Chapter 6 - The Secret Buried in Palermo
Gabriel had spent his entire life believing his father died a loyal man.
Now he stood inside Cesare D’Agostino’s hidden estate outside New York while an old surveillance photograph suggested otherwise.
The image showed Enzo Rossi entering the D’Agostino villa in Palermo forty-three minutes before the massacre.
Serafina stared at it.
Gabriel stood across the room.
Neither had spoken for several minutes.
Finally she looked at Cesare.
“Was Enzo involved?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s shoulders loosened slightly.
Cesare continued.
“He was trying to stop it.”
Serafina frowned.
Cesare explained that Enzo discovered Antonio Moretti’s conspiracy and secretly contacted Salvatore D’Agostino.
He traveled to Palermo to warn him.
But Antonio anticipated the betrayal.
Enzo was shot while helping Serafina escape through the servants’ tunnels.
“My father saved me?”
“Yes.”
Serafina looked at Gabriel.
He seemed unable to process it.
“My father died in a car accident.”
“That was the story Antonio created,” Cesare said.
“He returned Enzo’s body to New York and staged the crash. He then raised Lorenzo beside you, knowing one day his son could finish what he began.”
Gabriel sat down.
For decades, he had misunderstood his own father’s death.
Serafina understood that kind of grief.
For the first time since Gabriel had thrown her out, her anger softened.
Not disappeared.
Softened.
She sat beside him.
Their shoulders almost touched.
“My father trusted yours,” she said.
Gabriel looked at her.
“I wish I had inherited that quality.”
“You inherited other things.”
“Like paranoia?”
“Your talent for dramatic entrances.”
A surprised laugh escaped him.
Serafina almost smiled.
It was the first gentle moment between them in weeks.
Gabriel’s eyes moved toward her hand resting on the sofa.
He did not touch it.
“May I ask something?”
“You just did.”
He gave her a tired look.
“The baby.”
Serafina waited.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes.”
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Can I…”
His voice failed.
Gabriel Rossi, a man who could negotiate multimillion-dollar deals without blinking, suddenly could not finish a sentence.
“Can you what?”
“See the ultrasound?”
Serafina’s chest tightened.
She removed her phone.
The image was grainy and tiny.
Gabriel stared at it.
His entire face changed.
“That’s our baby?”
“Yes.”
“That little thing?”
She almost laughed.
“That little thing has been making me throw up every morning.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
He looked away immediately.
Serafina pretended not to notice.
“May I have a copy?”
The question hurt her unexpectedly.
“Yes.”
She sent it.
Gabriel stared at his phone.
Then he whispered, “I threatened to kill you.”
Serafina said nothing.
“I sent you into freezing rain carrying my child.”
“Yes.”
“I can never undo that.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
That mattered.
He was not asking her to make him feel better.
Gabriel put his phone away.
“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me.”
Serafina looked at him.
“I’m going to become someone you could forgive. Whether you ever do is your decision.”
For several seconds, she could not speak.
Then alarms sounded throughout the estate.
Cesare entered.
“Someone breached the eastern gate.”
Gabriel immediately stood.
“How?”
“They had access codes.”
Serafina’s blood chilled.
Only a handful of people knew this property existed.
Gunfire sounded outside.
Gabriel reached for Serafina.
Then stopped himself.
“This way.”
They moved toward a reinforced corridor.
Cesare’s security team rushed past.
Suddenly an explosion shook the house.
Glass shattered.
Smoke filled the hallway.
Serafina stumbled.
Gabriel caught her before she hit the floor.
His hand landed protectively across her stomach.
Both froze.
The baby moved.
A tiny flutter.
Serafina’s eyes widened.
Gabriel felt it too.
His expression became almost childlike.
“Was that—”
“Yes.”
For one impossible second, war disappeared.
Then another gunshot broke the moment.
They reached the safe room.
Luca entered behind them.
Blood covered his sleeve.
“Lorenzo escaped custody.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“How?”
“Someone inside helped him.”
Cesare’s expression darkened.
A traitor.
Again.
But this time Serafina refused to let suspicion destroy them.
“No accusations.”
Everyone looked at her.
“We verify facts.”
Her eyes met Gabriel’s.
He understood.
Trust required discipline.
Not instinct.
A guard rushed into the room.
“Sir.”
He held a tablet.
Security footage showed a man opening the eastern gate.
Cesare watched.
His face went white.
Serafina looked closer.
The traitor was not one of Gabriel’s men.
Not Costello’s.
Not Lorenzo’s.
It was Cesare’s own second-in-command.
A man Serafina remembered from childhood.
Uncle Matteo.
And on the video, before opening the gate, Matteo looked directly into the camera.
Then he spoke five words.
The microphone captured them clearly.
“Your father should have died.”
Serafina stared at the screen.
May you like
The betrayal had never ended.
It had simply grown older.
