Chapter 5 - THE UNREAD CARD
The small white card felt heavy in Gabriel’s large palm as he unfolded it beneath the warm glow of the bedside lamp. The room grew so quiet that the faint ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece sounded like a drumbeat.
Gabriel’s eyes scanned the first line of neat, childish handwriting:
Daddy, I'm happy when you're happy.
A soft, genuine smile touched the corners of his lips. He began to read the second line:
I hope Isabella makes you smile.
Then his eyes moved to the third and fourth lines, and the smile vanished entirely from his face, replaced by a sudden, terrifying stillness.
I miss Mommy, but I love our family.
And I hope there's always room for me.
Gabriel stared at those last words for a long, agonizing moment. The silence in the room stretched until it felt fragile enough to shatter. He looked down at Sophie, who was now biting her lower lip so hard I thought she might draw blood.
“Where did you get this, Sophie?” Gabriel asked. His voice was dangerously calm, carrying the icy precision of a man uncovering a betrayal.
Sophie looked at me, panic flashing in her big brown eyes. She didn't want to get me in trouble. She knew Isabella’s reach, and she knew the kind of world her father operated in.
Before Sophie could fumble through a response, I stepped forward.
“She wrote it this morning, Mr. DeLuca,” I said, my voice steady despite the hammer of my heart.
Gabriel’s dark gaze snapped toward me. “She wrote this? Why wasn't it given to me downstairs?”
“Because Miss Marconi found it first,” I said, deciding right then and there that my mother’s insurance, my job, and my own safety were secondary to protecting this little girl.
Gabriel stood up slowly, towering over me in the cozy bedroom. “Isabella saw this?”
“She saw it in the kitchen this morning,” I replied, keeping my chin up. “She told Sophie it wasn't about her, and then she threw it into the trash can.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Gabriel’s jaw clenched so tightly a muscle ticked violently in his cheek. He looked back down at the card in his hand, his thumb tracing the crease where the paper had been crumpled before I rescued it from the bin.
“She threw my daughter’s card in the trash?” Gabriel repeated, his voice barely above a whisper, yet it carried an infinite, controlled fury.
“Yes, sir,” I said quietly. “And she told her that tonight wasn't about her.”
Gabriel didn't yell. Men who needed to raise their voices to be feared were amateurs; Gabriel DeLuca only had to speak softly to make the ground shake. He carefully folded the card and slid it into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
“Hannah,” he said, his eyes fixed on mine. “Wait for me downstairs in my study in ten minutes.”
“Mr. DeLuca—”
“Ten minutes,” he repeated, cutting off any argument. Then he turned back to Sophie, his expression softening instantly as he brushed a curl from her forehead. “Go to sleep, my love. Everything is going to be alright.”
He kissed her cheek one more time, turned on his heel, and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.
I looked down at Sophie, who grabbed my hand in a tight, frightened grip.
May you like
Is Daddy going to be mad at Isabella? she signed quickly.
“I don't know, sweetie,” I signed back, my heart pounding against my ribs. “But whatever happens downstairs tonight... everything is about to change.”
