Chapter 13 - Gabriel's Final Bargain
Adrian didn't get Sophie.
Her security team moved first.
But he wanted Gabriel to believe he had.
The school attack was a distraction.
While Gabriel's men converged there, Adrian's team struck the federal evidence transport.
They recovered part of Carlo's files.
Now Adrian had the ledger and enough evidence to blackmail half the surviving Moretti network.
Gabriel understood the strategy.
Adrian wanted his empire back.
Gabriel wanted it gone.
That made them incompatible.
Adrian called.
"Give me the ports."
"No."
"Shipping companies."
"No."
"Then I start releasing names."
"Release them."
Adrian fell silent.
"You'd destroy your own family?"
"My daughter is my family."
Gabriel looked at Emma.
"So is Emma."
Adrian hung up.
Gabriel had finally become impossible to control.
He no longer valued the things Adrian could threaten.
Money.
Reputation.
Power.
That left people.
Which made Emma terrified.
She moved Margaret to federal protection.
Michael agreed to testify.
Victor surrendered his recordings.
Gabriel signed documents relinquishing control of companies still connected to criminal activity.
One by one, he dismantled Salvatore's inheritance.
Then Adrian did something none of them expected.
He reopened Morning Grace.
Emma arrived to find the old bakery lights glowing.
The front door stood open.
"Don't," Gabriel said.
Emma stared inside.
"This started with my father."
"It doesn't have to end with you."
"It already includes me."
She entered.
Gabriel followed.
Adrian stood behind the counter.
No visible weapon.
The ledger lay before him.
"You always loved this place," he said.
"You don't know anything about what I loved."
"I watched you."
"That's worse."
Adrian smiled.
"Thomas stole everything from me."
"No. Thomas saved everything from you."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Your father was weak."
"My father crawled into a fight with men like you because he loved a child who wasn't his."
Emma stepped closer.
"That's strength."
Gabriel watched from the doorway.
Adrian lifted the ledger.
"Do you know what this is worth?"
"No."
"Millions."
"No."
"Power."
"No."
"Then what?"
Emma looked at the old bakery.
"Nothing."
Adrian couldn't understand.
That was his weakness.
He had spent his life believing everyone had a price.
Emma didn't.
Neither did Gabriel anymore.
Police surrounded the building.
Adrian realized Michael had betrayed him.
He drew a gun.
Gabriel stepped in front of Emma.
Adrian laughed.
"Always the hero when a woman is watching."
Gabriel didn't move.
"Put it down."
"Your father would be ashamed."
"My father is dead."
"And you're about to join him."
A shot exploded.
Emma screamed.
Gabriel remained standing.
Adrian looked down.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Michael stood in the rear doorway holding the gun.
"I should have stopped you thirty years ago."
Adrian fired back.
Michael fell.
Federal agents stormed the bakery.
Adrian escaped through the basement.
Again.
Emma dropped beside Michael.
He was alive.
Barely.
"Stay with me."
He looked at her.
A strange smile crossed his face.
"You said that to Sophie."
Emma froze.
"How did you know?"
"I heard you."
"The black sedan."
Michael nodded.
Then he gripped her hand.
"Adrian doesn't know."
"Know what?"
"The ledger he has is fake."
Emma stared.
"Thomas switched it."
"Where's the real one?"
Michael struggled to breathe.
"Under the bakery."
"We searched."
"Not the floor."
"Then where?"
Michael looked toward the basement.
"Thomas built a door."
Gabriel appeared.
"What door?"
Michael whispered:
"The one Salvatore never found."
Emma and Gabriel descended.
Behind the old furnace was a brick wall.
One brick moved.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
The wall shifted.
Behind it stood a steel door.
Emma reached for the handle.
May you like
It was already unlocked from the inside.
Someone was waiting for her...
