Chapter 8 - The Brother Who Wanted the Russo Throne
Gabriel Hayes had been dead on paper for twenty-three years.
That was the first thing Dominic learned.
The second was worse.
He had been working inside the organization for almost a decade.
Different names.
Different faces.
Different companies.
Always close.
Never visible.
Norah could barely process it.
“My brother?”
Livia nodded.
“He was taken when your mother fled.”
“By who?”
“Your father.”
Norah stared.
“Why?”
“Because he believed one child had to remain behind.”
It sounded insane.
But in Dominic's world, insane decisions often became family traditions.
Gabriel had grown up believing Norah had been chosen.
That her mother had loved her more.
That Dominic's family had destroyed his life.
He wanted revenge.
But revenge wasn't the only goal.
The ledger contained proof that Dominic's father had controlled politicians, judges, business owners, police officers, and international brokers.
Gabriel wanted the ledger because he believed it would let him control the entire network.
Dominic wanted it destroyed.
Norah wanted none of it.
She only wanted her baby safe.
The final confrontation happened in the abandoned rail terminal.
Gabriel stood beneath a broken clock.
He looked like Norah.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same dark hair.
For a second, she forgot everything.
“Hello, sister.”
Norah couldn't speak.
Gabriel smiled.
“You're exactly like her.”
“My mother?”
“She chose you.”
“That's not true.”
“You don't know what she told you.”
“She loved me.”
“She abandoned me.”
Norah took a step.
“She didn't.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Of course you'd say that.”
Dominic moved beside her.
Gabriel raised a gun.
“Stay back.”
Dominic stopped.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You took everything.”
“I didn't take your family.”
“You took the empire.”
“I inherited a blood-soaked prison.”
Gabriel's expression twisted.
“You think you're different?”
“No.”
“Then why did you marry her?”
Dominic froze.
Norah looked at him.
Gabriel smiled.
“She isn't just pregnant.”
He held up a folder.
“She is the legal heir to the Hayes trust.”
Norah stared.
“What trust?”
“The accounts your mother hid.”
Dominic realized.
The ledger wasn't the real inheritance.
Norah was.
The trust had been created in her name.
Every asset her mother had hidden had been waiting for her.
Gabriel had spent years searching for something that had been attached to the one person he hated.
His sister.
Norah slowly stepped forward.
“You want the trust?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Then take it.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“Norah.”
She squeezed his hand.
“I know what I'm doing.”
She looked at Gabriel.
“I'll sign everything.”
His face brightened.
“But not for free.”
“What do you want?”
“You leave Lily alone.”
“Done.”
“You leave Dominic alone.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Done.”
“And you tell me the truth about our mother.”
Silence.
Gabriel lowered his gun.
“She loved both of us.”
Norah's eyes filled.
“She spent her whole life trying to save us.”
Gabriel's face broke.
For the first time, he looked like a frightened boy.
“I was angry.”
“I know.”
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“I thought you stole her from me.”
“I didn't.”
Gabriel looked at the floor.
“She told me your name.”
Norah swallowed.
“What?”
“She said, ‘Find your sister when you're old enough. Protect her.’”
His voice cracked.
“I thought she was lying.”
Norah stepped closer.
“She wasn't.”
Gabriel's eyes filled.
Then gunfire erupted from the far tunnel.
The real mastermind had arrived.
A sniper shot Gabriel.
He fell.
Dominic dragged Norah behind cover.
The terminal became chaos.
Men fired from both sides.
Dominic pulled Norah through an emergency exit.
Outside, ambulances were already arriving.
Gabriel was alive.
Barely.
As paramedics carried him away, Norah stood beside Dominic.
She realized something.
The war had not ended.
But the family had changed.
Gabriel had spent his life believing he had no family.
Now he had one.
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And for the first time, Norah understood why her mother had hidden everything.
Because sometimes the person who looks like your enemy is simply someone who was hurt before you ever met them.
