Chapter 2 - THE BLUE RIBBON THAT STOPPED A WEDDING
“Gabriel, please don't lift my dress. If they see what I'm hiding, they'll hurt her.”
Eleanor Shaw whispered those words so quietly that only the man she was supposed to marry could hear them.
Gabriel Moretti stood in the middle of St. Michael's Cathedral, staring at the woman who had just begged him not to help her.
Her smile was gone.
Her fingers trembled around the white roses.
“Who will they hurt?” he asked.
Eleanor glanced toward the front pew.
Her brother, Nathan, sat with his hands clasped between his knees.
Beside him, Julian Cross watched the couple with an expression that might have passed for concern.
Eleanor swallowed.
“Please. Just let me reach the altar.”
Gabriel looked down.
A narrow streak of blood had appeared along the hem of her ivory wedding gown.
That settled it.
He handed her bouquet to a startled bridesmaid and lowered himself to one knee.
“Forgive me,” he said.
Then he carefully lifted the edge of her dress.
A shocked whisper traveled through the cathedral.
Beneath the expensive silk, Eleanor's left ankle was badly swollen. Purple bruises climbed toward her calf, and a medical bandage had been wrapped so tightly that the skin above it looked pale.
But Gabriel barely noticed the bandage.
Something blue was tied around her ankle.
A narrow satin ribbon.
Three crooked white stars had been sewn into its surface.
It looked like something a child had made.
Gabriel touched the ribbon.
Eleanor flinched.
“Don't untie it.”
“Who did this to you?”
Her eyes filled.
“It's not mine.”
Gabriel slowly raised his head.
“Then whose is it?”
“My niece's.”
A tear rolled down Eleanor's cheek.
“Her name is Molly. She's eight years old.”
Gabriel looked toward Nathan again.
The man's face had turned gray.
“Where is Molly?”
Eleanor's lips barely moved.
“I don't know.”
For one terrible moment, the cathedral seemed to lose all sound.
Then Eleanor leaned closer.
“They took her yesterday. They said if I married you and behaved myself, she'd come home.”
Gabriel looked at the ribbon again.
“Who gave you this?”
“Someone brought it to my dressing room this morning. They wanted me to know they still had her.”
Gabriel stood.
He had faced armed men without blinking.
He had ordered collections that ruined businesses and families.
He had spent years convincing himself that fear was simply another instrument of power.
But looking at Eleanor, he finally understood something he should have learned long ago.
A person could agree to something and still have no choice.
He turned toward Father Anthony.
“There will be no wedding today.”
A collective gasp rose from the guests.
Julian was on his feet immediately.
“Gabriel, a word.”
“No.”
“Think about what you're doing.”
“I am.”
Gabriel gently supported Eleanor by the waist.
Then he addressed the cathedral.
“My bride is injured. She needs medical attention. The ceremony is over.”
Several guests stood.
Others stared at Eleanor as though she had personally insulted them.
Julian approached with a practiced smile.
“Perhaps we should handle this privately.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“We are handling it privately. Everyone else can leave.”
Julian lowered his voice.
“You're humiliating the Shaw family.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“No, Julian. Someone already did that.”
For the first time, his underboss had no immediate answer.
Father Anthony opened a small sitting room behind the sanctuary.
Gabriel carried Eleanor inside because she could no longer put weight on her injured leg.
She protested once.
“I can walk.”
“I believe you,” Gabriel replied. “That doesn't mean you should.”
He placed her on a sofa.
A church volunteer brought water and clean towels.
Gabriel asked Vince Russo, his longtime security chief, to secure the cathedral entrances and locate a physician among the guests.
Then he turned back to Eleanor.
“Tell me everything.”
She stared at her hands.
“You approved the marriage.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about my brother's debt.”
“Yes.”
“Then you knew I couldn't refuse.”
Gabriel felt the accusation land exactly where it belonged.
“I knew your brother owed money. I was told the marriage was an alternative you accepted.”
Eleanor looked up sharply.
“Accepted?”
She laughed once.
