Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Knew My Father
The automatic doors opened.
Everyone turned.
Nobody moved.
For one terrifying second, I thought the woman from the phone had come herself.
But it wasn’t a stranger.
It was a woman holding a small black umbrella.
She looked around sixty years old.
Her gray hair was tied neatly behind her head.
Her clothes were simple.
Too simple for someone who had just walked into a clinic protected by Gabriel Costa’s security team.
One of Gabriel’s men immediately stepped forward.
“Stop right there.”
The woman didn’t react.
Her eyes moved past him.
Straight to me.
Then to the necklace in Gabriel’s hand.
And her expression changed.
“You have it.”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Gabriel moved in front of me.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at him.
“You haven’t changed.”
Nobody spoke.
Gabriel’s face became cold.
But I saw something underneath.
Recognition.
“You know me?”
The woman smiled sadly.
“I knew you before you became Gabriel Costa.”
The room went silent.
My heart started beating faster.
Because nobody talked about Gabriel like that.
Like he was once someone else.
Someone normal.
“Who are you?” I asked.
The woman looked at me.
“My name is Elena Marlow.”
She stepped closer.
“I knew your father.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“My father is dead.”
The woman’s eyes softened.
“No.”
The word hit harder than I expected.
“No?”
She shook her head.
“Your father wanted the world to believe that.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He didn’t deny it.
That scared me more.
“You knew,” I whispered.
Gabriel’s eyes stayed on mine.
“I knew he disappeared.”
“You knew there was a chance he was alive.”
“Yes.”
The anger came before the sadness.
“You let me spend seven years grieving someone who might have been alive?”
His expression changed.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because I didn’t know what else to do.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Elena looked between us.
“Your father was right about you.”
I turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
She reached into her bag.
Slowly.
Everyone watched.
Then she pulled out a small wooden box.
Old.
Scratched.
Worn.
My breath stopped.
Because I recognized it.
I had seen it before.
In my childhood home.
“What is that?”
Elena walked closer.
“Something your father left for you.”
I stared at the box.
“My father never left me anything.”
Her expression became painful.
“He tried.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Why didn’t I get it?”
Nobody answered.
That silence was becoming unbearable.
Elena placed the box on the table.
There was no lock.
No key.
Only a symbol carved into the top.
The same symbol from Gabriel’s necklace.
I touched it.
The second my fingers made contact, something inside clicked.
Everyone stepped back.
I looked at Gabriel.
“You knew it would open?”
“No.”
But this time, I believed him.
The box opened.
Inside was a folded letter.
A small flash drive.
And a photograph.
I picked up the photograph first.
My hands started shaking.
It was my father.
Standing beside a younger Gabriel.
And beside them...
was Luca Costa.
Gabriel’s missing brother.
The three men were smiling.
Like they trusted each other.
Like they were friends.
I looked at Gabriel.
“You knew my father.”
He looked at the picture.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He was silent.
Then Elena answered.
“Because your father saved his life.”
Gabriel looked at her sharply.
“Elena.”
She ignored him.
“He was supposed to die that night.”
“What night?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at the photograph again.
The date written on the back was the same.
07-14-22.
The same numbers on Brutus’s collar.
My fingers tightened around it.
“Why is this date everywhere?”
Gabriel walked closer.
“Because that was the night everything changed.”
“What happened?”
His jaw tightened.
“Luca disappeared.”
“And my father?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“He disappeared too.”
The room felt smaller.
Two men vanished on the same night.
A dog carried the same date.
A hidden message appeared in my clinic.
And somehow I was at the center of it.
Elena sat down slowly.
She looked exhausted.
Like she had carried this secret for years.
“Your father discovered something.”
“What?”
“A list.”
“What kind of list?”
Her eyes moved toward Gabriel.
“A list of names.”
The room became quiet.
“Names of people who controlled things from the shadows.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Enough.”
Elena looked at him.
“You know I’m right.”
“You don’t know what you’re putting her into.”
“I know exactly what I’m putting her into.”
She looked at me.
“Because she was already part of it.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
Elena reached toward the flash drive.
“Your father hid the evidence before he vanished.”
“Where?”
She looked at me.
“He didn’t hide it.”
A pause.
“He gave it to you.”
I froze.
“No.”
“You were four years old.”
I stared at her.
“I don’t remember.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She looked at Gabriel.
“He made sure you wouldn’t.”
I turned.
“Gabriel?”
He looked away.
And that hurt more than anything.
“You knew.”
His silence answered.
“How much?”
“Not enough.”
“Stop saying that.”
My voice cracked.
“Everyone keeps knowing pieces of my life except me.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I was trying to find the truth.”
“You had seven years.”
“I spent seven years looking.”
“Then why didn’t you find me?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because your father hid you better than anyone could.”
That answer stopped me.
Because there was something in his voice.
Something like respect.
And pain.
That night, we moved the investigation to Gabriel’s private office.
I hated admitting it.
But the clinic was no longer safe.
Neither was my apartment.
The flash drive sat on the desk.
Nobody touched it.
Like it was a bomb.
Maybe it was.
Gabriel stood near the window.
Elena sat quietly.
I looked at both of them.
“Before we open this, I want the truth.”
Neither responded.
“All of it.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You deserve that.”
I almost smiled.
“Finally.”
He accepted the insult.
That surprised me.
Then he placed the flash drive into the computer.
The screen turned black.
One file appeared.
No name.
Just a date.
07-14-22.
Gabriel clicked it.
A video loaded.
My father appeared.
Older than the photographs.
Tired.
But alive.
I covered my mouth.
For seven years, I had imagined a thousand ways my father looked in his final moments.
I never imagined him looking directly at me.
“Chloe.”
His voice filled the room.
“If you are watching this, then I failed to protect you.”
My eyes burned.
The video continued.
“I need you to understand something.”
He looked away from the camera.
Like someone was nearby.
“Do not trust the people who tell you they are protecting you.”
I looked at Gabriel.
His face went completely still.
My father continued.
“The person closest to you knows the truth.”
The screen flickered.
Then my father said the words that made Gabriel step back.
“The man you trust most is the reason I disappeared.”
Nobody breathed.
I looked at Gabriel.
He looked as shocked as I was.
Then the video ended.
The office remained silent.
Until another sound came.
A notification.
From the computer.
A new file had appeared.
Nobody touched it.
The filename slowly loaded.
And I saw my own name.
CHLOE_HARPER_FINAL_MESSAGE.
Gabriel moved toward the screen.
But before he reached it, the speakers turned on by themselves.
A distorted voice whispered:
“Chloe…”
The voice paused.
May you like
Then said:
“Ask Gabriel what happened the night he left your father to die.”
