Chapter 4 - Six Years of Silence
Gabriel had never hated the sound of an ambulance siren before.
Now every passing second felt like a warning.
The paramedics arrived through the garden entrance and entered the conservatory carrying medical bags and a stretcher.
Gabriel stood beside Olivia's bed, refusing to release her hand until the team needed room to examine her.
One paramedic checked her pulse.
Another examined the medication bottles.
"How long has she been like this?" the first asked.
Gabriel looked at Dr. Vale.
"Ask him."
Vale straightened.
"I've been supervising her care."
"At what facility?"
"Private residence."
"Under whose authority?"
Vale hesitated.
Gabriel watched the paramedic's face change.
The woman continued.
"Do you have medical records?"
"Of course."
"Then bring them."
Helena stepped forward.
"I will have everything sent to the hospital."
The paramedic shook her head.
"We need whatever is available now."
For the first time that evening, Helena had no immediate answer.
Gabriel noticed two police officers approaching the glass doors.
He had asked the dispatcher to send them.
Helena noticed too.
Her expression hardened.
"Gabriel, you are creating a scandal."
He looked at her.
"A woman has been kept in a locked building on my property."
"Your property?"
Helena's voice rose.
"This estate belonged to your father long before you inherited it."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"And that gives you permission to imprison someone?"
"She was being cared for."
"Then why was the door chained?"
Helena's lips parted.
No answer came.
The officers entered.
Gabriel introduced himself and pointed toward the medical equipment.
"I want the entire building documented."
One officer nodded.
"We'll need to determine what happened here."
"Then start with the man who says he's been treating her."
Gabriel pointed toward Vale.
"And the woman who ordered the doors locked."
Helena's face went white.
The officers began asking questions.
Gabriel followed the stretcher to the waiting ambulance.
Outside, rain fell harder.
He walked beside Olivia until they reached the rear doors.
One paramedic raised a hand.
"Sir, are you family?"
Gabriel looked down at Olivia.
Six years ago, he had planned to marry her.
He had bought a ring.
It was still hidden in a drawer in his bedroom.
He swallowed.
"I'm the father of her child."
The paramedic nodded.
"Come with us."
He climbed inside.
As the ambulance pulled away, Gabriel called Marta.
"Is Izzy safe?"
"Yes, sir."
"Stay with her."
"I will."
"Don't let anyone from my mother's staff near that room."
"Understood."
He paused.
"Marta?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for telling me."
For several seconds, the older woman was silent.
Then she began crying.
"I should have done it sooner."
"We'll talk about that later."
"Mr. Gabriel..."
"What?"
"There is something you need to know about the room where Isabelle was born."
Gabriel gripped the phone.
"Tell me."
"It wasn't a hospital."
He looked at Olivia's unconscious face.
"Where was it?"
Marta hesitated.
Then she gave him an address in the small Vermont town where he and Olivia had once lived.
Gabriel recognized the street.
His stomach tightened.
"That's the house we rented."
"Yes, sir."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
For six years, he had believed Olivia disappeared from that house without saying goodbye.
Now he understood that the place held answers his mother had worked desperately to bury.
"Why would she hide something there?"
Marta lowered her voice.
"Because your mother thought she'd already taken everything important."
The call ended.
At St. Catherine's Medical Center, Olivia was rushed into a private treatment area.
Gabriel waited outside while the emergency physician reviewed her condition.
After nearly an hour, a doctor named Rebecca Shaw approached him.
"Mr. Whitmore?"
He stood immediately.
"How is she?"
"She's alive, and we're stabilizing her."
Gabriel exhaled.
"But?"
Dr. Shaw held his gaze.
"We're concerned about her nutritional status, dehydration, and the medications she appears to have received."
"Can you tell what was done to her?"
"Not yet."
She spoke carefully.
"We need laboratory results, a complete medical history, and time to assess her without assuming that the previous treatment was appropriate."
Gabriel nodded.
"Whatever she needs."
"We also need to know whether she can speak freely and whether she feels safe."
Gabriel looked down.
"She wasn't safe before tonight."
Dr. Shaw paused.
"Then we will involve the appropriate hospital team."
"Can I see her?"
"For a few minutes."
Gabriel followed her down the corridor.
Olivia lay in a clean hospital bed.
Her face remained pale.
But her breathing was steadier.
Gabriel pulled a chair beside her.
He took her hand.
"I found her, Liv."
His voice shook.
"I found our little girl."
Olivia's eyelids fluttered.
Gabriel leaned closer.
"She's beautiful."
A tear escaped the corner of her eye.
"She has your eyes."
Olivia tried to smile.
"Your smile."
Gabriel shook his head.
"No."
He laughed softly through his tears.
"She's got yours too."
Olivia squeezed his fingers.
"Did she finish it?"
Gabriel frowned.
"What?"
"The picture."
He stared at her.
"How do you know about the picture?"
Olivia's smile became painfully tender.
"She told me she wouldn't finish her daddy's face until she found him."
Gabriel looked away.
Tears blurred the room.
He had been so busy building his fortune that he never imagined his own child might be waiting somewhere to meet him.
He leaned forward.
"I need to know what happened."
Olivia's expression changed.
Fear returned to her eyes.
"Not here."
"You're safe."
She shook her head.
"She has people everywhere."
"Mother?"
Olivia nodded.
Gabriel looked toward the closed door.
"I'll make sure nobody gets near you."
"Gabriel."
Her voice became urgent.
"Listen."
He leaned closer.
"Six years ago, when I told Helena I was pregnant, she offered me two million dollars to disappear."
Gabriel went still.
"I refused."
Olivia swallowed.
"Then she said she'd destroy you if I stayed."
Gabriel shook his head.
"How?"
"She showed me documents."
"What documents?"
"Something involving your company."
His heartbeat quickened.
"Liv, what did she show you?"
"Evidence that could send you to prison."
Gabriel stared.
"I hadn't done anything."
"I know."
She gripped his hand.
"But she said nobody would believe that."
Olivia closed her eyes.
"She said your signature was on everything."
Gabriel remembered his mother controlling the family business during his father's final illness.
He remembered signing documents he barely understood.
He remembered trusting her.
A sick feeling formed in his stomach.
"What happened next?"
Olivia's voice dropped.
"I stayed anyway."
Gabriel blinked.
"You did?"
She nodded.
"I wasn't going to leave you."
"Then why did you disappear?"
Her face crumpled.
"Because someone came to our house."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"Who?"
Olivia looked directly at him.
"A man wearing your father's wedding ring."
Gabriel froze.
His father had been buried with that ring.
He had watched the funeral director close the casket.
"That's impossible."
Olivia began trembling.
"I thought so too."
She squeezed his hand.
"But the man knew everything about us."
Gabriel felt cold.
"What did he say?"
Olivia stared past him.
May you like
"He told me that if I didn't come with him, you would be dead before morning."
And suddenly Gabriel realized his mother's secret might reach far beyond the daughter she had hidden.
