Chapter 6 - The Night Gabriel Lost Everything
Gabriel heard three gunshots.
Then silence.
“BEA!”
Nothing.
The call disconnected.
For the first time in his adult life, Gabriel Rossy experienced helplessness.
He destroyed it.
“Trace that phone.”
His men moved.
Gabriel grabbed his coat.
His consigliere, Luca, blocked him.
“This could be bait.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“My wife is there.”
“Which is exactly why—”
“My pregnant wife is there.”
Luca moved aside.
Forty-seven minutes later, Gabriel arrived at an empty safe house.
Broken glass covered the floor.
Blood marked the hallway.
He found Vanessa unconscious behind a kitchen island.
Alive.
Daniel Mercer had been shot in the shoulder.
Adrian Vale was missing.
So was Beatatrice.
Gabriel knelt beside Daniel.
“Where is she?”
Daniel grimaced.
“They took her.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Everything inside him became cold.
Daniel grabbed his lapel.
“Listen to me.”
Gabriel looked down.
“She didn't run because she was weak.”
“I know.”
“She ran because you made staying more frightening.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Daniel released him.
“Remember that when you find her.”
Beatatrice woke inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were tied in front of her.
Adrian sat opposite her, blood running from his eyebrow.
Two armed men watched them.
“You okay?” Adrian asked.
“My baby is kicking.”
“That's good.”
“I assume kidnapping isn't recommended in the third trimester.”
One guard snorted.
Adrian looked at him.
The man stopped.
Even tied up, Adrian frightened people.
Beatatrice leaned back.
“Where's Vanessa?”
“Escaped.”
Relief nearly broke her.
“Daniel?”
“Alive when we left.”
The van stopped.
They were taken into an abandoned hotel near the Wisconsin border.
Victor waited in the ballroom.
Beatatrice barely recognized him.
No affectionate uncle.
No warm smile.
Just a sixty-year-old man in an expensive coat holding her father's gold watch.
That hurt more than anything.
“You stole his watch.”
Victor glanced down.
“He gave it to me.”
“My father wouldn't give you dirt from his shoe if he knew what you were.”
Victor smiled.
“There she is.”
Beatatrice was placed in a chair.
Adrian remained standing.
Victor approached him.
“Still alive.”
“Disappointed?”
“Frequently.”
Victor turned to Beatatrice.
“I need the drive.”
“No.”
“And access to Bellini Maritime.”
“No.”
“Your mother might encourage cooperation.”
A door opened.
Eleanor Bellini entered.
Beatatrice's heart stopped.
“Mom.”
Eleanor looked tired but unharmed.
Beatatrice tried to stand.
Victor pushed her back.
“Careful.”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
Victor smiled.
“Relax. I don't hurt pregnant women.”
Beatatrice stared at him.
“You murdered my father.”
Victor's smile vanished.
“Your father murdered himself with righteousness.”
The words confirmed everything.
Beatatrice felt something inside her settle.
Not grief.
Not yet.
Purpose.
“You sabotaged his boat.”
“He was going to expose us.”
“Us?”
Victor realized his mistake.
Beatatrice saw it.
“Who else?”
Victor said nothing.
“The Bishop wasn't one person,” she whispered.
Adrian looked at her.
Victor smiled again.
“Your father always said you were clever.”
Beatatrice remembered the ledgers.
Multiple accounts.
Multiple signatures.
A network.
Victor was only part of it.
“Gabriel's father.”
Victor's smile deepened.
“Sebastian Rossy built the network. I kept it alive after he died.”
“And Gabriel?”
“Hated his father. Refused to join us.”
That stunned her.
Victor shrugged.
“Your husband has many sins, sweetheart. Your father's murder isn't one.”
Beatatrice looked down.
Gabriel had not killed her father.
Victor continued.
“Gabriel has spent eight years dismantling pieces of his father's network without realizing who sat behind it.”
“Why me?”
“Because Thomas gave you the controlling interest in the one company we cannot replace.”
Bellini Maritime.
Victor crouched.
“Transfer your shares.”
“No.”
“Then your mother dies.”
Eleanor spoke calmly.
“Don't.”
Victor looked at her.
Eleanor's eyes stayed on her daughter.
“Your father didn't die protecting you so you could surrender everything because of me.”
Beatatrice began crying.
Victor sighed.
“Family courage is exhausting.”
He placed documents on the table.
“Sign.”
Beatatrice picked up the pen.
Adrian watched her.
She signed.
Victor smiled.
Then frowned.
“What is this?”
Beatatrice had written two words across the signature line.
GO TO HELL.
Victor struck the table.
Adrian laughed.
Victor turned toward him.
That was his mistake.
Beatatrice grabbed the glass beside her and smashed it against the floor.
Adrian moved instantly.
Chaos exploded.
He drove his shoulder into the nearest guard.
Eleanor dropped.
Beatatrice kicked the second man's knee.
A gun fired.
Victor ran.
Adrian disarmed one guard.
Then the ballroom doors burst open.
Gabriel entered.
Their eyes met.
Beatatrice had imagined seeing him again a hundred ways.
She had imagined rage.
Hatred.
Weakness.
Instead she felt something worse.
Love.
Damaged, unwanted, furious love.
Gabriel crossed the room.
Victor raised his weapon.
“Gabriel!”
Beatatrice screamed.
The gun fired.
May you like
Gabriel staggered.
And blood spread across his white shirt.