It was a terrible sound.
“Three men came to my motel. One showed me a photograph of Molly outside her school. Another told me how much my brother owed.”
Gabriel didn't interrupt.
“They said Nathan would disappear if I refused.”
“And Molly?”
Eleanor touched the blue ribbon.
“She disappeared anyway.”
Gabriel slowly removed his wedding ring from his pocket and placed it on the table.
It had never reached her finger.
“Who told you marrying me would bring her back?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Julian.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Before he could respond, the door opened.
Nathan Shaw entered.
His tie hung loose, and his eyes were bloodshot.
“Ellie, what have you done?”
Eleanor stared at him.
“What have I done?”
Nathan looked at Gabriel.
“Mr. Moretti, this is a misunderstanding. Molly is staying with relatives.”
“Which relatives?” Gabriel asked.
Nathan opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Eleanor stood too quickly.
Pain shot through her ankle.
“You told me you were looking for her!”
Nathan reached toward his sister.
“Ellie—”
“Don't touch me.”
The force of her voice stopped him.
“You let me put on that dress. You watched me walk down that aisle knowing she was missing.”
Nathan's eyes filled.
“I was trying to bring her home.”
“By giving me away?”
He lowered his head.
Gabriel stepped between them.
“Nathan. Look at me.”
Nathan obeyed.
“Did Julian Cross arrange your sister's marriage?”
“Yes.”
“Did he promise your daughter's safety?”
Nathan's face crumpled.
“He said everything would be settled after the ceremony.”
Gabriel felt cold.
Not because Julian had lied.
Because Gabriel had made it easy for him.
He had signed the agreement without meeting Eleanor.
He had allowed another man to decide what her consent meant.
And an eight-year-old girl was missing because men around him believed a Moretti signature made anything permissible.
Twenty minutes later, Dr. Leah Benton, a guest who worked at a nearby hospital, examined Eleanor.
She gently checked the swelling.
“This needs imaging. I suspect a fracture.”
Gabriel looked at Eleanor.
“An old car accident?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“It happened last night.”
Nathan covered his face.
Gabriel remained still.
“How?”
“I went to the garage where they told me Molly was being held. The door was open, but nobody was there.”
She swallowed.
“A man came up behind me. I tried to run. He shoved me down the concrete stairs.”
“Did you recognize him?”
“No. He wore gloves and a baseball cap.”
“Did he say anything?”
Eleanor nodded.
“He said I wouldn't need to walk much after today.”
Gabriel looked toward the doorway.
Vince had returned.
“Boss,” he said quietly, “we have a problem.”
Gabriel stood.
“What kind?”
“The cathedral has security cameras in the vestibule. Father Anthony let us review the footage.”
“And?”
Vince glanced at Eleanor.
“A little girl matching Molly's description was here this morning.”
Eleanor gripped the edge of the sofa.
“Here?”
“At eleven seventeen.”
Gabriel moved toward the door.
“Show me.”
The security office was a cramped room behind the cathedral's administrative corridor.
A monitor displayed black-and-white footage of the main entrance.
Vince replayed the recording.
A small girl appeared beside a tall man.
She wore a pink jacket and carried a purple backpack.
Her dark hair was tied back.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“Molly.”
Gabriel watched the child carefully.
She wasn't struggling.
But her shoulders were hunched, and she kept looking toward the street.
The man beside her touched her shoulder.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Pause it.”
Vince stopped the video.
The man's face was partly hidden, but Gabriel recognized the dark suit.
And the silver wristwatch.
His stomach tightened.
“Run it again.”
The man bent to speak to Molly.
Then he guided her toward the service corridor.
Eleanor grabbed Gabriel's arm.
“That's her. Please tell me you know where he took her.”
Gabriel couldn't answer immediately.
Because the man in the footage was not a stranger.
He was Vince Russo.
His own head of security.
Gabriel turned away from the monitor.
May you like
Vince stood motionless beside the door.
“Tell me,” Gabriel said, his voice dangerously calm, “why my bride's missing niece was last seen walking away with you.”
