Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
For the first time since I met Gabriel Rossi, I saw him truly break.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
He simply stopped moving.
His eyes stayed on the screen.
“Read it again.”
Marco did.
“The original report states that the victim was alone.”
“And now?”
“Now it says there was a second passenger.”
Gabriel's voice was barely audible.
“Who?”
Marco shook his head.
“The name was removed.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Who could have changed it?”
“Someone with access to the county system.”
“Thomas?”
“Possibly.”
“Your people?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“My people don't touch police records.”
I stepped closer.
“Then someone wanted you to believe your wife died alone.”
He looked at me.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
The answer clearly angered him.
But this time he didn't lash out.
He simply walked away.
We spent the next six hours searching.
Old reports.
Insurance records.
Hospital records.
Witness statements.
Everything.
Then we found a photograph.
A firefighter had taken it after the crash.
Gabriel's wife's car was burning.
But in the background stood a second vehicle.
A black SUV.
The license plate was visible.
Marco traced it.
It belonged to a company that had been dissolved eight months earlier.
Thomas Vale had been its registered director.
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
“And he lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I answered quietly.
“Because maybe your wife didn't die.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“You think she's alive?”
“I think we don't know enough to say she's dead.”
He stared at the photograph for a long time.
Then Leo entered.
He was holding his wooden train.
“Dad?”
Gabriel turned.
“What is it?”
“Why are you sad?”
Gabriel crouched.
“I'm not.”
Leo frowned.
“You are.”
Gabriel looked at his son.
Then something unexpected happened.
He pulled Leo into his arms.
I looked away.
For a man feared by half the state, Gabriel held his son like a man terrified of losing the only thing he had left.
That night, Leo came into my room.
He climbed onto the chair.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Of course.”
“Mommy used to sing.”
I smiled.
“What song?”
“I don't remember.”
He looked down.
“But she had a bracelet.”
“What kind?”
“Silver.”
“Do you know where it is?”
He nodded.
“In Dad's safe.”
I froze.
“Why?”
“Mommy gave it to me.”
“Then why is it in the safe?”
Leo looked toward the hallway.
“Dad said I shouldn't touch it.”
I asked Gabriel about it.
He was reluctant.
But eventually he opened the safe.
Inside was a silver bracelet.
There was a tiny engraving.
A black crow.
My heart stopped.
I looked at Gabriel.
“This isn't a random symbol.”
“No.”
“What does it mean?”
He shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Then I turned the bracelet over.
There was another engraving.
Three letters.
M.V.R.
Gabriel went pale.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was on the bracelet.”
“No.”
He took it from my hand.
“M.V.R.?”
I nodded.
His face changed.
“That's my wife's initials.”
I stared at him.
“What was her maiden name?”
“Marissa Vale Rossi.”
My heart dropped.
Vale.
Thomas Vale.
I looked at him.
“Was Thomas related to her?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
“Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was her half-brother.”
The room went silent.
That changed everything.
Thomas hadn't betrayed Gabriel randomly.
He had a family connection.
And the Crow wasn't just an enemy organization.
It was connected to Gabriel's dead wife.
Then the door opened.
Marco stood there.
“Boss.”
Gabriel looked up.
“What?”
“We found the second passenger.”
My heart stopped.
“Who?”
Marco held out a photograph.
A woman.
Dark hair.
Standing outside a hospital.
Alive.
Gabriel took the photograph.
His hand began to shake.
“That's Marissa.”
I stared.
“She survived?”
Marco nodded.
“We found her.”
“Where?”
Marco looked at me.
Then at Gabriel.
“She was admitted under a different name.”
Gabriel whispered:
“Where is she now?”
Marco swallowed.
“She checked herself out six months ago.”
“Where did she go?”
“We traced her last known address.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“And?”
Marco answered:
“The same town where Michael Bell was last seen.”
I felt the air leave the room.
Gabriel looked at me.
I looked back.
The mystery was no longer about my brother.
It was no longer about the attack on Leo.
May you like
It was about a woman who had been declared dead three years ago.
And apparently, she had been hiding with my missing brother.
