Chapter 4
Noah saw the photo before I could hide it.
His face went blank.
Not scared.
Blank.
That frightened me more.
“Noah,” I said, reaching for him.
He backed off the chair and pressed himself into the clinic wall.
“Is he coming again?”
“No.”
My answer came too fast.
He heard the lie in it.
Gabriel took the phone from my hand and read the message.
His face did not change, but the room changed around him.
Men like Gabriel did not need to shout.
Power moved when they went quiet.
Mrs. Morrison guided Noah into the next room with soup and a soft blanket.
He looked back at me the whole way.
I waited until the door closed.
Then I turned on Gabriel.
“You said he was safe.”
“I said I would make him safe.”
“He is eight.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t,” I snapped. “You know enemies and files and whatever war you’re in. He knows school lunches and nightmares. He knows how to hide in a closet when Derek drinks.”
Gabriel took the hit without blinking.
That made me angrier.
“Say something.”
“You are right.”
I stopped.
“I am?”
“Yes.”
The anger drained just enough for fear to rush in.
Gabriel placed the phone on the table.
“I cannot undo that Derek used you. But I can end his reach.”
“How?”
His jaw tightened.
“With the truth.”
The stolen files were not money records.
They were police records.
A list of officers, judges, and prosecutors paid by Victor Malden.
Gabriel had collected them for years.
Not out of morality.
Out of leverage.
But now Derek had helped steal them.
If Malden released edited pieces, every corrupt man on the list would panic.
Some would run.
Some would kill.
Some would look for the woman who had been conveniently present inside Gabriel’s private floor when it happened.
Me.
I sat down slowly.
“So I’m the fall guy.”
Gabriel nodded.
“And Noah is pressure.”
I covered my mouth.
Derek knew exactly where to cut because he had spent years practicing.
“I need to leave Boston,” I whispered.
Gabriel said, “You would not make it past Providence.”
The worst part was that I believed him.
Mrs. Morrison returned.
“Noah is asleep.”
I looked at her.
“How?”
“I told him anyone who tries to enter that room answers to me.”
Despite everything, a shaky laugh escaped me.
Gabriel’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, then looked toward the door.
“Bring him in.”
A man entered in a navy suit, hair wet from rain, glasses fogged at the edges.
“This is Samuel Price,” Gabriel said. “Attorney.”
Samuel looked at me kindly.
Not pity.
Kindness.
There was a difference.
“Miss Queen,” he said, “I need to ask difficult questions.”
I nodded.
He asked about my marriage.
Derek’s violence.
Noah’s care.
My mother’s death.
My father, who left when I was nine.
The first time Derek threatened to take Noah.
The first false police report.
The night I ran.
I answered until my throat hurt.
Then Samuel asked, “Did Derek ever mention Gabriel Ashford before you applied for the job?”
I shook my head.
Then stopped.
A memory surfaced.
Derek at the kitchen table.
Drunk but not sloppy.
Watching a news clip about Gabriel leaving federal court.
He had smiled and said, “Men like that think they’re untouchable.”
I told them.
Gabriel looked toward the window.
Samuel wrote it down.
Then Mrs. Morrison returned with something in her hand.
A folded piece of paper.
“I found this in Harper’s employee file.”
I frowned.
“My file?”
She opened it.
The application I had filled out.
A copy of my ID.
And a reference letter I had never seen.
Samuel took it.
His eyebrows drew together.
“Harper, did you list a reference named Detective Aaron Vale?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s eyes sharpened.
Samuel turned the page toward me.
There was a phone number.
A badge number.
A glowing recommendation.
My hands went cold.
“That’s Derek’s partner.”
Mrs. Morrison whispered, “I called that number before hiring you. A man answered and said Harper was quiet, hardworking, no trouble.”
I almost laughed.
No trouble.
That was what Derek wanted me to be.
A quiet woman with bruises who could be placed anywhere and blamed for anything.
Gabriel said, “Morrison.”
Her face changed before he finished.
“I know.”
She had made the call.
She had unknowingly opened the door.
For the first time since I met her, Mrs. Morrison looked old.
“I am sorry,” she said to me.
I did not know what to do with apologies.
Derek used to apologize with flowers, then count how many days it bought him.
Samuel’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
“The emergency petition is filed. Judge Henderson can hear it at eight.”
Gabriel’s mouth tightened.
“Henderson owes Malden.”
Samuel nodded.
“But if we don’t go, Derek gets there first.”
I looked toward the room where Noah slept.
“Go where?”
Samuel looked at me.
“Family court.”
My stomach dropped.
“Derek isn’t Noah’s father.”
“No,” Samuel said. “But he filed as a concerned household member alleging you are unstable and exposing Noah to organized crime.”
Gabriel’s gaze moved to mine.
Derek had trapped me twice.
If I stayed with Gabriel, I looked dangerous.
If I left, I was alone.
Then Noah screamed from the next room.
We ran.
He was awake, standing by the window, pointing at the glass.
May you like
Written in red marker on the outside were three words.
BAD GIRLS HIDE.
