Chapter 2 - The Security Guard Who Betrayed Gabriel Was Carrying the Same Secret Michael Died ProtectingCaleb didn't fire.
Neither did Gabriel.
The two men stared across the corridor while the alarm continued screaming.
Then Ethan moved.
He shot the light above Caleb.
The corridor dropped into darkness.
“Move!”
Gabriel grabbed Sophie's hand.
She jerked away.
“Don't!”
“Trust me.”
“You're still holding a gun.”
“So are the men trying to kill you.”
She looked toward the doorway.
Then at Noah.
She moved.
Gabriel led them through the service corridor.
Ethan covered the rear.
Bullets struck the walls behind them.
Sophie held Noah tightly.
Gabriel wanted to carry him.
But he waited for her to offer.
She didn't.
He respected it.
They reached the kitchen.
The chef was gone.
Tables overturned.
Glass everywhere.
Gabriel slammed the emergency door.
“Lock it.”
Ethan did.
Sophie breathed hard.
“Where now?”
“The greenhouse.”
“Why?”
“Steel shutters.”
“You have a greenhouse?”
“Yes.”
She almost laughed.
“This is the strangest kidnapping rescue I've ever seen.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Same.”
Despite everything, her mouth twitched.
It was the first time he saw her almost smile.
Then the gunfire stopped.
The silence was worse.
Gabriel checked his phone.
Every camera in the estate had been disabled.
“Someone gave them access.”
Sophie stared at him.
“You don't know who you can trust.”
“No.”
“What happens now?”
Gabriel looked toward the dark hallway.
“We disappear.”
They moved into the greenhouse.
Rain hammered the glass ceiling.
The plants blocked the cameras.
Gabriel locked the inner door.
Sophie sat on the stone bench.
Noah was asleep again.
The child seemed oblivious to the war around him.
Gabriel crouched.
“Can I see the medal?”
Sophie hesitated.
Then nodded.
Gabriel looked at the worn silver pendant.
“That was Michael's.”
“I know.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Noah wore it when I found him.”
“Where?”
She looked toward the rain.
“Under a bridge.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“Three months ago?”
“Yes.”
“What did you find besides him?”
Sophie hesitated.
“A bag.”
“What was inside?”
“Clothes. Bottles. A photograph.”
“Of Michael?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“You.”
Gabriel stared.
Me?
Sophie nodded.
“You were standing beside Michael.”
The photograph had been taken years earlier.
Gabriel remembered it.
Their father had hosted a private hunting trip.
There had been a photographer.
But why had someone carried that photograph with Noah?
Sophie reached into her coat.
She pulled out a plastic sleeve.
Inside was a photograph.
Gabriel took it.
It showed him and Michael as teenagers.
Behind them stood a woman.
Rebecca Bennett.
He recognized her instantly.
He turned the photograph over.
Written on the back:
When the Mercer brothers are divided, protect the child.
Gabriel looked at Sophie.
“Where did you get this?”
“My mother.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
“Why didn't you show anyone?”
“Because three months ago, a man came to my apartment asking about it.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Michael had broken the agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“I don't know.”
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
His father.
His brother.
Rebecca Bennett.
A child.
Something from twenty years ago.
The missing pieces were beginning to connect.
Then Noah started crying.
Sophie immediately held him.
“He's hungry.”
Gabriel looked at Ethan.
“Get formula.”
“Already ordered.”
Sophie stared.
“You ordered formula?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Security network.”
She laughed softly.
“Of course.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She fed Noah.
Gabriel watched.
There was something intimate about the scene.
Something peaceful.
Something entirely incompatible with the blood covering the hallway outside.
Sophie noticed him watching.
“You can hold him.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
She carefully passed Noah to him.
Gabriel's arms were awkward at first.
Noah squirmed.
Then settled.
Gabriel looked down at his nephew.
Michael's son.
For three months, Gabriel had been searching for a body.
Instead, he found a family.
Noah opened his eyes.
