Chapter 8 - The Enemy Inside the FamilyThe photograph had been taken that morning.
Claraara wanted to run.
Gabriel refused to let fear make their decisions.
“This is what they want.”
“Who?”
He studied the photograph.
“I don’t know yet.”
That answer frightened her.
Gabriel always seemed to know.
By dawn, they had one clue.
The paper used for the message came from Rossy Shipping headquarters.
Someone inside Gabriel’s legitimate company had sent it.
Gabriel assembled his senior executives.
Claraara recognized none of them.
Except one.
A silver-haired woman entered last.
Gabriel stood.
“Aunt Celeste.”
The woman kissed his cheek.
Then looked at Claraara.
“So this is her.”
Claraara disliked the sentence immediately.
Gabriel introduced them.
Celeste Rossy had raised Gabriel after his mother died.
Elegant.
Controlled.
Almost maternal.
But when Maya entered, Celeste’s expression changed for half a second.
Recognition.
Claraara saw it.
“You’ve seen Maya before.”
Celeste smiled.
“Photographs.”
“What photographs?”
Gabriel turned.
Celeste’s smile remained.
“Gabriel talks about her.”
“No,” Claraara said. “He doesn’t.”
Silence.
Gabriel studied his aunt.
Celeste sighed.
“You always were observant.”
Gabriel’s voice hardened.
“What did you do?”
“Protected you.”
“From what?”
“Her.”
Claraara stared.
Celeste continued calmly.
“You dismantled relationships that took decades to build because a poor woman made you sentimental.”
“Victor trafficked influence through half the city.”
“And he maintained balance.”
“You worked with him.”
Celeste smiled sadly.
“Your father worked with his father.”
Gabriel looked sick.
“You knew what they did to Sofia?”
Celeste did not answer.
That was enough.
Gabriel’s face changed.
“You knew.”
“Your father had debts.”
“She was six.”
“It was unfortunate.”
Claraara watched something break inside Gabriel.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
That was worse.
“You called her death unfortunate?”
Celeste stepped closer.
“I saved you afterward.”
“You built me into exactly what they wanted.”
“I built you into a king.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
His voice became almost peaceful.
“You built a frightened boy who thought power could keep everyone from dying.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed.
Gabriel continued.
“Claraara taught me something you never could.”
“What?”
“That protecting people and controlling them aren’t the same thing.”
Celeste reached into her handbag.
Gabriel moved.
Too late.
She held a detonator.
“If I cannot save this family, neither can she.”
Claraara’s stomach dropped.
“Where’s Maya?”
Mrs. Alvarez had taken her to Gabriel’s country house that morning.
Gabriel understood instantly.
He lunged.
Celeste pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
She stared at the device.
Gabriel took it from her.
Marco entered behind them.
Celeste went pale.
“You.”
Marco smiled.
“You should change your security codes more often.”
Gabriel had secretly brought him back after the shooting.
Marco had intercepted Celeste’s men hours earlier.
The country house was safe.
Maya was safe.
Celeste was arrested along with three executives.
For the first time, Gabriel did not hide evidence.
He gave investigators everything.
Accounts.
Names.
Properties.
His own crimes too.
Claraara stared at him afterward.
“What did you give them?”
“The truth.”
“About yourself?”
“Yes.”
“You could go to prison.”
“Yes.”
Her chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I can’t ask you to believe I’m changing while hiding the parts that cost me something.”
Claraara became furious.
“You don’t get to become noble now.”
“I’m not.”
“Maya loves you.”
His expression cracked.
“I know.”
“I…”
She stopped.
Gabriel waited.
Claraara hated how frightening the next words felt.
“I love you.”
Silence.
Gabriel looked as if she had shot him.
“That’s inconvenient.”
A tear escaped her.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Yes.”
He touched her face.
“I love you too.”
The investigation lasted months.
Gabriel cooperated.
Because many of his most serious activities could not be independently proven and because his evidence dismantled a much larger criminal network, prosecutors negotiated a plea involving financial crimes, asset forfeiture, probation after a custodial sentence, and years of supervision.
He still had to leave.
On the morning he surrendered, Maya hugged him.
“Will you come back?”
Gabriel crouched.
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
He looked at Claraara.
Then back at Maya.
“No.”
Maya frowned.
“I don’t make promises I can’t control anymore.”
He touched her hair.
“But I will do everything I legally can to come home.”
Claraara kissed him before officers led him away.
She watched until he disappeared.
Then she looked down at Maya.
“What now?”
Maya squeezed her hand.
“We make cake.”
May you like
Claraara laughed through tears.
And that was exactly what they did.
