Chapter 5 - THE MAN BEHIND THE W
Declan did not sleep.
Nora knew because neither did she.
At dawn, she found him in the kitchen holding Patrick’s pocket watch.
“Sean hated Patrick,” Declan said.
“Why?”
“Patrick believed there were lines we shouldn’t cross.”
Nora folded her arms.
“What lines?”
“Women. Children. Desperate people.”
“And Sean?”
Declan looked at her.
“Believed desperation was profitable.”
The answer disgusted her.
But Declan did not excuse himself.
“I pushed Sean out five years ago.”
“Apparently not far enough.”
“No.”
That single word carried more guilt than an apology would have.
Owen traced the ledger’s payment routes.
The money did not go directly to Sean.
It passed through legitimate businesses before disappearing.
One was Nora’s diner.
She stared at the paperwork.
“My diner?”
“The owner may not know,” Owen said.
Nora thought of Frank Delaney, who had employed her for three years.
Gruff.
Cheap.
But kind when Lily died.
“He knows something.”
She insisted on going herself.
Declan came with her.
Frank turned pale the moment he saw them.
“I told him I was done.”
Nora’s stomach dropped.
“Told who?”
“Rourke.”
Frank sank into a booth.
Years earlier, his restaurant had nearly closed.
Rourke offered money.
The loan came with a condition.
Frank had to employ certain women and quietly report their schedules.
Nora was one of them.
“You watched me?”
Frank’s eyes filled with shame.
“I thought he was checking whether you were working enough to pay him.”
“You knew he threatened me?”
“Not at first.”
“And later?”
Frank looked down.
“Yes.”
The betrayal hurt because Frank had been ordinary.
Not a monster.
Just a frightened man who had chosen his own survival.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Nora stood.
“Sorry would have been telling me.”
Outside, Declan did not tell her to forgive Frank.
He simply walked beside her.
That mattered.
Then Owen called them back.
Not with a mysterious warning.
With something concrete.
Rourke had appeared at the mansion gate.
He wanted to talk.
Declan nearly refused.
Nora said, “Let him.”
Rourke entered the library under guard.
He was smaller than Nora remembered.
That surprised her.
Fear had made him enormous.
He looked at Nora.
“You shouldn’t have opened Patrick’s box.”
“You shouldn’t have stolen four years of my life.”
His expression tightened.
“I kept you alive.”
Declan moved forward.
Nora stopped him.
“How?”
Rourke looked at Declan.
“Sean wanted her taken after Patrick died.”
Silence.
“I made her profitable instead.”
Nora stared.
“You extorted me to protect me?”
“I put your name under debt collection. As long as payments arrived, Sean considered you useful.”
“You could have told me.”
“And you would have believed me?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
Rourke’s voice cracked for the first time.
“I’m not asking forgiveness.”
That was the first thing he said that Nora believed.
“Why did Sean want me?”
“Because Patrick gave Lily something.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
Rourke looked toward the stairs.
“Something Rose has.”
Nora’s blood chilled.
Declan grabbed Rourke by the collar.
“You went near that child.”
“I paid to keep her hidden.”
“You questioned her.”
“Because I needed to know whether Patrick gave her the item.”
“What item?”
Rourke swallowed.
“A necklace.”
Nora remembered Lily’s last days.
A necklace.
A small silver oval she had never seen before.
Lily had worn it beneath her hospital gown.
After Lily died, it disappeared.
“What’s inside it?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
Rourke looked directly at Declan.
“That Sean ordered Patrick’s murder.”
Declan released him.
Nora whispered, “Why would Lily have it?”
“Because Patrick trusted her more than anyone.”
Rourke reached slowly into his coat.
The guards tensed.
He produced an old train ticket.
Grayhaven to Boston.
Four years ago.
Two seats.
Patrick Keane.
Lily Bennett.
“They were leaving,” Rourke said.
Nora stared at the date.
The day before Patrick was murdered.
“Lily never told me.”
“She planned to.”
Rourke’s face softened unexpectedly.
“Patrick was taking Rose and Lily away. Your sister wanted you with them.”
Nora looked at the ticket.
“But Lily was too sick to travel.”
“No.”
Rourke shook his head.
“That’s what you were told.”
Nora’s breath stopped.
“What?”
“Her treatment was working.”
“No. The doctors said—”
“Her final collapse wasn’t from her illness.”
Declan went completely still.
Rourke looked at Nora with something almost like pity.
“Your sister died because someone changed her medication.”
The room tilted.
Nora grabbed the table.
Declan reached for her.
This time she let him.
May you like
Rourke whispered the final words.
“Patrick wasn’t Sean’s only victim.”
