Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO KNEW HER MOTHER
Samuel Voss looked nothing like the frightened stranger from booth seven.
In the hospital bed, he seemed smaller.
Older.
A white bandage covered part of his forehead.
His right arm rested in a sling.
A police officer stood outside the room.
Harper entered with Gabriel and an attorney who had arranged the visit through the hospital.
Samuel looked at her.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Elena's girl.”
Harper stopped.
“You knew my mother?”
He nodded.
“She was brave.”
Her throat tightened.
“Who are you?”
Samuel looked toward Gabriel.
“Someone who should have spoken twenty years ago.”
Samuel had worked as a records clerk for a Moretti-controlled logistics company.
He knew Nicholas.
He knew Elena.
And he knew why they had disappeared.
“Nicholas found out that certain men were using the company to move money from illegal operations,” Samuel said.
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“Which men?”
Samuel looked frightened.
“Your uncle.”
Gabriel went still.
“Vittorio?”
Samuel nodded.
“And others.”
Vittorio Moretti had died ten years earlier.
He had been the family's patriarch.
The man who taught Gabriel how to survive.
The man Gabriel had trusted more than anyone.
Samuel continued.
“Nicholas wanted to go to the authorities. He had documents. Names. Accounts.”
Gabriel stared.
“Why didn't he?”
“Because they found out.”
Harper leaned forward.
“What happened to him?”
Samuel's eyes filled.
“He tried to get Elena away.”
Harper felt cold.
“She was pregnant?”
Samuel nodded.
“With you.”
The room became silent.
Harper stared at him.
“Are you saying Nicholas was my father?”
Samuel looked at her.
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Gabriel remained still.
Samuel continued.
“Elena changed her name. Nicholas arranged it before he disappeared.”
Harper began crying.
“Where did he go?”
Samuel looked down.
“I don't know.”
He explained that Nicholas had hidden records in a compartment at Ashford Station.
Samuel had kept the key after Nicholas disappeared.
For years, he had been afraid to use it.
Then he learned that someone was searching for the records again.
He tried to contact Elena.
Only to discover she had died.
So he found Harper.
“Why now?” Gabriel asked.
Samuel swallowed.
“Because Vittorio wasn't the only one involved.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Who else?”
Samuel looked toward the door.
Then whispered:
“Someone still inside your organization.”
A nurse entered to check Samuel's condition.
The visit ended.
Harper stepped into the hallway.
She leaned against the wall.
Gabriel stood beside her.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Harper whispered:
“My whole life was a lie.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Your mother loved you.”
She began crying harder.
“I know.”
He waited.
She continued.
“But she knew who my father was.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Yes.”
“And she never told me.”
His voice softened.
“She may have been trying to protect you.”
Harper looked at him.
“From your family.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
That evening, Harper returned to the safe house.
She sat alone in the study.
The photograph of Nicholas remained on the desk.
She picked it up.
Studied his face.
Then whispered:
“Were you really my dad?”
Behind her, Gabriel stood in the doorway.
He didn't interrupt.
But his eyes were wet.
May you like
Because for twenty-three years, he had mourned a brother.
And now he was beginning to understand that his brother had left behind a daughter.
