Chapter 8 - Gabriel’s Final Betrayal
Beatatrice did not confront Gabriel.
The old Beatatrice would have.
The woman who escaped through a wall gathered evidence first.
She followed the money.
Bellini Maritime's records showed Crane had moved nearly ninety million dollars through shell corporations.
Then Beatatrice found something stranger.
Gabriel had transferred thirty-two million dollars into one of Crane's accounts.
Two weeks after their separation.
Her stomach turned.
Adrian read the documents beside her.
“Could be payment.”
“For what?”
“That's the question.”
Beatatrice called Gabriel.
“Dinner.”
Silence.
“Are you asking me?”
“I am.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
He arrived at seven.
No security entered the house.
Gabriel looked different.
Thinner.
The gunshot had left him with a slight stiffness.
He saw Beatatrice's belly and softened immediately.
“How are you?”
“Sit.”
He obeyed.
She placed the photograph on the table.
His expression changed.
Then the bank records.
“Explain.”
Gabriel leaned back.
“I can't.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Bea—”
“You transferred thirty-two million dollars to the man financing the organization that killed my father.”
“I know what it looks like.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
“I can't.”
Beatatrice stood.
Gabriel did too.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“You asked me to trust you for eight years,” she said. “I did. Then I watched you kiss my sister.”
His jaw tightened.
“You locked me inside a bedroom. You threatened me. I escaped. I rebuilt my life. And somehow, against every intelligent instinct I possess, part of me started wondering whether the man I married still existed.”
“He does.”
“Then tell me.”
Gabriel looked destroyed.
“I need forty-eight hours.”
“No.”
“Twenty-four.”
“No.”
“Bea.”
She pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
Gabriel did.
That night, someone tried to kill him.
His car exploded outside a downtown parking garage.
Gabriel wasn't inside.
Crane believed he was.
By morning, federal agents arrested Senator Malcolm Crane.
Beatatrice watched the news in disbelief.
Daniel called.
“Turn on channel seven.”
“I’m watching.”
“They've arrested fourteen people.”
“What happened?”
“Gabriel.”
Beatatrice went silent.
Daniel explained.
For three months, Gabriel had been cooperating with federal investigators.
The thirty-two million was bait.
Crane believed Gabriel wanted into the Bishop network.
Gabriel had secretly recorded every meeting.
The car explosion gave prosecutors evidence of attempted murder on top of racketeering, kidnapping, corruption, and conspiracy charges.
“Why didn't Gabriel tell me?”
“He couldn't.”
Beatatrice remembered his request.
Forty-eight hours.
She sat down.
The doorbell rang.
Adrian entered carrying an envelope.
“From Gabriel.”
Inside was a letter.
Not romantic.
Not pleading.
It contained ownership transfers.
Gabriel had surrendered every Rossy interest in Bellini Maritime.
He had also transferred the mansion into a trust for their child.
The final document stunned her.
Gabriel had begun dismantling his criminal organization.
Legitimate businesses were being separated.
Illegal operations were being turned over as part of his cooperation agreement.
There was one handwritten page.
Bea,
I spent most of my life believing power meant making certain nobody could leave me.
You taught me the opposite.
Real love means the door is unlocked.
I don't expect you to come through it.
Gabriel.
Beatatrice read it twice.
Then contractions began.
She froze.
Adrian stared at her.
“What?”
Another contraction hit.
“Oh.”
“What?”
“My water just broke.”
Adrian Vale—who had faced armed men without blinking—went completely pale.
“Now?”
Beatatrice almost laughed.
“Apparently the baby didn't consult our schedule.”
Twenty minutes later, she was in the hospital.
Her mother arrived.
Vanessa arrived.
Daniel arrived wearing two different shoes.
But Gabriel did not.
Beatatrice kept looking toward the door.
She hated herself for it.
After four hours, she finally asked Daniel.
“Where is he?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Federal custody.”
“What?”
“Crane's people threatened you. Gabriel refused protective custody unless they guaranteed protection for you first.”
Beatatrice stared at him.
“He traded his freedom for mine?”
“Temporarily.”
Another contraction tore through her.
She grabbed Daniel's hand hard enough to make him yelp.
“Get him here.”
“Bea—”
“I am having his child.”
May you like
She breathed through the pain.
“And for once in his life, Gabriel Rossy is going to be exactly where I tell him to be.”
