Chapter 5 - Gabriel’s Signature
I slapped him.
Not hard.
Enough.
Gabriel accepted it.
“I deserve worse.”
“Why?”
“Christian told me you agreed.”
“That is pathetic.”
“I know.”
“No. Pathetic would be believing him once.”
I pointed at the contracts.
“You notarized three.”
His face changed.
He hadn't expected me to see that.
“Three times, Gabriel.”
“I knew by the third.”
There.
That mattered.
“At first, I believed him. Later I understood you had no idea.”
“And continued.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Christian threatened to destroy my brother.”
Not good enough.
I waited.
Gabriel's younger brother had served eighteen months in prison after a drug conviction.
Christian had paid his legal fees.
Later, he bought the debt on Gabriel's parents’ house.
A familiar system.
Help someone.
Then transform help into ownership.
“Christian does this to everyone,” Gabriel said.
“No.”
He looked up.
“Everyone lets him do it differently.”
The distinction mattered.
Christian manipulated.
Gabriel still forged.
Evelyn might control Christian.
Christian still paid for the attack.
Responsibility didn't disappear just because another hand existed higher up the ladder.
I asked Gabriel what he knew about Sabrina.
“She thinks Christian is leaving you after the wedding.”
“Does she know about the attack?”
“I don't know.”
“Does she know about my miscarriages?”
“I doubt it.”
I needed to meet her.
Gabriel called that suicidal.
So we compromised.
He sent a message through a secondary number only Sabrina knew.
She responded immediately.
Where is Christian?
Gabriel:
Hospital.
Sabrina:
Is Genevieve awake?
Interesting question.
Gabriel:
No.
Three dots appeared.
Then:
Good.
My stomach tightened.
Maybe she knew more than he thought.
Gabriel typed:
Leo okay?
Sabrina sent a photograph.
Blonde woman.
Four-year-old boy.
Birthday cake.
Christian in the background.
The date metadata:
Six months earlier.
The same weekend Christian told me he was performing in Toronto.
I stared at Leo.
Brown eyes.
Christian’s smile.
No doubt.
Then I noticed something else.
Around Sabrina's wrist was a hospital identification bracelet.
Not current.
She had kept it.
I zoomed in.
Patient name:
Genevieve Hart.
My name.
Sabrina had knowingly been admitted under my identity.
Gabriel whispered:
“She knew.”
Maybe.
But why keep the bracelet in a family photograph?
It looked almost displayed.
A clue?
A trophy?
Before we could decide, Marisol returned carrying the toxicology result from the syringe cap.
Residue.
A sedative.
High dose.
Dangerous but not necessarily lethal.
Christian wanted me unconscious.
Again.
Then my hidden-room phone rang.
No caller ID.
I answered silently.
A woman spoke.
“Genevieve?”
Sabrina.
“You don't know me.”
I looked at Gabriel.
She continued:
“But if you're awake, don't trust Gabriel.”
His face went white.
“Because he isn't Christian’s manager.”
May you like
A pause.
“He’s Leo’s biological father.”
