Chapter 6 - Gabriel Broke Every Rule He Had Ever Lived By to Bring Noah HomeThe next thirty minutes were chaos.
Gabriel shut down every road.
Every camera.
Every airport.
Every private dock.
He called people who owed him favors.
He called people who hated him.
He called people he hadn't spoken to in ten years.
Nobody found Noah.
Sophie blamed herself.
“I should never have let him out of my sight.”
Gabriel stopped her.
“No.”
“I should have—”
“No.”
“I am his mother.”
“You are protecting him.”
She stared.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“But you're his uncle.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Then we're both his family.”
That sentence changed something.
They searched the old Mercer network.
Thomas tracked Victor.
Ethan found Caleb.
Caleb was hiding in an abandoned warehouse.
He surrendered immediately.
Gabriel entered alone.
Caleb was bruised.
Terrified.
“Where's Noah?”
“I don't know.”
“Where's my father?”
“I don't know.”
Gabriel grabbed his collar.
“Then why are you alive?”
Caleb's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I was never loyal to him.”
“Why work for him?”
“He threatened my daughter.”
Gabriel stopped.
“You have a daughter?”
“She disappeared six years ago.”
Victor promised to bring her back.
“You believed him?”
“I was desperate.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Gabriel released him.
Caleb continued.
“Victor wasn't controlling the family.”
“Who was?”
Caleb shook his head.
“You're not ready.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“Try me.”
Caleb swallowed.
“Your father took orders.”
Gabriel froze.
“From whom?”
Caleb whispered:
“Your mother.”
Gabriel went completely still.
His mother had died when he was seven.
Or so he believed.
Caleb continued.
“She never died.”
Gabriel stared.
“That isn't possible.”
“She built the network.”
Victor was only the face.
Thomas had been protecting Gabriel from the truth.
Michael found out.
He planned to expose everything.
Gabriel's mother arranged the attack.
Victor carried it out.
Then she disappeared.
Sophie looked at Gabriel.
“Your mother is alive.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
The evidence was undeniable.
An old photograph.
Gabriel's mother at a private clinic six months after her supposed death.
Alive.
Watching.
Smiling.
Gabriel felt sick.
He returned to the warehouse.
And there was Noah.
Sleeping in a basket.
Sophie ran to him.
She nearly collapsed.
Noah was unharmed.
A note was attached to the blanket.
Gabriel picked it up.
You are hunting the wrong monster.
Below was an address.
A private hospital.
Gabriel looked at Ethan.
“We go.”
They arrived within the hour.
An elderly woman was waiting.
Gabriel entered.
He stopped.
She looked exactly like his childhood memories.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
His mother.
“Mom.”
She smiled.
“Hello, Gabriel.”
He couldn't move.
Sophie held Noah.
Gabriel whispered:
“You're alive.”
“I am.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I needed you to believe I was dead.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“From Victor?”
She laughed.
“Victor was never your enemy.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“What?”
“He was your father's enemy.”
She explained.
Victor had tried to control the network.
She had stopped him.
Michael discovered the family business.
She ordered the attack.
But she didn't know Noah survived.
When she found out, she spent years trying to locate him.
Victor found him first.
Sophie looked furious.
“You ordered Michael's death.”
Gabriel's mother looked at her.
“Yes.”
Sophie stepped forward.
“Then you are the monster.”
The woman smiled sadly.
“Perhaps.”
Gabriel stared.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted control.”
She admitted it.
Every death.
Every cover-up.
Every hidden account.
Every lie.
She had created the organization.
Victor had taken over some of it.
Gabriel's father had become her partner.
Thomas had opposed them.
Michael had tried to expose them.
The Mercer family had destroyed itself from within.
Then she revealed the final truth.
Noah carried no ledger.
The rabbit did.
But the real ledger was never on paper.
It was a list of identities encoded into a family heirloom.
The St. Jude medal.
Michael's medal.
Gabriel looked at it.
“The medal.”
His mother nodded.
“Your father wore it when he was young.”
“It contains everything.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at Sophie.
“No wonder everyone wanted Noah.”
His mother looked toward the baby.
“He is the only person who can legally inherit what remains.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What remains?”
The Mercer fortune.
Every legitimate asset.
Every property.
Every company.
Michael had left Noah as the sole beneficiary.
Not Gabriel.
Not their father.
Not their mother.
Noah.
That was why they wanted him.
Control of the child meant control of billions.
Gabriel's mother smiled.
“And you almost gave him to Victor.”
“No.”
“You hunted Sophie.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“I was wrong.”
His mother laughed.
“You sound like Michael.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm not like him.”
He drew his gun.
Sophie stepped closer.
“Gabriel.”
His hand shook.
His mother waited.
Then Noah made a tiny sound.
Gabriel looked down.
The baby was awake.
His eyes met Gabriel's.
And the anger disappeared.
Gabriel lowered the weapon.
“I won't become you.”
His mother smiled.
“That is why you're dangerous.”
Federal agents entered.
Thomas had contacted them.
The network began collapsing.
But one person remained missing.
Victor.
And he had the original ledger.
May you like
He also had one final advantage.
He knew where Gabriel loved most.
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