Chapter 10 - Gabriel Comes for His Wife
The false birth record was a warning.
Voss wanted them to know he could manipulate systems anywhere.
Gabriel ordered every electronic device removed from Matteo’s room.
Beatrice refused to panic.
“Fear is what he wants.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“He threatened our son.”
“I know.”
“I want to kill him.”
“I know.”
“And you’re going to tell me not to.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel breathed out.
Marriage had never looked like this before.
Beatrice holding their newborn.
Gabriel asking instead of ordering.
Neither knew whether they would remain married.
Yet they were finally speaking truth.
Thomas arrived.
He held his grandson and cried.
Then he gave Beatrice the black box.
“It belongs to you.”
“No more secrets?”
“No more.”
Adrian arrived later.
He looked destroyed.
“My mother escaped.”
Beatrice studied him.
“I’m sorry.”
“I spent half my life avenging my father by fighting the wrong people.”
Gabriel stood across from him.
“So did I.”
The two rivals looked at each other.
No friendship.
But something had ended.
The inherited hatred.
Beatrice noticed.
“Good. Now perhaps the men can stop shooting long enough to help the women fix everything.”
Adrian almost smiled.
They needed Matteo’s cells to open the second layer.
Beatrice refused until independent experts confirmed the procedure required nothing more than a harmless cheek swab.
Once confirmed, she did it herself.
Her DNA opened layer one.
Matteo’s opened layer two.
The black box activated.
Thousands of files appeared.
Transactions.
Audio recordings.
Murder orders.
Bribes.
Names.
Evelyn Vale.
Samuel Voss.
Judges.
Police commissioners.
Executives.
And Vittorio Rossi.
Gabriel stared.
His father’s name appeared repeatedly.
“Was he Meridian?”
Thomas studied the dates.
“No.”
Then he saw the designation.
INFILTRATOR.
Vittorio had been feeding evidence outward for years.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
His father had not abandoned him entirely.
But another file appeared.
BEATRICE BELL ROSSI.
Her profile contained surveillance photographs from childhood onward.
Every school.
Every apartment.
Her wedding.
Pregnancy.
The final document contained instructions.
SUBJECT MUST REMAIN MARRIED TO GABRIEL ROSSI UNTIL SUCCESSION EVENT.
Beatrice stared.
“Why?”
Thomas opened the attached file.
The answer was financial.
Vittorio had secretly moved billions in seized Meridian assets into a trust.
Beneficiary: any direct descendant of Thomas Bell and Gabriel Rossi.
Matteo.
Gabriel looked horrified.
“Our marriage created the heir.”
“Yes,” Thomas said.
Beatrice laughed bitterly.
“So everyone engineered our lives.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Not everything.”
She met his eyes.
“No?”
“I loved you without permission.”
That landed quietly.
Beatrice looked down at Matteo.
“So did I.”
Past tense.
Gabriel heard it.
He accepted it.
The evidence was copied.
Distributed to attorneys.
Journalists.
Federal prosecutors.
Multiple countries.
No single person could destroy it now.
Meridian began collapsing within hours.
Arrests started.
Accounts froze.
But Voss and Evelyn remained missing.
Then Gabriel received a call.
Vittorio.
His voice was weak.
“Samuel found me.”
“Where are you?”
“Gabriel…”
A gunshot sounded.
The line went dead.
Gabriel stood.
Beatrice saw his face.
“Go.”
“I won’t leave you.”
“You’re not imprisoning me by staying either.”
He understood.
“Bring him home.”
Gabriel left with Adrian.
Two men whose fathers had been destroyed by the same conspiracy.
They found Vittorio’s location.
An old hotel.
Blood in the hallway.
A broken door.
Gabriel entered first.
His father lay wounded but alive.
Adrian called for medical help.
Then applause came from the adjoining room.
Samuel Voss stepped out.
A gun in his hand.
Evelyn Vale stood beside him.
And between them was Chloe.
Again.
Gabriel stared at her.
But Chloe was not tied.
May you like
She was holding a gun too.
And this time, she was pointing it directly at Gabriel.
