Chapter 2 - THE BRACELET THAT BELONGED TO A DEAD WOMAN
Gabriel Moretti looked at the silver bracelet as though it had reached out of a grave.
Amelia instinctively covered it with her hand.
“My mother wasn't your sister.”
Gabriel's gaze lifted.
“I'm not saying she was.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“That I recognize something I haven't seen in seventeen years.”
Outside, snow struck the SUV windows in thick, white sheets.
A paramedic was examining Lily in the vehicle's warm interior. The little girl had begun responding normally, and her brothers sat beside her with blankets around their shoulders.
Amelia wanted nothing more than to take them somewhere safe.
But Gabriel's expression frightened her.
“Tell me about the bracelet,” he said.
“My mother gave it to me when I turned eighteen.”
“Did she tell you where she got it?”
Amelia hesitated.
“She said it was from someone who saved her life.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
His sister, Sofia Moretti, had disappeared at twenty-three.
The family had been told she'd died in a warehouse fire.
But Gabriel had never believed the story.
Sofia had been studying to become a social worker. She wanted to help mothers escape dangerous homes.
He remembered her laughing at him when he complained that she was too trusting.
“Not everyone is your enemy, Gabe.”
He'd heard those words in his dreams for seventeen years.
Now he looked at Amelia.
“What happened to your mother?”
“She died four years ago.”
“I'm sorry.”
Amelia looked away.
Eleanor Carter had been the only person who believed in her.
When Troy Mercer began controlling her money, tracking her phone, and isolating her from friends, Eleanor had begged Amelia to leave.
But Amelia had been pregnant with Lily.
And frightened.
She'd stayed.
Until three weeks ago.
“Listen,” Gabriel said. “I don't expect you to trust me. But I can help you contact a shelter or another safe place.”
Amelia studied him.
“Why?”
He glanced toward the children.
“Because they shouldn't be freezing at a bus stop.”
For the first time, she believed that might be his entire reason.
Her phone buzzed.
Troy.
Where are you?
Another message followed.
I know you're with Moretti.
Amelia's blood ran cold.
She looked toward Gabriel.
“How does my husband know your name?”
Gabriel frowned.
“Your husband?”
“Troy Mercer.”
Something changed in Gabriel's expression.
“Mercer?”
“You know him?”
Gabriel was silent for several seconds.
Then he turned toward his security chief.
“Vincent, check whether that sedan belongs to Mercer Holdings.”
Vincent stepped outside to make a call.
A moment later, the paramedic cleared Lily to travel with instructions to obtain further assessment if concerning symptoms returned.
Gabriel arranged a room for the family at a secure hotel where emergency social services could meet them.
But before Amelia entered the vehicle, Vincent returned.
His face was grim.
“Boss, the sedan is registered to a company owned by Troy Mercer.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Then Vincent added something else.
“There's an old connection.”
“What connection?”
Vincent looked toward Amelia.
“Seventeen years ago, Troy's father was the last person seen with Sofia Moretti.”
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Gabriel went completely still.
And Amelia realized that her husband's family might know exactly what happened to the woman whose bracelet she wore.
