Chapter 5 - The Truth Behind The Night Everything Changed
The voice disappeared.
The speakers went silent.
But nobody moved.
Not even Gabriel.
For a man who controlled entire rooms with a single look, he suddenly looked like someone who had lost control of everything.
I stared at him.
Waiting.
Waiting for him to deny it.
To explain.
To tell me the voice was wrong.
But he didn’t.
And that hurt more than anything.
“Say something.”
My voice sounded different.
Smaller.
Like I was afraid of the answer.
Gabriel looked at the computer screen.
Then at me.
“Chloe…”
“No.”
I stepped back.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Say my name like that.”
His expression changed.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re sorry.”
Silence.
Because he was.
And I could see it.
“I want the truth.”
Gabriel looked toward Elena.
She lowered her eyes.
That told me enough.
“You both knew.”
Neither answered.
“You both knew something happened to my father.”
Gabriel finally spoke.
“Yes.”
The word landed like a stone.
My chest tightened.
“How long?”
“Since the beginning.”
I laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because I couldn’t believe my own life.
“My whole life was a secret.”
“Chloe—”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“The first night we met, you knew my name.”
His eyes moved away.
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the necklace.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the date.”
“Yes.”
Every answer made it worse.
Every answer proved I had been standing beside someone who knew pieces of my life that I had spent years trying to understand.
“Why?”
Gabriel didn’t answer.
That was the first time I saw him afraid of a question.
“Why did you keep me in the dark?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because your father asked me to.”
I froze.
“What?”
Gabriel walked toward the desk.
Slowly.
Like every step was heavy.
“He came to me three days before he disappeared.”
The room became quiet.
“He knew someone was watching him.”
“Who?”
“He didn’t know.”
Gabriel looked at the photograph of my father.
“But he knew they were close.”
I stared.
“What did he ask you?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“He asked me to protect you.”
The anger inside me burned hotter.
“So you protected me by letting me believe he was dead?”
“I protected you by making sure nobody could find you.”
“Except they did.”
That sentence stopped him.
Because it was true.
Someone had found me.
Someone had found the clinic.
Someone knew exactly how to reach me.
Gabriel opened a drawer.
He pulled out a folder.
Thick.
Old.
Worn.
He placed it on the desk.
“I should have shown you this years ago.”
I didn’t touch it.
“What is it?”
“Everything I knew.”
I looked at the folder.
Then at him.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
The answer surprised me.
“I expect you to hate me.”
That hurt more.
Because he wasn’t defending himself.
He was accepting the blame.
Inside the folder were documents.
Photographs.
Reports.
Notes written in my father’s handwriting.
I recognized it immediately.
My fingers trembled as I touched the first page.
A sentence was written across the top.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME, FIND CHLOE.
I stopped breathing.
Below it was a list of names.
Some crossed out.
Some circled.
One name appeared several times.
COSTA.
I looked up.
Gabriel saw it.
“I know.”
“You were on the list.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His eyes lowered.
“Because my family was involved.”
The answer shocked me.
“Your family?”
“Not everyone in my family was like me.”
I almost laughed.
“You’re saying there were worse people than you?”
His expression was serious.
“Yes.”
That scared me.
Elena moved closer.
“There’s something you need to understand.”
I looked at her.
“Your father wasn’t running from Gabriel.”
“Then who was he running from?”
She hesitated.
And I knew.
Whatever she was about to say mattered.
“Someone inside Costa’s organization.”
Gabriel looked at her sharply.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Elena’s voice became firm.
“She deserves to know.”
The tension between them was immediate.
Like they had been arguing about this for years.
“Who?”
Elena looked at me.
“Luca Costa.”
I froze.
Gabriel’s brother.
The man who disappeared.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It will.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Everyone keeps saying that. Everyone keeps telling me the truth will make sense later.”
My voice broke.
“I’m tired of later.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Brutus walked into the room.
Slowly.
Still injured.
Still weak.
He came straight to me.
I knelt down.
“Hey.”
He pressed his head against my shoulder.
Gabriel watched.
“He only does that when he trusts someone.”
I looked at him.
“Maybe he knows I’m the only honest person here.”
The words hurt.
I saw them hurt him.
But I couldn’t take them back.
The next hour changed everything.
Gabriel showed me documents.
My father’s investigation.
Luca’s disappearance.
The hidden accounts.
The names of people who had been controlling businesses across Chicago.
But one thing kept appearing.
The same symbol.
The same one on the necklace.
The same one carved into the box.
“What is it?”
Gabriel stared at it.
“My father’s symbol.”
I looked at him.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“So this started with your family.”
“Yes.”
“And my father got involved.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Because your father believed someone had betrayed my family.”
A strange feeling moved through me.
“Who?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he opened the last file.
Inside was a photograph.
A recent photograph.
Not old.
Not from seven years ago.
My hands went cold.
Because it showed a man standing outside a building.
A man I recognized.
My father.
Alive.
I couldn’t breathe.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“I found this three months ago.”
“You found proof he was alive three months ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
His silence answered.
I stood up.
The chair moved backward.
“You knew.”
“Chloe—”
“You knew my father might be alive.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“You had a picture.”
“I didn’t know where he was.”
“But you knew.”
My voice shook.
“Seven years.”
Gabriel looked devastated.
“I was trying to find him.”
“While I was mourning him.”
“Chloe…”
“No.”
I grabbed my jacket.
“I’m done.”
Gabriel immediately moved.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from people who decide what I deserve to know.”
“You can’t leave.”
I stopped.
Slowly turned.
“Excuse me?”
“Someone is hunting you.”
“And staying here with you makes me safer?”
“Yes.”
The confidence in his voice almost made me angry.
Almost.
Then the security alarm exploded.
Everyone froze.
One of Gabriel’s men rushed into the room.
“Boss.”
Gabriel turned.
“What happened?”
The man looked pale.
“Someone entered the building.”
“How many?”
The man hesitated.
“None.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What?”
The man swallowed.
“The cameras show nobody entering.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then how did they get inside?”
Nobody answered.
The man looked at me.
And I knew.
Before he spoke.
“There’s a message.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Where?”
The man handed him a small envelope.
Gabriel opened it.
Read it.
Then his face changed.
I had never seen him look like that.
“What does it say?”
He didn’t answer.
I grabbed the paper.
Three words were written on it.
My hands started shaking.
Because the handwriting was familiar.
It was my father’s handwriting.
The message said:
“DON’T TRUST GABRIEL.”
Then, beneath those words, another sentence appeared.
May you like
A sentence written only seconds before we found it.
“Chloe, if you are reading this, he already knows where you are.”
