Chapter 3 - The Man Who Knew My Father’s Secret
The treatment room door opened slowly.
Nobody moved.
Not me.
Not Gabriel.
Not even Brutus.
The darkness inside the room looked empty.
But someone had been there.
I knew it.
Because the door had been locked.
From the inside.
Gabriel stepped in front of me.
Again.
I was starting to notice a pattern.
The man who terrified an entire city kept putting himself between me and danger.
I didn’t know whether that made him brave.
Or reckless.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
I almost laughed.
“You always talk like people actually listen to you?”
His eyes moved toward mine.
Even in the darkness, I could see the surprise.
Nobody spoke to him like that.
Nobody except me.
Then the emergency lights turned on.
The room glowed red.
The treatment area looked completely normal.
Except for one thing.
A wet footprint on the floor.
A single footprint.
Leading from the back storage area to the door.
Gabriel stared at it.
His face changed.
“Everyone out.”
His men immediately moved.
I grabbed Brutus’s leash.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
“It’s my clinic.”
“And someone just broke into it.”
“And your enemies followed you here.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Because they were true.
Gabriel went silent.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Brutus growled softly.
He walked toward the footprint.
Sniffed.
Then looked at Gabriel.
Not scared.
Warning him.
Gabriel crouched beside him.
“What is it, boy?”
The dog stared toward the cabinet.
The same cabinet where we found the hidden compartment.
My stomach tightened.
“He came back.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Who?”
I pointed toward the cabinet.
“The person who hid that message.”
We searched the clinic room by room.
Nothing.
No person.
No weapon.
No obvious sign of an intruder.
That should have made me feel better.
It didn’t.
Because the worst kind of danger was the kind you couldn’t see.
Gabriel stood near the window, looking at the street.
“You need to leave.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“This clinic isn’t safe anymore.”
I crossed my arms.
“You mean your world isn’t safe.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
At least he admitted it.
That surprised me.
Most powerful men would have blamed everyone else.
Gabriel blamed himself.
“Tell me about my father.”
Silence.
The question had been waiting between us since the message appeared.
He looked away.
“I don’t know enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the truth.”
I stepped closer.
“You knew someone connected to him.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Gabriel stared at the floor.
“My brother.”
I waited.
He continued.
“Seven years ago, my brother Luca was investigating something.”
“What kind of something?”
“Something involving money.”
“That’s vague.”
“Because the details are dangerous.”
I almost smiled.
“Everything about you is dangerous.”
That actually made him look at me.
Then he said something I didn’t expect.
“My brother believed your father was trying to expose someone.”
I froze.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Expose who?”
Gabriel looked toward Brutus.
Then at the collar tag.
“The same people who shot my dog.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
I had spent years believing my father’s death was simple.
A car accident.
A tragic ending.
A closed chapter.
But now a stranger had left a message saying he was alive.
And Gabriel Costa was looking at me like he had been carrying a secret for years.
“You knew my father.”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate.
I narrowed my eyes.
“You’re lying again.”
His expression hardened.
“I knew of him.”
“That’s different.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
And that silence told me more than words.
Later that afternoon, Brutus became restless.
The medication was working.
His wounds were stable.
But he kept watching Gabriel.
Not me.
Him.
Like he knew something.
I sat beside the dog.
“You’re hiding something too, aren’t you?”
Brutus slowly placed his head against my leg.
Gabriel watched from across the room.
“You talk to animals like they’re people.”
“They usually make more sense.”
A faint smile appeared.
“You always insult everyone?”
“Only when they deserve it.”
“You think I deserve it?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
That caught him off guard.
Most people feared Gabriel.
I was beginning to think fear was the reason nobody ever told him the truth.
“You’re used to everyone saying yes.”
His expression changed.
“What makes you think that?”
“Because nobody has said no to you in a long time.”
The room became quiet.
Then Gabriel walked closer.
“You did.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re still here.”
I looked away.
“Because your dog needed help.”
He nodded slowly.
But I noticed something.
He looked almost grateful.
That evening, Gabriel’s security team found something outside the clinic.
A black envelope.
No fingerprints.
No cameras caught anyone leaving it.
Inside was a newspaper clipping.
Old.
Yellowed.
The headline was barely visible.
LOCAL BUSINESSMAN MISSING AFTER PRIVATE INVESTIGATION
My hands went cold.
Because underneath the headline was a photograph.
My father.
Younger.
Smiling.
Alive.
I stared at it.
I couldn’t speak.
Gabriel took the paper from me.
His face became unreadable.
“Where did you get this?”
One of his men shook his head.
“It was left at the entrance.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“You knew.”
He didn’t answer.
“You knew my father disappeared.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than another lie.
“How long?”
“Seven years.”
My chest tightened.
“You knew for seven years?”
“I knew he vanished.”
“You let me believe he was dead.”
Gabriel looked away.
“I didn’t know the truth.”
“But you knew there was a possibility.”
Silence.
That was enough.
I stepped back.
“You’re just like everyone else.”
His eyes lifted.
“What does that mean?”
“It means powerful people decide what ordinary people are allowed to know.”
For the first time, Gabriel looked hurt.
Not angry.
Hurt.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“But someone else did.”
I froze.
“What?”
Gabriel reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small object.
A necklace.
Old.
Silver.
With a tiny symbol carved into the pendant.
I recognized it immediately.
Because I had seen it once before.
In a photograph from my childhood.
My father wearing the exact same symbol.
“Where did you get that?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Your father gave it to my brother.”
My breathing stopped.
“Why?”
Before Gabriel could answer, every phone inside the clinic started ringing at the same time.
Reception desk.
Security phones.
Medical monitors.
All of them.
A dozen ringing sounds filling the room.
Everyone froze.
One of Gabriel’s men answered the nearest phone.
His face changed.
He slowly handed it to Gabriel.
“It’s for you.”
Gabriel took it.
“Who is this?”
A woman’s voice came through the speaker.
Old.
Calm.
Certain.
“I’m the only person who knows what really happened seven years ago.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Who are you?”
The woman laughed softly.
Then she said something that made the entire room go silent.
“Ask Chloe why her father trusted you more than his own family.”
I felt the blood leave my face.
Gabriel looked at me.
And for the first time...
he looked afraid.
The woman continued.
“He left something behind.”
A pause.
“Something only Chloe can open.”
The call ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Brutus suddenly stood up.
Despite his injuries.
Despite his weakness.
May you like
He stared toward the clinic entrance.
And the automatic doors began opening.
