hidden system created by his father.
A group of people who answered to no official organization and kept records on everyone.
His father had once told him that the raven could see through walls.
Gabriel had assumed it was a metaphor.
Now he wasn't sure.
He closed the box.
“We're going to find the records.”
Rose looked at him.
“You may not like what you find.”
“I already don't.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Then we'll deal with it.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Together?”
“Yes.”
Rose smiled sadly.
“That is what I hoped you would say.”
Then she reached into the bottom of the box.
A final object lay beneath the letters.
A child's silver bracelet.
Claire recognized it immediately.
“I wore that.”
Rose nodded.
“Your mother gave it to me the night you disappeared.”
Claire touched the bracelet.
“I never knew.”
“I know.”
Rose looked at Gabriel.
“She told me that if anything happened, I should give it to you when you were old enough to understand.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Why me?”
Rose's answer was quiet.
“Because your father trusted the wrong people.”
She looked at Claire.
“And your mother trusted the right one.”
The room fell silent.
Gabriel finally understood.
The dance lessons had never been about teaching him ballroom technique.
Rose had been giving him a chance to meet Claire before the past could define their relationship.
She had been trying to put one decent choice in front of him.
Maybe she had known he would make it.
Maybe she had only hoped.
Either way, Gabriel knew what he had to do.
He took Claire's hand.
“We find the truth.”
Claire squeezed his fingers.
“And after that?”
May you like
Gabriel looked at her.
“We decide what comes next.”
