Chapter 12 - THE LIE GABRIEL NEVER TOLD HER
Six months earlier, Gabriel Russo had not been behind Noelle's apartment by accident.
Noelle discovered that truth inside his penthouse at midnight.
"You were following me."
Gabriel stood near the window.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I knew Henry Pierce was watching you."
"How?"
"Because one of my people had intercepted his surveillance reports."
Noelle stared.
"So when I found you bleeding—"
"I had been attacked after meeting a source."
"Near my building."
"Yes."
"You knew who I was before I introduced myself."
Gabriel said nothing.
That hurt more than she expected.
"You let me believe we met by coincidence."
"I should have told you."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because you looked at me like I was a man."
She frowned.
"What?"
"Everyone else sees Russo first."
He turned toward her.
"Power. Money. Violence. Whatever story they've heard."
His voice lowered.
"You found me bleeding beside a dumpster and complained that I was inconveniencing your landlord."
Despite herself, Noelle remembered.
"You were bleeding on the recycling."
"Exactly."
"I asked if you needed help."
"You ordered me into your Honda."
"You were being stubborn."
"I was dying."
"Still stubborn."
Something almost broke in his expression.
"I didn't want that night to become another transaction."
Noelle's anger softened but didn't disappear.
"You still lied."
"Yes."
"And the repairs? The coffee? The mechanic?"
"All me."
"Gabriel."
"I know."
She walked closer.
"Do you understand why I pulled away?"
"Because you're afraid of what I am."
"No."
That surprised him.
"I'm afraid of disappearing into someone else's power again."
Silence.
Derek had controlled her career.
Henry had manipulated her future.
She would not become another possession simply because Gabriel's control came wrapped in protection.
"If we're going to be anything," she said, "you don't get to make decisions for me."
Gabriel nodded.
"No surveillance without telling me."
"Agreed."
"No secretly paying my bills."
"Agreed."
"No buying my employers."
He hesitated.
"Gabriel."
"Agreed."
She almost smiled.
Then he reached into his desk.
"I have something else."
He handed her a document.
A deed.
The warehouse trust.
Already secured legally in her name ahead of schedule through an emergency court order.
Noelle stared.
"You did this?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Gabriel's expression changed.
"Your mother."
Noelle froze.
"My mother died nine years ago."
Gabriel shook his head.
"The filing was submitted yesterday using an identity verification only one living person could complete."
Noelle stared at the signature.
ELAINE HAYES.
Her mother's name.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Noelle, if they found you, then I ran out of time.
Noelle couldn't breathe.
May you like
Gabriel continued quietly.
"Your mother may still be alive."
