Chương 4
Nolan looked at the notebook.
“Thomas found records from before you took over.”
“What records?”
“I don’t know.”
The hesitation was small.
But it existed.
Gabriel noticed.
“You do know.”
Nolan rubbed his forehead.
For the first time, he looked less like a powerful executive and more like an exhausted man who had carried something too heavy for too long.
“I knew Thomas was asking questions.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“Months before he died.”
I stepped forward.
“You knew?”
Nolan looked at me.
“I knew he was looking into financial reports.”
“And you said nothing?”
“He was not supposed to be looking.”
The anger came before I could stop it.
“You’re talking about my husband like he broke a rule by trying to find out why money was missing.”
Nolan’s jaw moved.
“I’m saying he put himself in a dangerous position.”
“Because of your company.”
“Because of the people around it.”
The difference mattered.
I could hear that.
But I did not know if I believed him.
Gabriel walked back to the table.
“How much did Thomas find?”
Nolan looked away.
“That depends on what you think he found.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Nolan swallowed.
“It’s a warning.”
Lucy’s hand found mine.
Her fingers were cold.
I looked down at her.
“Mrs. Alvarez.”
The older woman turned.
“Can you take Lucy to the kitchen for a minute?”
Lucy immediately looked at me.
“No.”
I knelt.
“Sweetheart.”
“No.”
Her voice was small.
But firm.
“I found it.”
I brushed a piece of hair away from her face.
“I know.”
“So I should stay.”
The sentence hurt because it sounded like Thomas.
Like the same stubbornness.
The same need to protect people even when she was too young to understand the danger.
“You shouldn’t have to carry this,” I whispered.
Lucy looked at the notebook.
“I think Dad carried it.”
That was the problem.
She was right.
Mrs. Alvarez came closer.
“Come with me for five minutes.”
Lucy hesitated.
Then she looked at Gabriel.
“Don’t let him leave.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
“Who?”
She looked at Nolan.
“The one with the wet shoe.”
Nobody spoke.
Mrs. Alvarez gently guided her away.
The kitchen door closed.
The mansion became quiet again.
Gabriel stared at Nolan.
“Why was your shoe wet?”
Nolan looked down.
It was such a normal question that it almost sounded ridiculous.
Then I remembered.
Lucy noticed things.
Small things.
Things adults ignored.
Nolan’s expression shifted.
“I walked outside.”
“During the storm?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Nolan did not answer.
Gabriel waited.
That was something I had learned about him.
He was not patient because he was kind.
He was patient because he knew silence made people uncomfortable.
Eventually, Nolan spoke.
“I received a message.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel looked at my phone.
“Same person?”
“I don’t know.”
The repetition bothered me.
A person like Nolan was supposed to know.
People like him built their careers on knowing.
“What did the message say?” Gabriel asked.
Nolan looked toward the kitchen door where Lucy had disappeared.
Then back at us.
“It said someone found Thomas’s notebook.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“When did you get that?”
Nolan looked at the clock.
“Twenty minutes ago.”
The timing was impossible to ignore.
Twenty minutes ago.
Before Lucy stopped Gabriel.
Before we knew.
Before the notebook was opened.
Someone already knew.
Gabriel picked up his phone.
“Call logs.”
Nolan frowned.
“What?”
“Your phone.”
“I’m not giving you my personal phone.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Then give me a reason not to take it.”
The threat was not loud.
That made it worse.
Nolan stared at him for several seconds.
Then he pulled the phone from his pocket.
He unlocked it and placed it on the table.
Gabriel did not touch it.
He looked at me.
“Emma.”
I understood.
He wanted me to check.
Not because I was an expert.
Because I was the only person in the room who had no reason to protect either man.
My hands shook slightly as I picked it up.
The message thread was near the top.
Unknown number.
One message.
No name.
No profile.
Nothing.
I opened it.
Nolan had not lied.
The message was simple.
They found the book.
Keep Rourke away from it.
My eyes moved back to the first line.
Not keep Emma away.
Not keep Lucy away.
Keep Rourke away.
I looked at Gabriel.
He saw my expression.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
He read it once.
Then again.
His face became unreadable.
“They were afraid I would see it.”
Nolan looked exhausted.
“Or they wanted you to see it.”
Nobody spoke.
Because that possibility was worse.
Gabriel placed the phone down.
“What did my father know?”
Nolan looked at the floor.
“I don’t know everything.”
“Start with what you know.”
A long silence followed.
Then Nolan said something that changed the entire room.
“Your father did not build Rourke Freight alone.”
Gabriel waited.
“He built it with a man named Vincent Hale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
It meant something to Gabriel.
His expression changed.
“Vincent Hale died.”
Nolan nodded.
“That is what everyone believes.”
A sound came from the hallway.
The kitchen door opening.
Lucy returned with Mrs. Alvarez behind her.
But Lucy stopped when she saw Gabriel’s face.
“What happened?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Then Gabriel looked at the blue notebook in his hand.
At the message.
At me.
At the little girl who had forced him to stay.
“I think,” he said slowly, “your father found out someone was hiding a dead man’s secret.”
Lucy frowned.
“My dad didn’t like secrets.”
I looked at her.
She hugged herself.
“He said secrets make people lonely.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
For a moment, he looked like he wanted to say something.
But he didn’t.
Because some truths were too heavy to hand to a child.
Outside, the storm continued.
May you like
Inside, the first lie Gabriel Rourke had inherited from his father finally had a name.
The name stayed in the room after Nolan said it.
