Chapter 9 - The Maid at the Microphone
By morning, Gabriel Romano had become the most hated man in Wisconsin.
By noon, his sister had become a conspiracy.
By sunset, Evelyn Hart’s face was everywhere.
Someone had leaked footage from the foyer. Not the part where Marisa spoke. Not the part where Victor was arrested. Only the part where Titan lunged, Evelyn grabbed him, and Gabriel stood nearby with blood on his hands.
The captions wrote themselves.
MAFIA BOSS USES ATTACK DOG TO INTIMIDATE FEDERAL RAID.
MYSTERY MAID CONTROLS ROMANO’S SAVAGE CANE CORSO.
WHO IS EVELYN HART?
That last headline was the one that made Evelyn lock herself in the cottage bathroom and vomit.
She had spent years becoming no one.
Now strangers were digging up her name.
Nathan would see.
Victor had already told him where she was.
Her hands shook so badly she could not grip the sink.
A soft scratch came at the bathroom door.
Titan.
“I am fine,” she lied.
The dog scratched again.
Evelyn opened the door and found him sitting there with Gabriel behind him.
She immediately stepped back. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Titan did.”
Of course he had.
Gabriel looked different in daylight after disaster. Still controlled, still imposing, but less untouchable. There was a bruise near his temple. Bandages wrapped both hands. Exhaustion shadowed his face.
“You should be at the house,” Evelyn said.
“I am not popular there.”
“You own it.”
“That has never made a place safe.”
The words settled between them.
Evelyn looked away first.
Gabriel stepped no closer. “Agent Price found digital files in Victor’s boathouse phone. Payments. Medical records. Surveillance clips. Enough to hold him. Not enough to stop Vanessa.”
“She said you killed Leo.”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
His answer came without hesitation.
“No.”
Evelyn believed him.
That frightened her.
Believing powerful men was not a habit that had served her well.
Gabriel seemed to read the conflict on her face.
“You do not owe me trust.”
“I know.”
“But I am asking for help.”
That pulled her gaze back.
“From me?”
“Yes.”
“I clean floors.”
“You opened the wall. You read Titan when everyone else called him savage. You saw Victor’s trap before my men did.”
“I also fell over a bucket.”
“That may have been strategically useful.”
Despite everything, Evelyn almost smiled.
Gabriel’s expression softened for half a second.
Then he said, “Vanessa wins if the story remains rich criminals fighting over hidden rooms. She loses if Marisa becomes human before the public decides she is evidence.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Titan will not leave you. Marisa trusts you. Rosa says the staff will speak if you do.”
Evelyn stared. “Speak where?”
“Press conference.”
“No.”
“Evelyn—”
“No. Absolutely not. No cameras. No reporters. No one asking who I am.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed slightly, not in anger, but understanding.
“Nathan Cross.”
The name hit like a slap.
Evelyn backed away.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened. “Victor contacted him. Agent Price intercepted two calls after midnight. Nathan is on his way here.”
Her ears rang.
“No.”
“He will not touch you.”
“You cannot promise that.”
“I can.”
“No,” Evelyn snapped, surprising both of them. “Men like you always think protection is a wall you build around someone. It is not. Sometimes protection is not dragging them into a war because you need them brave.”
Gabriel absorbed that without flinching.
Then he nodded.
“You are right.”
The simple admission left her with nowhere to put the rest of her anger.
He continued, “I will not ask you again.”
He turned to leave.
Titan did not move.
Gabriel looked at the dog. “You too?”
Titan stayed beside Evelyn.
A bitter smile crossed Gabriel’s mouth.
“Fine.”
He opened the cottage door.
Cold air swept inside.
Before he stepped out, Evelyn spoke.
“What would I have to say?”
Gabriel turned back slowly.
She hated herself a little for asking. She hated Victor more. She hated Vanessa most of all for standing under chandeliers, clean and crying, while Marisa trembled under blankets and Leo spoke from an old tape because no one had saved him in time.
Gabriel said, “Only the truth.”
“That is never only anything.”
“No.”
They held each other’s gaze.
Then Evelyn looked down at Titan.
The dog who had been called savage because pain made him loud.
The woman who had been called unstable because fear made her run.
The sister who had been called dead because captivity made her disappear.
The brother who had been called drowned because truth made him dangerous.
Evelyn took a breath.
“All right.”
The press conference took place outside the estate gates because Agent Price refused to allow reporters onto the property. Snow fell lightly. Cameras lined the road. Gabriel stood to one side, silent. Marisa sat in a wheelchair beneath a blanket, Rosa beside her. Dr. Bell stood ready. Agent Price opened with facts.
Then Evelyn stepped to the microphone.
The world narrowed to cold metal, bright lenses, and Titan’s body pressed against her leg.
“My name is Evelyn Hart,” she said.
Her voice shook.
She kept going anyway.
“I worked at the Romano estate for seven days before Titan led me to a hidden door in my cottage.”
Reporters shouted. Agent Price silenced them.
Evelyn looked directly into the nearest camera.
“I am not part of the Romano family. I am not wealthy. I am not powerful. I have no reason to protect Gabriel Romano.”
Gabriel stood still.
“But I know what a trapped person looks like. I know what an animal looks like after people punish fear and call it obedience. I know what it means when someone builds a story around your silence.”
The shouting stopped.
Evelyn’s voice steadied.
“Marisa Romano was alive under that house. Titan was hurt because he kept trying to find her. Leonardo Romano left evidence that he was alive years after his reported death. Victor Sloane tried to stop us from finding it. Vanessa Sterling is lying.”
The cameras flashed.
A reporter shouted, “How do you know Vanessa is lying?”
Evelyn gripped the microphone.
“Because a woman telling the truth about a prison does not flee before the prisoner can speak.”
The line went through the crowd like fire.
Marisa began to cry.
Gabriel looked at Evelyn as if she had just stepped into a place beside him no one had dared occupy.
Then a voice shouted from beyond the reporters.
“Evelyn!”
Her body turned to ice.
The crowd parted just enough.
May you like
Nathan Cross stood near the back, smiling like he had every right to be there.
“Well,” he called, loud enough for every camera to hear. “Aren’t you going to tell them what you did to your husband?”
