Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO DIED TWICE
For seven years, I'd believed Rosa Moretti died from a sudden illness.
At the time, I was seventeen.
My mother and I had just moved out of the old building.
Rosa sent us a letter saying she was sick and needed rest.
Three weeks later, someone called to say she'd passed away.
There was no funeral invitation.
No hospital visit.
No chance to say goodbye.
I carried that grief quietly.
Now Gabriel Hayes was sitting across from me in Benny's diner, staring at a document suggesting Rosa may have been poisoned.
I looked at him.
“Who was your father?”
Gabriel's expression darkened.
“Anthony Hayes.”
The name meant little to me.
But Leo reacted immediately.
“Boss, we shouldn't discuss this here.”
Gabriel ignored him.
“My father controlled freight companies and gambling operations. He was a violent man.”
I swallowed.
“Rosa knew?”
“She tried to leave him.”
Gabriel looked toward his untouched coffee.
“When I was sixteen, he told me she abandoned us.”
His voice tightened.
“Three months later, he sent me to work for one of his associates.”
I stared.
“What happened?”
“I spent years trying to survive the life he forced on me.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Gabriel asked, “Did Rosa ever mention my father?”
I nodded.
“Only once.”
His eyes lifted.
“What did she say?”
I remembered sitting at her kitchen table while she rolled dough.
I had asked why she never remarried.
Rosa smiled sadly.
Then said, Some men don't know the difference between loving someone and owning them.
I repeated the words.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“That sounds like her.”
Something inside me softened.
For the first time, he wasn't the terrifying man whose name made restaurant owners nervous.
He was a son discovering that his mother hadn't abandoned him.
Then his expression changed.
“Norah, what happened to your own mother?”
The question surprised me.
“She died three years ago.”
“I'm sorry.”
I shrugged.
“Cancer.”
He studied me.
“And your father?”
“I never knew him.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
Then he looked toward my apron.
“Why are you studying nursing?”
I smiled faintly.
“Because my mother spent years working in hospitals that never gave her enough time to care for patients properly. I want to do it differently.”
He looked at me for a long moment.
“You sound like Rosa.”
Before I could answer, Benny appeared carrying a fresh pot of coffee.
His hands trembled.
“Mr. Hayes, please understand that Norah didn't mean any disrespect.”
Gabriel looked toward him.
“She didn't.”
Benny blinked.
“Sir?”
Gabriel glanced at the bowl.
“She's the first person to feed me in eight days.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then he added, “And nobody is going to threaten her because of it.”
Relief crossed Benny's face.
But I wasn't reassured.
Not yet.
Because I had noticed something strange.
Gabriel's men carried guns.
His security chief had spoken about poison.
And a woman I loved had apparently died under suspicious circumstances.
Then Leo received another call.
He listened.
His face changed.
“Boss, there's a problem.”
Gabriel turned.
“What?”
“The kitchen staff at your penthouse have been questioned.”
“And?”
Leo swallowed.
“One of them admitted receiving money from an unknown intermediary.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“How much?”
“Thirty thousand dollars.”
I stared.
Then Leo revealed the final detail.
“The payment came from an account registered to Rosa Moretti.”
My heart stopped.
May you like
Rosa had been dead for seven years.
Yet someone was still using her name.
