Chapter 4 - The Traitor Within
Harper collapsed to her knees among the shattered glass.
A ragged, agonizing scream tore from her throat.
Gabriel immediately dropped to the floor and pulled her into his chest.
He ignored the sharp glass cutting into his expensive trousers.
"We will find him," Gabriel swore, his voice trembling with rare fury.
He held her tightly as she sobbed violently against his shirt.
Gabriel looked at the phone still resting on his desk.
"Elias, whose blood is it?" Gabriel demanded.
"It looks like a struggle took place, Boss," Elias reported over the speaker.
"But Derek's cruiser was not spotted on any of the street cameras."
Gabriel's brilliant mind began calculating the variables instantly.
Derek had just left the Beacon Hill estate twenty minutes ago.
He could not have reached Dorchester, staged a kidnapping, and escaped that fast.
Someone else had grabbed Noah.
Someone working with Derek.
"Check the estate security logs from the last hour," Gabriel ordered Elias.
"Find out if anyone made an unauthorized phone call."
Gabriel ended the call and helped Harper back onto the bed.
He grabbed a first aid kit and began pulling the tiny shards of glass from her hands.
His touch was surprisingly gentle for a man who ruled the criminal underworld.
Harper watched him, her mind completely shattered by fear.
"If Derek kills him, I have nothing left to live for," she whispered.
Gabriel stopped bandaging her hand and looked deeply into her eyes.
"I do not lose what belongs to me, Harper," he said.
The possessive nature of his words sent a strange shiver down her spine.
Suddenly, Elias called back.
Gabriel answered it on the first ring.
"We found a traitor, Boss," Elias announced.
"Mrs. Morrison left the estate through the service gate fifteen minutes before Derek arrived."
Harper gasped.
The house manager who had hired her without asking questions.
"She made a burner phone call to a known safe house in the Seaport district," Elias added.
Gabriel's eyes turned entirely black with rage.
"Prepare my car," Gabriel commanded coldly.
Before Gabriel could hang up, Harper's cheap cell phone vibrated in her apron pocket.
She pulled it out with trembling fingers.
It was a text message containing a single, blurry photograph.
The picture showed little Noah tied to a wooden chair in a dark, concrete room.
A man was holding a heavy silver revolver directly against the child's head.
May you like
Under the photo, a message was typed.
"Bring the Ashford boss to the docks alone, or the kid paints the wall."
