Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Paige woke at 3:14 in the morning with her hands pressed against her throat.
For several seconds, she couldn't remember where she was.
Then the unfamiliar ceiling came into focus.
Concrete walls.
Soft bedding.
A narrow band of moonlight across the floor.
No Colin.
She sat up and waited for her heartbeat to slow.
The guest-suite door had a lock on the inside. She had checked it three times before sleeping.
It remained locked.
That mattered more than the expensive furniture.
She got out of bed and opened the curtains. Beyond the ballistic glass, the valley lay beneath a blanket of darkness. The estate lights traced the perimeter of the grounds.
She wondered whether Gabriel's guards were protecting her or preventing her from leaving.
At breakfast, she decided to find out.
Helen was waiting in a kitchen that looked more like a laboratory than a place where people made pancakes.
“Good morning.”
“Can I leave?”
Helen didn't hesitate.
“Yes.”
“Without asking Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“Can someone take me to a hotel?”
“Certainly.”
Paige stared.
Helen poured coffee.
“Mr. Rossy instructed us that you are a guest. Not a prisoner.”
“That's convenient.”
Helen looked at her.
“You don't have to believe me. You're welcome to test it.”
Paige considered that.
Then sat.
“I'd like breakfast first.”
Helen smiled.
“An excellent decision.”
Gabriel entered forty minutes later.
He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms. Without the suit, he looked less like a businessman and more like a man who had spent his life surviving fights.
Paige noticed a pale scar across his wrist.
He noticed her looking.
“Old accident.”
“I didn't ask.”
“No. You didn't.”
He poured coffee.
Paige set down her fork.
“Why did you really stop my wedding?”
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
“Colin's family has been laundering money through medical property developments. Your father helped arrange some of the acquisitions.”
“I know.”
Gabriel looked up.
“You know?”
“Colin liked to talk when he thought I was too stupid to understand.”
“Was he wrong?”
“Frequently.”
For the first time, Gabriel smiled without calculation.
Then Paige leaned forward.
“You could have investigated him without storming a cathedral. You wanted to humiliate him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because humiliation makes reckless men careless.”
“That's not the whole answer.”
His smile disappeared.
“No.”
Paige waited.
Gabriel looked toward the window.
“Twelve years ago, Richard's company acquired a private medical facility called St. Catherine's.”
Paige frowned.
“I've heard of it.”
“It closed after a fire.”
“I remember.”
“My younger sister worked there.”
Paige went still.
“What happened to her?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“She died.”
The kitchen seemed suddenly quieter.
“I'm sorry.”
He nodded once.
“Richard claimed the fire was an electrical accident. I found evidence that it started after someone destroyed records.”
“And you think Colin knows something?”
“I know he does.”
Paige studied him.
“So this is revenge.”
“Partly.”
“And I'm useful.”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than she expected.
Gabriel saw it.
“Paige, I won't pretend I approached you without an agenda.”
“That's refreshing.”
“But you don't owe me anything. You can leave today.”
She looked at him.
“Then why tell me about your sister?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Because you asked for the truth.”
Later that afternoon, Paige found the photograph.
She hadn't been looking for secrets.
Helen had asked her to bring a book from the library, and she'd taken the wrong corridor.
A door stood partly open.
Inside was a small study.
On the desk sat a photograph in a silver frame.
A young woman with dark hair and warm brown eyes stood in front of a hospital.
Paige stopped.
The resemblance was unsettling.
Not identical.
But close enough to make her stare.
Gabriel appeared behind her.
“You found Mara.”
Paige turned.
“Your sister?”
He nodded.
“Why does she look like me?”
Gabriel stepped beside her.
For a moment, grief transformed his face.
“Because she had the same expression you had when you walked down that aisle.”
Paige looked at the photograph again.
Mara was smiling.
But her eyes held something else.
Determination.
“Was she afraid?”
Gabriel answered quietly.
“Yes.”
“Of Richard?”
“Of what she had discovered.”
Paige turned toward him.
“What did she discover?”
Gabriel opened a drawer.
He removed a yellowed envelope.
May you like
Across the front, in careful handwriting, were three words:
IF I DISAPPEAR.
