Chapter 5 - THE TRUTH BEHIND THE FIRE
We left before sunrise.
Gabriel wanted to go alone.
I refused.
He stared at me.
“You're still injured.”
“And Michael is my brother.”
“You're not trained.”
“I spent two years living in your house without getting killed.”
His mouth twitched.
“That's not training.”
“It's something.”
He almost smiled.
Then Leo appeared behind us.
“Are you leaving?”
Gabriel crouched.
“For a little while.”
“Can I come?”
“No.”
Leo's face fell.
Gabriel touched his hair.
“I'll be back.”
“You promise?”
Gabriel paused.
Then nodded.
“I promise.”
Leo looked at me.
“You too?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
We drove to Albany.
The address led to an old motel.
Room 214.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, everything had been cleared out.
Except for one thing.
A photograph.
Gabriel picked it up.
It showed Marissa.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Thomas.
Gabriel stared.
“She was pregnant?”
I looked at the date.
Three years ago.
One month before the fire.
“Gabriel…”
He looked at me.
“That's not possible.”
“Why?”
“She told me she couldn't have children.”
I looked at the photograph again.
“Maybe she lied.”
Or maybe someone made her.
A sound came from the bathroom.
Gabriel raised his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
The door opened.
A man stepped out.
Michael.
My knees nearly gave out.
“Michael.”
He stared at me.
“Elena.”
I ran to him.
He caught me.
For two years, I had imagined this moment.
But I had never imagined how angry I would be.
I punched his chest.
“You idiot!”
He laughed through tears.
“I know.”
“You were alive!”
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead!”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
I stepped back.
“Why?”
He looked at Gabriel.
“Because of her.”
“Marissa?”
He nodded.
“She survived the crash.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
Michael's expression hardened.
“She doesn't trust you.”
“I need to see her.”
“You don't understand.”
“I've spent three years believing my wife was dead.”
Michael looked at him.
“She wanted you to believe it.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas told her if she went back to you, Leo would die.”
Gabriel froze.
“What?”
Michael continued.
“Thomas was running the Crow.”
“And Marissa?”
“She was forced to help him.”
Gabriel's face changed.
“She betrayed me?”
“No.”
Michael shook his head.
“She was trying to protect Leo.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Then why attack him?”
Michael looked at me.
“That wasn't Marissa.”
“Who was it?”
“Someone inside the Rossi family.”
Silence.
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“Who?”
Michael hesitated.
Then he said:
“Your brother.”
Gabriel stared.
“I don't have a brother.”
Michael looked at him.
“You did.”
A name.
Anthony Rossi.
Gabriel's older half-brother.
I had never heard of him.
Apparently, neither had most of the world.
Gabriel's father had hidden Anthony after a violent dispute over the family empire.
Anthony had disappeared.
But according to Michael, he had returned.
And he wanted Leo dead because Leo was the only person standing between him and control of the Rossi organization.
“Where is he?”
Michael looked toward the window.
“Too late.”
“What?”
“He knows you're here.”
A gunshot shattered the glass.
Michael pushed me down.
Gabriel fired toward the window.
Another shot.
Then another.
We crawled behind the bed.
Michael grabbed my arm.
“There's a back exit.”
We ran.
The alley was empty.
A black car sped away.
Gabriel looked at Michael.
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
I noticed something on the ground.
A silver bracelet.
The same kind Marissa wore.
I picked it up.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
One sentence.
HE KNOWS ABOUT ELENA.
My blood went cold.
“Gabriel.”
He read it.
His face darkened.
“Who is Elena?”
Michael looked at him.
“You really don't know?”
Gabriel looked between us.
Michael swallowed.
“Your wife knew her.”
I felt my heart stop.
“Me?”
Michael nodded.
“Before the fire.”
I stared at him.
“How?”
“She hired you.”
“What?”
“Not as a maid.”
I couldn't breathe.
Michael continued.
“She hired you to watch Leo.”
I looked at Gabriel.
He looked equally shocked.
“She knew someone was planning to kill her son.”
My voice trembled.
“Then why did she let me come here?”
“Because she knew you could be trusted.”
“Trusted with what?”
Michael looked at me.
“The truth.”
Before he could explain, his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then whispered:
“She's gone.”
Gabriel grabbed him.
“Who?”
“Marissa.”
“Where?”
Michael looked at me.
“She left a message.”
“What message?”
He pressed the phone to speaker.
A woman's voice filled the room.
Soft.
Tired.
Terrified.
“Elena, if you're hearing this, I'm sorry.”
My blood ran cold.
“I brought you into the Rossi house because I knew someone would eventually come for Leo.”
A pause.
“But there is something I never told Gabriel.”
Her voice broke.
“The man who ordered the attack wasn't Anthony.”
May you like
Gabriel stiffened.
“It was me.”
