Chapter 4 - THE LIE BEHIND THE BADGE
Gabriel Ashford kept the phone against his ear.
On the other side of the line, Derek Collins sounded calm.
Almost too calm.
“Mr. Ashford, I apologize for bothering you this late.”
Gabriel looked at Harper.
She was standing frozen in the kitchen, staring at the phone like it was a ticking bomb.
“I understand you’re concerned about your wife,” Gabriel said carefully.
Derek gave a small laugh.
“Concerned? Yes. That’s exactly it.”
A pause.
“She has a history of making emotional decisions.”
Harper’s face changed.
She knew that sentence.
Derek always used the same words.
Emotional.
Unstable.
Confused.
He didn’t have to hit someone in public.
He destroyed their credibility first.
“She needs help,” Derek continued. “And I’m trying to protect her.”
Gabriel glanced at Harper.
The woman standing in front of him didn’t look unstable.
She looked exhausted.
Like someone who had spent years surviving.
“I’ll contact you if I have any information,” Gabriel said.
“Actually…”
Derek’s voice became lower.
“I think you should know something.”
Gabriel waited.
“My wife has a habit of manipulating people.”
Harper closed her eyes.
The words hurt more than she expected.
Because she had heard them before.
From him.
From his friends.
From people who never asked what happened behind closed doors.
Derek continued.
“She probably told you a story.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“And what story would that be?”
“That I hurt her.”
Silence.
Then Derek sighed.
“Mr. Ashford, I’m a police officer. I deal with situations like this every day. Sometimes people create stories because they don’t want to face their own mistakes.”
Gabriel looked at Harper.
Her hands were trembling.
But she wasn’t crying.
She was trying not to break.
“Good night, Officer Collins.”
Gabriel ended the call.
The kitchen remained silent.
Finally, Harper whispered:
“You shouldn’t have answered.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because now he knows where I work.”
“No.”
Harper looked confused.
“No?”
Gabriel placed the phone on the counter.
“Now he knows where you are.”
His eyes hardened.
“And that means he knows exactly where to make his mistake.”
Harper stared at him.
“You think he’ll make a mistake?”
Gabriel nodded.
“People who believe they’re untouchable always do.”
The next morning, Gabriel made a decision.
He called his attorney.
Not because Harper asked.
Not because he wanted to be a hero.
Because something about Derek Collins bothered him.
The way he spoke.
The confidence.
The assumption that everyone would believe him.
“Run a background check,” Gabriel told his attorney.
“On who?”
“Derek Collins.”
A pause.
“Police officer?”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel, be careful.”
“I am.”
“You’re involving yourself in someone else’s marriage.”
Gabriel looked through the mansion window.
Outside, Harper was helping Noah carry boxes from their old storage unit into the guest cottage.
She smiled at the boy.
A real smile.
The first one he had seen from her.
“No,” Gabriel said quietly.
“I’m involving myself in the truth.”
That afternoon, Harper received a message.
Unknown number.
Her blood ran cold.
YOU LOOK HAPPY.
She stopped walking.
Another message appeared.
I WONDER HOW LONG THAT WILL LAST.
Her breathing became faster.
Noah noticed.
“Harper?”
She quickly locked the phone.
“I’m okay.”
But she wasn’t.
Because Derek wasn’t supposed to know about the cottage.
Nobody knew.
Nobody except…
May you like
Her.
And him.
