Before You Knew Me

Chapter One — The Promise

The rain came down hard enough to blur the city lights into streaks of gold and white.

Daniel Cross stood in the middle of an empty warehouse, his fists clenched at his sides, his breathing uneven. The sharp smell of gunpowder hung in the air, mixed with the metallic scent of blood.

His blood.

And someone else's.

Across the room, a man lay motionless.

Marcus Redman

The betrayal still hadn't fully registered.

Daniel had trusted him.

Trusted him with his life.

And now Marcus was dead.

But before Daniel could think about that, his mind returned to the man who had started everything.

Gabriel Bennett

_____________________

*Six years earlier*

Daniel had stood beside Gabriel in an empty office building , under different storm, watching a man who knew he was dying fight to stay conscious.

Gabriel's shirt was soaked with blood.

His breathing was shallow.

But his eyes were still clear.

Still determined.

Daniel had tried to stop the bleeding, pressing his hands against the wound.

"Stay with me." Daniel said tears running down his cheeks "you're going to be ok"

Gabriel gave a weak laugh.

"You always were terrible at lying."

Daniel frowned.

"I'm not lying."

"You are." Gabriel's breathing hitched. "You know I'm not walking out of here."

"You're going to." Daniel pushed harder on the wound keeping pressure

Gabriel called out "Daniel."

The single word stopped him. Taking Daniel's hand in his, tears running down his cheek as he lay looking up at Daniel

Gabriel looked at him, and for the first time Daniel saw something he'd never seen in the older man's eyes before.

Fear.

Not for himself.

For someone else.

"My daughter." He let out a weak cough with blood spitting out his mouth, reaching in his pants pockey pulling out his wallet, failing to open it Daniel took it for him, opened the wallet and inside there was a picked covered by a clear covering he pointed at the picture now visibale a girl, his daughter

Daniel's one hand tightened against the wound and the other held Gabriel's hand again

"Elara?" Gabriel nodded.

"She's all I have left. After today she will have no one"

Daniel cried "no your going home to her"

Gabriel coughed "no I'm not"

Gabriel's fingers were cold.

"That's why I'm asking you."

Daniel stared at him, tears down his cheeks as he cried.

"Anything" Daniels breath hiched

"Protect her."

Silence filled the room.

Daniel swallowed.

"From who?"

"From everything."

Gabriel struggled to breathe. Coughing

"You know what I've been involved in. You know there are things I couldn't tell her."

"I know." Daniel sighed

"I kept her away from it."

"And you succeeded."

"For the most part."

Gabriel looked toward the door.

"They'll come looking eventually."

Daniel's expression hardened.

"Then I'll stop them."

Gabriel shook his head.

"You can't always stop them, some will succeed" Gabriel choked, Daniel rolled him on his side as he spat blood out his mouth.

"I can try." he said confidently

"That's not what I need." Gabriel said catching his breath

Daniel looked at him confused

"What do you need?"

Gabriel squeezed his hand.

"I need to know , she won't be alone."

Daniel didn't answer immediately.

Gabriel's eyes filled with pain.

"Promise me." Gabriel squeezed his hand.

Daniel remembered the years he'd known this man.

Gabriel was his partner for 5 years when he joined the agency at 21, a mentor, a role model, the dad he had always wanted but never had, Gabriel had once tried to save Daniel's younger brother, Ethan two years before this night.

He'd fought alongside him.

He'd taken the risk.

But Daniel's brother hadn't survived.

Daniel had never forgotten it. Gabriel dragged his brother out of the flames but he was to badly burnt and died in the hospital from his injuries.

And now, when Daniel's own life had been on the line, Gabriel had stepped between him and a bullet.

He had taken the shot meant for Daniel.

There was no hesitation.

No fear.

Just instinct.

Daniel looked at him.

"I promise."

Gabriel's shoulders relaxed.

"You don't know what you're promising."

"No." Daniel leaned closer. "But I'll keep it."

Gabriel smiled faintly.

"That's all I wanted. One day you need to l.... Loo.." Gabriels words slurred as he was slowly loosing consciousness

"Gabriel" Daniel shouted his eyes opened "what are you trying to say" he asked

Gabriel coughed and knew he didn't have a lot of time to get out what he was going to say "the files are..." he breathed deep "in her..." he breathed and coughed "locket" he got out the last word His eyes slowly closed.

"Gabriel!!" Daniel screamed tears running down his cheeks unable to breathe

No response.

"Gabriel!!"

Daniel checked his pulse.

Nothing.

For a moment, the world seemed to stop.

Daniel lowered his head.

He had made a promise to a dying man.

He had no idea that promise would follow and change him for the next six years

________________________

Elara's POV

I can't remember the moment I stopped breathing.

I remember the phone ringing.

I remember staring at the unfamiliar number glowing on the scI can't remember the moment I stopped breathing.

I remember the phone ringing.

reen.

And I remember answering.

"Hello?"

There was silence on the other end.

Not the normal kind.

The kind that makes your stomach tighten before anyone says a word.

"Is this Elara Bennet?"

"Yes."

"My name is Detective Miller. I'm sorry to call you like this, but—"

Everything after that seemed to happen underwater.

