Chapter 2 - The Road Beyond the Gates
Beatrice woke to a man saying, “Don’t move.”
She opened her eyes.
A black SUV had stopped beside the snow-covered highway.
Her cheek rested against cold glass inside an abandoned bus shelter.
She had made it less than three miles.
Her body had finally refused to continue.
A tall man stood outside the open passenger door.
Dark hair.
Charcoal overcoat.
A scar cutting faintly through his left eyebrow.
He was perhaps thirty-eight.
Two other men remained near the SUV.
Beatrice clutched the duffel.
“If you work for Gabriel, tell him I’d rather freeze.”
The stranger’s expression barely changed.
“I don’t work for your husband.”
“That doesn’t make you safe.”
“No.”
He looked toward the road behind her.
“It makes me the opposite.”
Beatrice understood.
“Who are you?”
“Adrian Vale.”
The name struck her.
She had heard Gabriel say it only twice.
Never casually.
Vale controlled ports, construction contracts and half the private security network along the eastern seaboard.
Gabriel called him a criminal pretending to be a businessman.
Adrian reportedly called Gabriel something less polite.
Beatrice backed away.
“You’re Gabriel’s enemy.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect me to get into your car?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
Adrian removed his coat and placed it on the bench between them.
“I expect you to decide whether you want hypothermia.”
Her teeth were already chattering.
“I have a phone.”
“Then call whoever you trust.”
Beatrice stared at the prepaid device.
Who?
Chloe?
No.
Her mother had died years ago.
Her father had disappeared from her life before that.
Friends knew Gabriel.
Drivers belonged to Gabriel.
Doctors belonged to Gabriel’s network.
Adrian watched her understand.
“I won’t touch you,” he said. “My physician can meet us somewhere neutral.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re pregnant and freezing.”
“No. Why help me?”
Something unreadable moved across his face.
“Because whatever exists between Rossi and me has nothing to do with leaving a pregnant woman beside a highway.”
Headlights appeared in the distance.
Adrian looked toward them.
His men immediately became alert.
Beatrice knew before anyone spoke.
Gabriel.
“Choose quickly,” Adrian said.
Beatrice stared at the approaching vehicles.
Then at Adrian.
She entered his SUV.
“Drive.”
The convoy accelerated.
Minutes later, three black Rossi vehicles appeared behind them.
Adrian glanced into the mirror.
“You’re popular.”
“Not funny.”
“Wasn’t intended to be.”
Her phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
She knew.
Beatrice answered.
“Where are you?”
Gabriel.
“Safe.”
“Are you with Vale?”
She looked at Adrian.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel’s voice became frighteningly quiet.
“Get out of his car.”
“No.”
“You have no idea who he is.”
“I know exactly who you are.”
“Beatrice.”
“You kissed my sister.”
“This is bigger than Chloe.”
“It wasn’t bigger when your hand was on her waist.”
“Vale will use you.”
Adrian heard.
He said nothing.
Gabriel continued.
“Tell him I’m coming.”
Beatrice ended the call.
The phone immediately rang again.
She turned it off.
Adrian looked toward her.
“You can still go back.”
“No.”
“Good.”
She frowned.
“You wanted me to?”
“I wanted the decision to be yours.”
That sentence hurt more than she expected.
They reached a private medical clinic forty minutes later.
No visible guards.
No Rossi insignia.
A female physician examined Beatrice.
The baby was healthy.
Beatrice was dehydrated, exhausted, but stable.
Adrian waited outside.
When she emerged, he stood from a chair.
“The doctor says you need rest.”
“You asked her?”
“She told me only that you were safe to travel. Nothing else.”
Again, the difference unsettled her.
Gabriel would have demanded every detail.
Adrian drove her to a stone house overlooking the Hudson.
Not his primary residence, he explained.
A secure guest property.
“You can leave whenever you want.”
Beatrice almost laughed.
“Do men in your world practice that sentence?”
“Apparently not enough.”
She looked at him.
For the first time, Adrian smiled.
Barely.
Her room had no guards inside.
No cameras.
No locked windows.
She tested the door.
Unlocked.
At 4:32 a.m., Beatrice finally slept.
At the Rossi mansion, Gabriel did not.
He stood in the security room watching footage.
Beatrice crossing the basement.
Beatrice opening the hidden passage.
Beatrice disappearing.
She had outsmarted his entire security operation.
Marco entered.
“Vale confirmed she’s with him.”
“How?”
“He sent a message.”
Gabriel turned.
Marco handed him the phone.
SHE IS SAFE. SHE LEAVES WHEN SHE CHOOSES. SEND MEN ONTO MY PROPERTY AND THEY WILL BE RETURNED.
Gabriel read it twice.
“Prepare the cars.”
“Gabriel—”
“Prepare them.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“You shouldn’t.”
Chloe.
Gabriel’s expression turned glacial.
“Why are you still here?”
She looked pale.
“Because there’s something you don’t know.”
“I know enough.”
“No.”
She closed the door.
“The kiss wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“That’s your defense?”
“It wasn’t about you.”
He stared.
Chloe reached into her purse.
“I came here because someone paid me.”
Gabriel stopped.
“What?”
“To get close to you.”
His face emptied.
Chloe began crying.
“I owed money after the engagement ended. A lot. Someone contacted me. They wanted photographs. Schedules. Information.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Who?”
“I never met them.”
“You brought a threat into my house?”
“I didn’t know Beatrice was the target.”
His eyes changed.
“Target?”
Chloe pulled out her phone.
“They sent this after she disappeared.”
Gabriel took it.
One message.
YOU FAILED. THE WIFE LEFT ALIVE.
Below it was a photograph.
Beatrice asleep in Adrian Vale’s guest house.
Taken minutes earlier.
Gabriel looked at the timestamp.
4:41 a.m.
His blood went cold.
Vale’s property was supposedly secure.
If the photograph was real, someone was already inside.
Across the Hudson, Beatrice woke to a soft sound.
Her bedroom door moved.
Slowly.
She reached for the lamp.
May you like
The handle turned.
And someone on the other side whispered her name.
