Chapter 3 - MIDNIGHTEmergency lights flooded the restaurant in dim red.

People screamed.

Chairs overturned.

Someone shouted for the police.

Chloe dropped beneath the table and pulled Beatrice down with her.

Another gunshot cracked through the room.

Then silence.

Beatrice's fingers moved against Chloe's wrist.

Stay.

Chloe nodded.

Footsteps approached.

Heavy.

Fast.

Gabriel appeared through the dark with a gun in his hand.

“Ma.”

Beatrice raised both hands.

Alive.

Gabriel crouched beside her.

“Are you hurt?”

She shook her head.

Then pointed at Chloe.

Gabriel looked at her.

“She's fine.”

Beatrice immediately signed something.

Gabriel's expression hardened.

“You're blaming her?”

Beatrice shook her head.

Then pointed at Chloe again.

Something had happened.

Gabriel turned toward Chloe.

“What did she see?”

Chloe opened her mouth.

Before she could answer, a man ran through the corridor.

One of Gabriel's men chased him.

A second later, there was a violent crash.

Gabriel stood.

“Stay here.”

He disappeared down the hall.

Chloe looked at Beatrice.

“What is happening?”

Beatrice's hands trembled.

She signed:

The man who shot tonight wasn't trying to kill Gabriel.

Chloe frowned.

“Then who?”

Beatrice looked at herself.

Her finger touched her chest.

Me.

Chloe's blood ran cold.

“No.”

Beatrice nodded.

Then she pointed at the folded note in Chloe's hand.

Check the clock.

Chloe looked up.

The restaurant clock had stopped.

11:47.

Five minutes before midnight.

“Why 11:47?”

Beatrice stared at the clock.

Then signed:

Your brother.

Chloe froze.

“What?”

Beatrice slowly spelled the name.

L-E-O.

Chloe stopped breathing.

“You knew him?”

Beatrice nodded.

Tears filled Chloe's eyes.

“How?”

Beatrice signed:

He saved me.

Then:

Years ago.

Then:

Your brother was not killed by accident.

Chloe's world tilted.

“You're lying.”

Beatrice shook her head violently.

“No.”

Chloe took a step backward.

“Who?”

Beatrice looked toward the hallway.

Gabriel was returning.

Her hands moved quickly.

Gabriel's father.

Chloe's eyes widened.

Gabriel reached them.

“What happened?”

Beatrice stared at him.

Chloe stared at Gabriel.

And for the first time that night, Chloe saw something she had never expected.

Fear.

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Not on Beatrice's face.

On Gabriel's.