Chapter 10 - Blood on Marble
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The rain slammed mercilessly against the tall arched windows of the Beacon Hill mansion, but inside, the silence was suffocating.
Gabriel stood in the doorway of his master bathroom, his custom Italian suit jacket discarded, his linen shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows. On the pristine white marble floor sat Harper, clutching her eight-year-old brother, Noah, against her chest.
She was bleeding. A thin red trail ran from her hairline, across her pale temple, dripping onto her torn maid’s uniform. Her eyes—wide, terrified, and fiercely defensive—locked onto the most feared syndicate leader in Boston.
"Don't touch him," Harper rasped, her voice trembling but loaded with lethal conviction.
"Please. Do whatever you want to me, but don't touch my brother."
Gabriel didn't move an inch. His pale blue eyes swept over her bruised collarbone, the handprints visible on her wrists, and the quiet horror radiating from her frail frame. He had spent fifteen years building an empire on terror, but looking at this broken woman, something cold and unyielding cracked inside his chest.
"Who did this to you?" Gabriel asked.
His voice was terrifyingly calm, a low baritone that vibrated through the quiet room like distant thunder.
Harper swallowed hard, her hand instinctively shielding Noah’s ears.
"Detective Derek Lawson," she whispered, the name tasting like ash on her tongue.
"He... he said if I ran, he’d put Noah in state care and put me in a shallow grave."
Marcus, Gabriel’s towering right-hand man, stepped up to the bathroom door, his hand resting casually on his holstered firearm.
"Boss," Marcus reported softly, "Lawson’s squad car just pulled away from the main gate. He thinks she’s hiding in the alleyways."
Gabriel slowly knelt on the cold marble, bringing himself down to Harper’s eye level. He didn't reach for her, respecting the distance she so desperately needed.
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"Lawson made a fatal mistake tonight," Gabriel said, his eyes locking onto hers with absolute authority.
"He assumed you were alone. You’re not alone anymore, Harper."
