Chapter 5: Six A.M.
I stepped back into the hallway and kept my voice low.
"Who gave you this number?"
"I'm not able to share my source," Dana Reyes said.
"But I can tell you that we have photographs from tonight's event.
The resemblance is — well, it's quite clear.
Our story focuses on the children and the question of why Mr.
Cross was apparently unaware of their existence.
We're giving you the chance to speak first."
"I'm not commenting on anything tonight."
"Mrs.
Cross—"
"It's Ms.
Navarre.
I haven't used that name in five years."
A brief pause.
"Ms.
Navarre.
The story runs regardless.
Your comment would simply allow your perspective to be included."
I ended the call.
Gabriel was in the doorway of the library.
He'd heard enough from my expression.
"Who was that?"
"New York Ledger.
They have photos from tonight.
They know about the boys." I looked at him.
"They're publishing at six a.m."
He was quiet for exactly three seconds.
Then he turned and said something low and quick to the man in the dark suit, who had reappeared without my noticing.
"Marcus.
Get Diane on the phone.
Now."
Marcus was already moving.
Gabriel came back to me.
"Diane Chen is my communications attorney.
She's handled press situations before.
She'll contact the Ledger tonight and request a delay."
"Can she get one?"
"She'll argue that publishing photographs of minors without consent is a legal exposure they don't want." His jaw tightened.
"Whether they listen is another question."
"Gabriel." I kept my voice steady.
"If this goes public before I've had a chance to talk to my sons — before they understand what's happening — I can't — I won't—"
"I know." He said it simply.
"That's not going to happen."
"You can't promise that."
"No.
But I can make it significantly harder for them." He looked back at the boys.
Eli had abandoned the game and was now apparently explaining something to Noah using hand gestures.
Luca was still asleep.
"Claire.
I know I have no right to ask you for anything.
Not tonight.
Not after what you've just found out." He paused.
"But I need to know where you're staying.
I need to know my sons are somewhere secure while Marcus deals with this."
"We're at the Meridian on 54th."
"I'll have a security detail there within the hour."
"I don't need—"
"It's not about what you need.
It's about what I can live with." He looked at me directly.
"Please."
I thought about the journalist's voice.
The photographs.
The six a.m.
deadline.
"All right," I said.
We gathered the boys — Eli protesting mildly, Noah quiet and watchful, Luca carried half-asleep against Gabriel's shoulder before I could reach him.
Gabriel held him carefully, one large hand supporting his back, and Luca didn't wake.
Just settled.
In the car, with a driver I didn't know and Marcus in the front seat making calls, Eli leaned against me and said, "Is that man our dad, Mom?"
I looked at Gabriel across the seat.
He was watching me.
"Yes," I said.
"He is."
Eli considered this.
"Okay." Then: "Does he know how to play Minecraft?"
Gabriel said, without hesitation, "I can learn."
Eli seemed to find this acceptable.
He closed his eyes.
I looked out the window at the city moving past — the lit windows, the late-night traffic, the bridges over dark water — and tried to understand that my life had just changed completely, in a single evening, and I had not yet had time to feel any of it.
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was a text from the unknown number.
Just four words.
*Six a.m.
Ms.
Navarre.*
I turned the phone face-down on my knee.
Gabriel noticed.
He didn't ask.
He just reached across the seat and placed his hand over mine, briefly, and then removed it.
It was not forgiveness.
It was not a promise.
But it was something.
And somewhere in the city, Serena Vale was making her own calls.
I was certain of that.
Whatever she had in that evening bag, whatever she had been calculating since the moment she saw us walk through those gala doors — she wasn't finished.
May you like
I had learned that much about her tonight.
She never left a room without a plan for what came after.
