Chapter 4 - The Key Gabriel's Father Left Behind
I had carried the key for eight months.
I kept it sewn inside the lining of my winter coat.
Gabriel stared at me when I finally showed it to him.
“Where did you get this?”
“Your father.”
“My father was dead before we met.”
“I know.”
“Then how?”
I told him the truth.
Three weeks before the warehouse attack, I received a strange patient at St. Catherine.
An elderly man.
He had been brought in after a fall.
Before he died, he asked for me privately.
He knew my name.
He knew I was with Gabriel.
Then he gave me an envelope.
Inside was the key.
And a note.
“Give this to Gabriel only when you know who he can trust.”
I had hidden it because I didn't know whom to trust.
Gabriel took the key.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
We spent the next two hours searching every location connected to his father.
Nothing.
Then Elena remembered an old storage facility.
A forgotten Russo property beneath a closed restaurant.
The key fit.
Inside was a metal box.
Gabriel opened it.
Documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And a cassette tape.
The label contained only three words:
For My Son.
Gabriel inserted it into an old player.
His father's voice filled the room.
“Gabriel, if you're hearing this, something has gone terribly wrong.”
Gabriel became motionless.
“I built this organization because I believed power could protect our family. I was wrong.”
His father continued.
“Vincent Shaw's death was not my doing.”
Daniel had spent twenty years believing otherwise.
But the truth was darker.
A third man had engineered the conflict.
A man named Marcus Vale.
Marcus had worked for both families.
He had manipulated them into war, then stolen control of their businesses.
Gabriel's father had discovered the truth.
Before he could expose Marcus, he died.
The tape ended with one final warning.
“Marcus will eventually come for my son.”
Gabriel stared at the machine.
“Marcus Vale died six years ago.”
I looked at him.
“Did he?”
Nobody answered.
Then footsteps sounded above us.
Gabriel drew his weapon.
Elena reached for hers.
The door opened.
A terrified young man stumbled downstairs.
He worked for Gabriel.
“Boss.”
“What happened?”
“Daniel has taken Connor Bell.”
Gabriel froze.
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
The young man handed him a phone.
A video played.
Connor was tied to a chair.
Daniel stood behind him.
And beside Daniel was an older man.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Marcus Vale.
Alive.
Marcus looked directly into the camera.
“Gabriel.”
He smiled.
“You spent eight months hunting the wrong woman.”
The screen went black.
Gabriel's face became stone.
Then the phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
BRING CLARA TO THE OLD UNION STATION. COME ALONE.
Gabriel looked at me.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“We have to go.”
“You're pregnant.”
“Connor is innocent.”
“I don't care about Connor.”
“You should.”
Gabriel stared at me.
I placed my hand over my stomach.
“This child deserves to know what kind of man his father really is.”
His expression softened.
For the first time in eight months, he reached toward me.
He stopped before touching me.
“May I?”
I nodded.
His palm rested gently against my stomach.
The baby moved.
Gabriel's eyes filled with tears.
He whispered:
“My son.”
I smiled sadly.
“Maybe.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“What do you mean?”
May you like
I pulled away.
“Because Daniel wasn't the only person who lied to you.”
