Chapter 4 - THE DAUGHTER WHO NEVER FORGAVE HIM
“Transfer completed?”
Gabriel repeated the words as though they belonged to another language.
“What transfer?”
Nobody answered.
Madeleine stared at the photograph.
Her hands trembled.
I knelt beside her.
“Mrs. Laurent, do you recognize the handwriting?”
She examined the photograph closely.
Then nodded.
“Vincent,” she whispered.
Gabriel's expression hardened.
He was already reaching for his phone when footsteps sounded on the staircase.
Rosa appeared.
Behind her stood a young woman wearing a navy coat.
Dark hair pulled into a loose ponytail.
Tired eyes.
A face so similar to Gabriel's that I knew who she was before anyone introduced her.
Sofia Laurent.
Twenty-four years old.
Gabriel stood.
“Sofia.”
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
“Don't.”
One word.
Seven years of hurt inside it.
He lowered his hands.
“I didn't know you were coming.”
“Rosa called me when your security team arrived.”
Sofia looked around the kitchen.
“Funny. Seven years ago, I kept calling you. Nobody let me through.”
Gabriel absorbed that without responding.
Then he held out the photograph.
“Do you remember this?”
Sofia looked at it.
Her face went pale.
“Where did you find that?”
“In Grandma's office.”
She moved closer.
For the first time, she looked genuinely frightened.
“That nurse.”
“What about her?” I asked.
Sofia pointed to the woman in green.
“Her name was Nina. She was there when Elise was born.”
Gabriel studied the picture.
“Did she tell you anything?”
Sofia nodded slowly.
“She told me the baby was breathing.”
The kitchen fell silent.
“Before they took me away for treatment,” Sofia continued, “I heard Elise cry. I remember asking if I could hold her.”
Her voice shook.
“Then I woke up, and Vincent was beside my bed. He told me there had been complications.”
Gabriel whispered, “He told me the same thing.”
Sofia turned sharply.
“You believed him.”
“I had hospital paperwork.”
“You had money. You had connections. You had every powerful person in Boston answering your calls.”
Her eyes filled.
“And you didn't even ask to see her.”
Gabriel looked devastated.
“I did ask.”
Sofia shook her head.
“No. You sent Vincent.”
Gabriel had no answer.
I watched Madeleine cover her face.
It was becoming painfully clear that Vincent had positioned himself between father and daughter.
Each had believed the other had abandoned them.
And for seven years, neither had known the full truth.
“Where have you been living?” Gabriel asked.
Sofia gave a bitter laugh.
“Working. Paying rent. Trying to become a person again.”
She crossed her arms.
“I dispatch medical transport vehicles at night. I have an apartment in Revere. I pay my own bills.”
“I never wanted you to struggle.”
“Then you shouldn't have let Vincent decide what was best for me.”
Gabriel looked down.
For the first time that evening, he seemed less like the most feared man on Boston's waterfront and more like an ordinary father realizing how badly he'd failed.
Sofia noticed the hospital bracelet on the table.
She picked it up.
Her fingers stopped over the faded name.
“I wrote a little note for her,” she whispered.
“On the blanket.”
She looked at Gabriel.
“It said, 'Keep her warm. Love, Mom.'”
Her voice broke.
“Did you ever see it?”
Gabriel shook his head.
Sofia closed her eyes.
Then footsteps sounded above us.
Elise appeared at the top of the stairs.
Rosa stood behind her.
The little girl looked down at Sofia.
“Are you my mom?”
Sofia froze.
I had never seen a person look so terrified of something she'd wanted for so long.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Elise held the stair railing.
“Miss Rosa said you were looking for me.”
Sofia nodded.
“I was.”
“Did you get lost?”
Sofia pressed a hand over her mouth.
Then managed a small smile.
“Something like that, sweetheart.”
Elise thought for a moment.
“Okay.”
She sat on the top step.
She wasn't ready to come closer.
And Sofia didn't force her.
Instead, Sofia sat on the bottom step.
Neither moved.
But neither left.
Behind us, Owen opened another file from the office cabinet.
“Gabriel,” he said quietly. “There's something else.”
It was an old trust ledger.
Seven years earlier, the Laurent Community Trust had paid $180,000 for something described as emergency family protection.
Gabriel frowned.
“I authorized that payment.”
Sofia turned toward him.
“What?”
He looked at the transaction.
“It was supposed to protect you after the hospital incident.”
Owen traced the money to a company named Harbor Care Services.
Then he turned the page.
The company's registered administrator was Vincent Rourke.
May you like
And beside the payment was one handwritten instruction.
RELOCATION OF MINOR COMPLETED. FAMILY NOT TO BE NOTIFIED.
