Chapter 8 - The Enemy Behind the Friend
The name Margaret gave them was Victor Sloane.
Gabriel knew it immediately.
Everyone in Chicago freight knew it.
Sloane Maritime controlled shipping terminals, trucking contracts and warehouses across three states. Victor had publicly competed with Rowan Freight for decades.
Privately, their fathers had hated each other.
Margaret’s video explained the rest.
Thomas Cross had originally diverted Rowan money on Victor Sloane’s behalf. After Thomas died, Sloane recruited Evan.
Evan’s assignment was simple:
Get close to Gabriel.
Wait.
Then destroy Rowan Freight from within.
But something changed.
Evan became greedy.
Instead of merely serving Sloane, he began stealing for himself.
Now Gabriel understood the urgency.
His restructuring would expose both men.
“We need investigators to see this,” Hannah said.
“They will.”
Gabriel handed everything to federal authorities that afternoon.
For once, he resisted the instinct to solve the problem privately.
Marcus approved.
“You’re becoming boring.”
“I’m devastated.”
“Your father would hate it.”
“Then I’m definitely doing something right.”
But Victor Sloane didn’t wait.
By evening, financial reporters received leaked documents accusing Gabriel of running the shell-company network himself.
Rowan Freight shares plunged.
Clients suspended contracts.
News vehicles appeared outside headquarters.
Gabriel watched his legitimate empire begin collapsing in real time.
Hannah found him alone in the boardroom.
“You could lose the company.”
“Yes.”
“You’re strangely calm.”
“I’m deciding what matters.”
“And?”
He looked at her.
“Turns out the list is shorter than I thought.”
The company mattered.
His employees mattered.
His name mattered less than it once had.
But Hannah and Lucy?
That realization was more complicated.
He had known them only as employees until days earlier.
Now the mansion felt empty when they weren’t inside it.
“I owe Lucy my life,” he said.
Hannah smiled faintly.
“She’ll probably accept payment in pancakes.”
“Reasonable.”
“She charges extra for blueberries.”
“Extortion.”
“She learned from observing your business associates.”
He laughed.
A real laugh.
Hannah looked surprised.
“So you can do that.”
“Apparently.”
Then Gabriel became serious.
“When this is over, I want you and Lucy somewhere better.”
Her smile vanished.
“We are not charity.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t treat us like it.”
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“You keep confusing protection with control.”
The words stopped him.
She continued.
“You don’t get to decide our life because you’re afraid something might happen.”
Gabriel knew she was right.
He hated that.
“I’m bad at this.”
“At what?”
“Caring about people I can’t order around.”
Hannah’s expression softened.
“That may be the most self-aware thing you’ve ever said.”
He stepped closer.
“Hannah—”
The boardroom door opened.
Daniel entered.
“Sorry.”
Gabriel stepped back.
Daniel pretended not to notice.
Poorly.
“We found Sloane.”
“Where?”
“He’s trying to leave the country.”
Gabriel expected satisfaction.
Instead Daniel looked frightened.
“He wants to trade evidence for immunity.”
“Evidence against Evan?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Against you.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Daniel explained.
Sloane possessed recordings from Gabriel’s younger years—meetings tied to the violent era of Rowan operations before Gabriel transformed the company.
Not necessarily enough for criminal charges.
Enough to destroy him publicly.
Hannah looked at Gabriel.
“Are they real?”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No denial.
Gabriel had done things at twenty-five he would never do at forty.
“Then don’t lie about them.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“Tell the truth.”
“That could destroy everything.”
“Maybe.”
She stepped closer.
“But Evan spent fourteen years depending on one thing.”
“What?”
“That you’d be more afraid of your past than he was of his present.”
Gabriel stared at her.
That night he made the decision Evan never expected.
He called a press conference.
The following morning, cameras packed the lobby of Rowan Freight.
Gabriel walked to the podium alone.
He acknowledged that during his early leadership, he had participated in a corporate culture tied to intimidation and illegal activity. He said investigators would receive his complete cooperation and that he would accept responsibility for anything evidence proved he had personally done.
Then he presented documentation of the reforms implemented over the previous decade.
Audited systems.
Terminated contracts.
Compliance programs.
Cooperation with regulators.
He did not ask for forgiveness.
He did not claim innocence where he couldn’t.
He simply stopped hiding.
Across town, Victor Sloane watched the broadcast.
His leverage evaporated.
And in federal custody, Evan Cross reportedly threw a chair through a television.
That evening Gabriel returned home.
Lucy ran toward him.
“Did you win?”
Gabriel crouched.
“No.”
She looked confused.
“Did you lose?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what happened?”
Gabriel thought.
“I told the truth.”
Lucy considered that.
“Mom says that’s usually easier.”
Hannah appeared behind her.
“No. I said it’s usually simpler.”
Gabriel smiled.
Lucy took his hand.
“Come upstairs.”
“Why?”
“I made something.”
She led him to the landing.
Taped to the wall was a drawing.
Three people.
Lucy.
Hannah.
Gabriel.
Above them, in crooked letters:
THE PEOPLE WHO LISTENED.
Gabriel stared at it longer than necessary.
Then his phone rang.
Federal investigators had arrested Victor Sloane at a private airfield.
It should have felt like victory.
Instead Gabriel looked at Hannah.
For the first time, the future frightened him more than any enemy.
May you like
Because when the danger ended, Hannah would no longer need his protection.
And he had no idea whether she would stay.