There had been an accident.

My father had been involved.

They had tried.

He hadn't survived.

.. Your father didn't make it..." were the last words I heard as the phone slipped lazely out my hand hitting the floor by my feet I didn't even notice the guy still talking on the line a faint voice" miss are you ok "

No... I fell to the floor unable to hold myself up anymore my body went limp under my weight, I felt like I had died along with him.

That couldn't be right.

My father wasn't supposed to die.

He was supposed to come home.

He was supposed to call me and complain about his long day at work, the clients he had faught with, that I wasn't eating properly.

He was supposed to ask how my final exams were going.

He was supposed to remind me that I was overworking myself.

He was supposed to be there.

He was always there.

My hands were shaking.

"No..."

The word barely escaped my lips.

I was twenty-three years old, finishing my final examinations for my degree in Business and Accountancy, following the same path my father had once taken.

On the side, I was attending pastry school.

That was my mother's dream.

Business was Dad. Pastry was Mom.

Somehow, I had managed to carry pieces of both of them with me.

Two years earlier, cancer had taken my mother.

I had watched her become weaker day by day looked after her, fed her, clothed her.

I remembered sitting beside her bed, holding her hand, helping her drink water when she couldn't lift the glass herself.

I remembered listening to her talk about the bakery she had always dreamed of opening.

She never got to see it happen. But Dad had stayed.

He stayed through every hospital visit, Every sleepless night, Every terrible morning.

When Mom died, it was just Dad and me.

And now...

It was just me.

My hair had always been something people noticed first.

Long, naturally dark-brown hair that fell well past my shoulders, usually tied back when I was studying or baking. That day, it hung loose around my face, messy from hours spent studying and completely forgotten the moment I received the call.

Behind my glasses, my eyes looked nothing like they normally did.

They were swollen.

Red.

Empty.

People often told me my eyes were large and expressive, but grief had drained the life from them.

I barely recognized the woman staring back at me in the mirror.

I looked like someone else.

Someone who had lost everything.

Uncle Thomas arrived before I even understood what was happening.

Thomas had been part of our family for as long as I could remember.

He was my mother's cousin, but he had never felt like merely a cousin.

He had been my father's closest friend.

My godfather.

The man Dad trusted with things he couldn't tell anyone else.

Thomas had also been a baker and had once planned to go into business with my mother. When she became sick, those plans were put aside. He stayed close to our family instead.

To me, he was simply Uncle Thomas.

The man who had taught me how to ride a bicycle.

The man who used to sneak me pastries when Mom wasn't looking.

The man who sat with Dad at the kitchen table late at night, talking business while I pretended not to listen.

When he walked through the door, he didn't say anything.

He simply pulled me into his arms.

I broke.

I cried into his chest until there was nothing left.

"I'm here," he whispered.

"I can't do this." I sobbed

"You don't have to do it alone."

He held me tighter.

"I'll take care of everything I can."

And he did.

Thomas handled most of the funeral arrangements.

My aunt, Margaret, my father's older sister, helped organize everything else—family, paperwork, flowers and the endless stream of people who suddenly needed something from us.

I barely participated. I couldn't.

Everything felt like a dream I couldn't wake from.

The funeral was held beneath a grey sky.

Everyone wore black.

Black dresses.

Black suits.

Black coats.

Black shoes.

Black umbrellas.

Even the flowers surrounding the urn seemed muted beneath the overcast light.

At the front stood the urn containing my father's ashes.

Beside it was a large photograph of him.

Dad was smiling.

That was the part that hurt most.

He had been handsome in a quiet, distinguished way. Dark hair beginning to silver at the temples, strong features, warm brown eyes and the kind of smile that made people feel safe.

Underneath his photograph were the words:

Gabriel Bennett

In Loving Memory

A Loving Husband

A Wonderful Father

A Devoted Family Man

I couldn't stop staring at the photograph.

My fingers were wrapped tightly around the small locket hanging from my neck.

Dad had given it to me for my twenty-first birthday.

I remembered that day perfectly.

He had handed me a little box across the restaurant table and smiled when I opened it.

"Happy birthday, sweetheart."

I lifted the delicate locket from the box.

"Dad..." I smoked he didn't have to spoil me I told him I didn't want any gifts.

"Open it." he smiled and motioned to the box

I opened the tiny clasp.

Inside was a photograph of the two of us and mom.

It had been taken years earlier, when I was younger. My hair had been much shorter, and I was sitting on his shoulders, laughing while he pretended to struggle under my weight.

Mom looking up at me laughing holding my hand.

On the other side was a photograph of Mom and dad

The two people who had been my entire world.

Dad had watched my expression carefully.

"Now you can carry us with you wherever you go."

I had laughed through my tears and hugged him.

"I'll never take it off." And I hadn't.

Now I held it between my fingers as I stood in front of his ashes.

My thumb brushed over the tiny engraving on the back.

I wanted to open the locket but I couldn't not today,

Because I knew the moment I saw their faces, I would completely fall apart.

So I held it against my chest instead.

A tiny piece of my family.

The only thing I had left that I could physically hold.