Chapter 10 - THE MAN EVERYONE BELIEVED
The police station had never felt colder.
Harper sat across from the desk, her hands wrapped tightly around a paper cup of water she hadn’t touched.
She could feel people watching her.
Whispering.
Judging.
The same feeling she had spent years trying to escape.
Gabriel sat beside her.
“You don’t have to say anything until your lawyer arrives.”
Harper looked at him.
“They already believe him.”
“No.”
She looked around the room.
“Look at them.”
Gabriel followed her eyes.
Some officers avoided looking at her.
Others looked suspicious.
Derek had done exactly what he always did.
He arrived first.
He told the story first.
And he made sure everyone heard his version before Harper ever opened her mouth.
A detective placed a folder on the table.
“Ms. Lane, Officer Collins reported that you left with your brother without permission.”
Harper stared.
“My brother?”
The detective nodded.
“He claims you are preventing him from seeing his family.”
Harper almost laughed.
But there was no humor in it.
“My family?”
Her voice became quiet.
“He is the reason we ran.”
The detective looked uncomfortable.
“Do you have proof?”
The question hurt.
Not because it was unfair.
Because she knew the answer.
She had spent years surviving.
Not collecting evidence.
“I have…”
She stopped.
Memories flashed.
The hidden bruises.
The broken phone.
The locked doors.
The nights she cried silently so Noah wouldn’t hear.
“I have my story.”
The detective looked down.
“And Officer Collins has a badge.”
The room went silent.
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Are you saying his job makes him more believable?”
The detective didn’t answer.
And that answer said enough.
Outside the station, Derek stood waiting.
The moment he saw Harper walk out, he smiled.
Not a kind smile.
A victorious one.
“You see?”
He walked closer.
“This is what happens when you make things difficult.”
Harper stopped.
For years, those words would have destroyed her.
Not today.
“You’re scared.”
Derek’s smile faded slightly.
“What?”
“You’re scared because I stopped being quiet.”
He stared at her.
“You think Gabriel Ashford can save you?”
Harper looked at him.
“No.”
A pause.
“I’m saving myself.”
For the first time…
Derek looked uncertain.
Only for a second.
But Gabriel noticed.
And he knew.
That was the first crack.
That evening, Rachel arrived with new information.
“I found something.”
Gabriel looked up.
“What?”
Rachel placed a folder on the table.
“Derek’s old case files.”
Harper frowned.
“How did you get these?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Because one of the women he hurt didn’t disappear.”
She opened the folder.
Inside was a report.
A name.
A date.
A signature.
Harper stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“What?”
Harper pointed at the signature.
“That’s my father’s name.”
Silence.
Everyone stopped.
“Your father?”
Harper nodded slowly.
“He investigated Derek before I met him.”
Gabriel looked at the document.
And suddenly everything changed.
Because Derek wasn’t just hiding his past.
May you like
He was hiding who tried to expose him.
And Harper’s father had been the person closest to the truth.
