Rafael uncovers Hannah’s darkest secrets.
Rafael and Hannah. An unlikely duo, bound by circumstance and stubborn resolve. The true protagonists of the series, they carry the story’s weight through danger and doubt. Two people fighting against the malevolent forces of frame, murder, and dark secrets that threaten to unravel everything they hold dear. A key element the reader must watch for is that, since the start of the second book, not everything is what it appears to be.
Just as Rafael keeps certain things to himself, Hannah harbors her own secrets as well. Coincidentally, at the beginning of Paris Noir, Rafael pays Hannah a visit and immediately notices how visibly tense she has become. She confides in him about the puzzling riddle that was handed to her and recounts how a mysterious man warned that both she and Rafael are in imminent danger. He scolds his goddaughter, insisting that she must be truthful with him and promising to do the same in return — an ironic demand, given that Rafa is concealing a dark past from Hannah precisely to try to protect her from harm.
During the period that Hannah is under house arrest, she asks Smith for help in arranging her arrest so she can finally learn who a certain someone really is. While these events unfold in Las Vegas, Rafael is back in Paris investigating the murder of a police officer who once knew Hannah. When he arrives at the crime scene, he discovers a letter from Hannah and learns that much of what he believed was merely a cover staged during her recovery period. Troubled by why she kept this from him, Rafael decides to return to Las Vegas to confront his beloved. Before he has the chance to question her face to face, Hannah reveals parts of her plan and explains that Smith will be the one to take her into custody. Rather than reveal his knowledge or warn her, Rafael chooses to remain silent and intends to confront her later in jail.
When he finally does confront her, he asks her why she hid this important factor from him. She once again reminds him that he cannot keep pulling her from the path of oncoming trains, and that what she did, she did to protect him, to make sure Donovan wouldn’t kill him. She tells him that if anything were to happen to him, she would never forgive herself, because that is how much she loves him. Not only does she love him dearly, she is extremely loyal to him, to the point that if she were ever forced to choose between Rafael and Jonathan, she would choose Rafael first without a doubt. Keep an eye out for the letter Hannah wrote to Rafael while she sat in a cafe in Paris three years ago; the clues to what she was really working on are tucked away in that letter.
