Chapter 4 - The Midnight Confession
At midnight, the mansion was dark and silent.
Emma sat in the rocking chair inside the nursery, watching the triplets sleep peacefully under their warm blankets. The room smelled of baby lotion, rain, and soft cotton.
The door clicked open, and a tall shadow stepped into the room.
Emma started to stand, but Gabriel raised a hand, gesturing for her to stay seated. He had removed his jacket and tie, his crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the collar, revealing the exhaustion etched into his features.
He walked over to the cribs, gazing down at his sleeping sons for a long, quiet moment.
"Isabella loved ropes," Gabriel whispered suddenly, his voice thick with unexpressed grief. "She was an avid rock climber before we married. She always said that a good rope was the only thing standing between a fall and survival."
Emma listened quietly, afraid to break the sacred silence.
Gabriel pulled the parchment from his pocket and handed it to her. "Read it."
Emma unrolled the note and read Isabella’s final words. As her eyes reached the end, she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "She... she knew?"
"She knew she was in danger," Gabriel said, leaning against the wooden frame of the crib. "And she knew Pierce was a traitor. But she couldn't prove it to me without exposing our sons to immediate retaliation."
He looked at Emma, his dark eyes burning with an intense, raw emotion that made her heart race. "And she wrote that the key belonged to the woman who taught our boys how to laugh again."
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"Mr. Moretti..." Emma breathed, her cheeks flushing warm. "I’m just a nanny."
"No," Gabriel said, stepping closer until he was standing right over her, his presence overwhelming and warm. "You are the only person who brought life back into this dead house."
