Chapter 4 - The Child Everyone Wanted
The DNA test took forty-eight hours.
Those forty-eight hours nearly destroyed Hannah.
She watched Emma sleep.
She held her during feedings.
She changed her clothes.
She sang quietly when the baby became restless.
And every hour, the same thought returned.
What if Emma wasn't hers?
Gabriel watched from a distance.
He had expected Hannah to become hysterical.
Instead, she became quiet.
Too quiet.
On the second night, he found her sitting beside Emma's crib.
"You should sleep."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid."
Gabriel leaned against the doorway.
"You don't have to be."
She looked at him.
"Easy for you to say."
"You're right."
She looked surprised.
Gabriel rarely admitted weakness.
"I've spent my whole life believing fear was something you conquered."
"And?"
"And sometimes fear is information."
Hannah looked down.
"What does yours tell you?"
Gabriel was silent.
"That you're important."
She frowned.
"To you?"
He looked away.
"To the situation."
She smiled faintly.
"You're terrible at this."
"At what?"
"Comforting people."
"I wasn't aware I was trying."
"You are."
Gabriel looked at Emma.
The baby was asleep.
Then his phone rang.
Matteo.
Gabriel answered.
"What?"
"We have the results."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"Send them."
He ended the call.
Hannah stood.
"What?"
Gabriel looked at her.
"Emma is your biological daughter."
Hannah exhaled.
A sob escaped her.
She covered her face.
Gabriel remained still.
Then Hannah suddenly crossed the room and hugged him.
Gabriel froze.
Her arms wrapped around him.
"Thank you."
He hesitated.
Then placed one hand on her back.
For the first time in years, he allowed someone close enough to feel his heartbeat.
Hannah pulled away.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
She wiped her eyes.
"Then what is the truth?"
Gabriel looked toward the window.
"Emma isn't Sarah Vale's daughter."
Hannah stared.
"Then who is she?"
"Sarah's baby died."
"Then why does her name appear?"
"Because someone used her identity."
Gabriel placed a folder on the table.
"Someone created a false record."
Hannah opened it.
There was a photograph.
A hospital corridor.
A woman.
A doctor.
And a man standing in the background.
Hannah recognized him.
"Daniel."
Gabriel nodded.
"He wasn't an informant."
"What?"
"He was involved in something much bigger."
Gabriel explained.
Daniel had discovered that Victor Kane was trafficking information through the harbor.
But Daniel hadn't been working for the government.
He had been working for someone else.
Someone who wanted Kane exposed.
Someone inside Gabriel's own organization.
Hannah looked at him.
"Who?"
Gabriel didn't answer.
The door opened.
Matteo entered.
"Boss."
Gabriel looked up.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Victor Kane is alive."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"We thought he was dead."
"He disappeared."
"Where?"
Matteo placed a photograph down.
"New York."
Gabriel looked at it.
Victor Kane stood outside a church.
Beside him was a woman.
The same woman from the photograph.
Sarah Vale.
Hannah stared.
"But she died."
Gabriel nodded.
"Apparently not."
The woman in the photograph was alive.
And she was holding a child.
Not Emma.
Another baby.
Gabriel looked at Matteo.
"Find her."
"We already tried."
"And?"
"She vanished."
Gabriel's phone rang.
Unknown.
He answered.
"Gabriel."
A woman's voice.
"You're asking too many questions."
Gabriel recognized it.
Sarah.
"Where are you?"
"Does it matter?"
"You have something I need."
"No."
"I have your child."
Silence.
Hannah's eyes widened.
Sarah continued.
"Emma is not your problem."
"She's Hannah's."
"Then protect her."
"From you?"
"No."
Sarah's voice became cold.
"From Victor."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"Why?"
"Because Victor believes Emma has the ledger."
"What ledger?"
"The one Daniel stole."
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
"What is on it?"
Sarah laughed.
"Names."
"Whose?"
"Everyone."
The call ended.
Gabriel stared at the phone.
Hannah whispered:
"What do we do?"
May you like
Gabriel looked at Emma.
"We stop running."