Gabriel whispered:
“Hi.”
The baby touched his tie.
Gabriel almost laughed.
Sophie watched him.
“You look different.”
“Different how?”
“Human.”
He looked up.
“That's rude.”
She smiled.
“Probably.”
Then footsteps sounded outside.
Gabriel handed Noah back.
Ethan raised his weapon.
The door opened.
It was Thomas Mercer.
Gabriel's uncle.
The oldest surviving member of the family.
He walked in without a weapon.
“Gabriel.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“Where have you been?”
“Trying to stop this.”
“Who is doing it?”
Thomas looked at Sophie.
Then Noah.
“Victor.”
Gabriel froze.
“Victor's dead.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“Who is Victor?”
Sophie whispered.
Thomas answered.
“The man who built your father's empire.”
Gabriel stared.
Victor Vale had supposedly died eighteen years earlier.
His body had never been recovered.
Instead, everyone believed he had fled.
Thomas looked at Sophie.
“He's been alive.”
Sophie pulled Noah closer.
“He wants him.”
Thomas nodded.
“Not the baby.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Then what?”
“The thing Michael put inside him.”
Gabriel's blood ran cold.
“What thing?”
Thomas looked at Noah.
“Proof.”
Suddenly a loud crash came from the greenhouse roof.
Glass shattered.
Ethan raised his gun.
Gabriel shielded Sophie and Noah.
A small black device landed near the door.
It beeped.
Thomas shouted:
“DOWN!”
Gabriel grabbed Sophie.
They hit the floor.
A flash.
Smoke.
The greenhouse door blew inward.
Men rushed through.
Gabriel fired.
Ethan fired.
Thomas took cover.
Sophie crawled behind a concrete planter.
Noah cried.
Gabriel heard him.
Everything narrowed.
He didn't see the guns.
He didn't see the men.
He saw only Noah.
He fought through the chaos and reached Sophie.
“Give him to me.”
She did.
Gabriel held the baby against his chest.
He moved them through the emergency exit.
Three men followed.
Ethan stopped them.
Gabriel ran.
Sophie followed.
They reached the hidden tunnel beneath the estate.
Gabriel locked the steel gate.
He finally looked down.
Noah had stopped crying.
The child slept against his chest.
Sophie stared at them.
Then she whispered:
“He trusts you.”
Gabriel swallowed.
“I don't know why.”
“Maybe he remembers.”
“Remembers what?”
“His father.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Michael called you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother once saved him.”
“How?”
Sophie shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“Then we're going to find out.”
They entered the tunnel.
At the end was an old safe house beneath an abandoned church.
Gabriel unlocked it.
Inside were blankets, water, medical supplies and communications equipment.
Sophie looked around.
“You've been preparing for a war.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I didn't know who against.”
Now he did.
Victor.
Caleb.
Maybe others.
And somewhere in the middle of it was a secret Michael had trusted to a stranger.
A secret carried by a baby.
A secret that could destroy the Mercer family.
That night, Gabriel found something hidden inside Noah's clothing.
A tiny flash drive.
He stared at it.
Sophie whispered:
“What is it?”
He plugged it into the secure terminal.
One file appeared.
MICHAEL_FINAL.
Gabriel clicked it.
His brother appeared on screen.
Alive.
Tired.
Afraid.
“If Gabriel is watching this, then I failed.”
Gabriel's breath stopped.
Michael continued.
“Brother, there is someone inside our family who has been selling information for years.”
The video glitched.
Then Michael said the name.
Gabriel's face went white.
“It's Caleb.”
Sophie looked at him.
The video continued.
“But Caleb isn't the mastermind.”
Michael looked directly into the camera.
“He's following orders from someone Gabriel trusts more than me.”
The video ended.
Gabriel sat motionless.
Sophie looked at him.
“Who?”
Gabriel stared at the screen.
He knew.
There was only one person Michael could have meant.
May you like
His uncle Thomas.
But when Gabriel turned around, Thomas was gone.
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