Chapter 2 - THE MOTHER WHO DISAPPEARED
Norah stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Gabriel’s expression tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Rosa told me her son died.”
The words struck him harder than any bullet.
For several seconds, Gabriel did not move.
Then he whispered:
“What?”
Norah swallowed.
“She said she had a little boy named Gabriel. She said she lost him when he was young.”
Gabriel’s hand tightened around the spoon.
“How old were you when you knew her?”
“Nine.”
“And when was that?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Fifteen years.
He had been twenty-three.
Already running the docks.
Already becoming the man the city feared.
And his mother had been alive.
Gabriel had believed Rosa died when he was sixteen.
His father, Victor Hayes, told him she'd been killed in a robbery.
There had been no funeral.
No body.
Only a closed coffin and a warning never to ask questions.
Gabriel had believed him.
Until now.
He looked at Norah.
“Where is she?”
Norah's expression changed.
“Rosa died three years ago.”
Gabriel stared.
The diner seemed to tilt.
“She died?”
Norah nodded.
“Heart failure.”
He looked down at the stew.
For twenty-two years, he'd believed his mother was dead.
Now he learned she'd lived another nineteen years.
And died believing he was gone.
Gabriel lifted the spoon.
His hand shook.
He tasted the gravy.
The flavor struck him like a memory made physical.
A cramped kitchen.
A wooden table.
His mother's hands.
Rain against a window.
Her voice calling him to dinner.
He took another spoonful.
Then another.
Leo watched silently.
Gabriel ate until the bowl was half empty.
Then stopped, exhausted.
Norah approached.
“Slow down. You've barely eaten in days.”
He looked at her.
“How do you know?”
She glanced at his face.
“Because I have eyes.”
For the first time in weeks, Gabriel almost smiled.
He placed the spoon down.
“Tell me everything you remember about Rosa.”
Norah hesitated.
May you like
Then sat opposite him.
And began telling the most dangerous man in the city about the woman who had taught a lonely little girl how to cook.
