Chapter 8 - Gabriel Found His Father Alive—and Learned Who Had Really Pulled the Strings
Gabriel stared at the photograph until the paper bent in his hand.
Norah saw his face.
“What?”
He handed it to her.
She froze.
“That's impossible.”
“I know.”
The photograph was real.
His father stood outside a café in Lisbon.
Alive.
Older.
Using a cane.
But unmistakable.
Sloane confirmed it.
The death certificate was fake.
Gabriel had spent months dismantling an empire built by a man who was still alive.
They flew to Portugal.
The meeting took place in a monastery outside Lisbon.
Gabriel's father waited alone.
No bodyguards.
No weapons.
Just an old man with tired eyes.
Gabriel stood across from him.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“Yes.”
“You let everyone believe it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His father looked at Norah.
“Because I wanted to see whether my son could become better than me.”
Gabriel's voice hardened.
“You killed her father.”
“I did.”
Norah stared at him.
“You ruined my family.”
“I did.”
“Why should I listen to anything you say?”
“Because you're owed the truth.”
He told them the final secret.
Project Harbor hadn't been designed to control the Costa family.
It had been designed as an escape plan.
His father intended to dismantle the syndicate.
But Victor discovered the plan.
Daniel Bennett helped.
The murder happened.
The project became corrupted.
People used it for blackmail.
His father eventually fled.
He believed exposing himself would put Gabriel and Norah in greater danger.
He had stayed hidden until now.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You could have stopped this.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you?”
His father lowered his head.
“Because cowardice is easier than sacrifice.”
That answer was the only apology Gabriel needed to hear.
He didn't forgive him.
Not yet.
But he stopped hating him.
Norah asked one question.
“Why were the children targeted?”
His father answered.
“Because your twins are the last heirs to the Costa trust.”
Gabriel frowned.
“That's just money.”
“No.”
His father handed him a legal document.
The trust held controlling shares in several legitimate companies.
If Gabriel's children inherited, the companies would permanently remain outside the criminal network.
The people who wanted the syndicate back needed the twins gone.
Gabriel's father had known.
That was why he left the trust untouched.
Norah took his hand.
“We protect them.”
He looked at her.
“We protect them by giving them a life where the trust doesn't matter.”
Gabriel agreed.
He rewrote the estate documents.
The children would inherit education funds.
No criminal assets.
No secret companies.
No family organization.
Their future would never depend on fear.
Gabriel's father watched.
“You became the man I never could.”
Gabriel answered:
“No. Norah made sure I had to.”
They returned home.
The next years passed quietly.
Gabriel's legitimate businesses flourished.
The art studio succeeded.
The twins grew.
Norah forgave herself.
Gabriel learned that trust wasn't something he could demand.
It had to be earned every day.
One spring afternoon, he proposed again.
Not because they were already married.
Because the first time had been surrounded by secrets.
They stood in the garden.
The twins, now two years old, played nearby.
Gabriel knelt.
Norah laughed.
“You are not serious.”
“I am.”
“We're already married.”
“I know.”
He opened the ring box.
“This time, no family pressure.”
She cried.
“No secrets?”
“No secrets.”
“No other woman?”
“Never.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
They renewed their vows the following summer.
Not in a cathedral.
Not with armed men.
In their backyard.
The twins carried the rings.
Norah's mother sat beside Gabriel's mother.
Evelyn came.
Even Bianca sent flowers.
The past was still there.
But it had stopped defining them.
After the ceremony, Gabriel pulled Norah close.
“Do you regret leaving?”
She thought about it.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
She touched his cheek.
“If I had stayed, you wouldn't have become the man standing here.”
He nodded.
“Do you regret finding me?”
“Never.”
That night, the house was quiet.
For once, there was no fear.
No weapons.
No secret meetings.
No one waiting outside the gate.
Then the phone rang.
Gabriel answered.
A detective from Chicago.
“We found the last missing archive.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Where?”
“Inside your father's old warehouse.”
“What does it contain?”
May you like
The detective hesitated.
“Everything.”
