Chapter 4 - WHAT EVAN KNEW
Evan had discovered his mother's packet three years earlier.
Inside were names.
Dates.
Financial transfers.
And a warning.
One of Vincent's oldest partners arranged my death.
No name.
Only a symbol.
A black rook.
Evan investigated secretly.
Then I applied for the job.
My mother's name matched Isabella's records.
Evan believed I might know something.
That was why he first approached me.
That revelation hurt more than I expected.
Our first date.
His jokes.
His affection.
Had all of it begun as surveillance?
Vincent saw my face.
“Don't decide what it meant before he tells you.”
“You're defending him?”
“I'm being his father.”
We traced Evan to an abandoned Marlowe warehouse.
He was alive.
Waiting.
“I wasn't kidnapped.”
Vincent nearly hit him.
Instead he hugged him.
Evan froze.
Then slowly hugged him back.
I looked away.
When they separated, Evan looked at me.
“I owe you the truth.”
“Yes.”
“I started talking to you because of Mom's file.”
I swallowed.
“And later?”
“I fell in love with you.”
I believed him.
That somehow made everything sadder.
“Why propose?”
“Because I was done investigating.”
He laughed without humor.
“I wanted one thing in my life that wasn't about my family.”
Then he looked at Vincent.
“I found the rook.”
Vincent's expression changed.
“Who?”
Evan placed a photograph on the table.
Gabriel Shaw.
Vincent's security chief.
His closest friend for thirty years.
The man currently standing behind us.
I heard the gun before I saw it.
May you like
“Don't move,” Gabriel said.
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