Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Wasn't His MotherGabriel survived the attack.
The shoulder wound required surgical treatment, and his reopened injury needed additional care, but neither proved fatal.
For the second time in one week, Mara sat beside his bed while he slept.
This time, however, they were in a secure hospital unit arranged through federal investigators.
And this time, Gabriel was not afraid to close his eyes.
He was afraid of what he would learn when he woke.
Rosa Bellini had disappeared.
Security footage showed her entering the estate's control room shortly before the attack.
Her access credentials had been used to disable two cameras and open a service gate.
Minutes later, armed men entered the property.
Three guards were injured.
One attacker died at the scene.
Another was arrested.
Rosa was gone.
Gabriel had known Rosa since he was five years old.
She had cooked his birthday dinners.
She had comforted him after his father died.
She had helped raise Luca.
He called her Zia Rosa, Aunt Rosa.
And now the evidence suggested she had betrayed them.
Mara sat beside his bed as Gabriel stared at the ceiling.
“I don't understand,” he whispered.
She reached for his hand.
“Neither do I.”
“She loved Luca.”
“Maybe she did.”
“Then why?”
Mara had no answer.
Gabriel turned his face toward the wall.
“I thought I knew who my family was.”
Mara squeezed his hand.
“Sometimes loving someone doesn't mean we understand everything they've done.”
He closed his eyes.
“I don't know what to believe anymore.”
She leaned closer.
“Then don't decide everything today.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Is that another doctor's order?”
“Yes.”
He managed a small smile.
“Terrible bedside manner.”
“Still alive, aren't you?”
“Unfortunately for your blood pressure.”
She laughed.
And for a brief moment, the hospital room felt almost normal.
Two days later, investigators located Rosa.
She had been found sitting in a small chapel outside Frederick, Maryland.
She was alone.
Unarmed.
And waiting.
Natalie Brooks called Gabriel's attorney.
Rosa was willing to cooperate.
But she had one condition.
She wanted to speak to Gabriel before giving a full statement.
Natalie initially refused a private meeting.
Eventually, she agreed to a supervised conversation at a federal facility.
Mara accompanied Gabriel as emotional support, with his attorney present.
They entered a plain room with gray walls.
Rosa sat behind a table.
Her eyes were swollen.
Her hands trembled.
When Gabriel walked in, she began crying.
“Gabriel.”
He stopped across from her.
“Why?”
Rosa covered her mouth.
“I never wanted you hurt.”
“You opened the gate.”
“I know.”
“My men were shot.”
“I know.”
“Someone could have killed Mara.”
Rosa looked at Mara.
Her face collapsed.
“I'm sorry.”
Gabriel pulled out a chair.
“Tell me the truth.”
Rosa took a shaky breath.
“Victor called me.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“What did he want?”
“The security schedules.”
“Why would you give them to him?”
Rosa stared at the table.
“Because he had my son.”
Silence.
Gabriel slowly leaned forward.
“Your son?”
Rosa nodded.
“His name is Daniel.”
Gabriel frowned.
“You don't have a son.”
Tears ran down Rosa's face.
“I do.”
She looked at him.
“And you know him.”
Gabriel stared.
“Who?”
Rosa swallowed.
“Detective Daniel Mercer.”
Mara felt a chill move through her.
The detective who had visited Paige.
The detective who had closed the earlier narcotics investigation.
Gabriel went completely still.
Rosa continued.
“Daniel was born before I came to work for your family. His father was a married man. I was nineteen. I gave Daniel to my sister to raise.”
Gabriel looked stunned.
“You never told us.”
“Your father knew.”
His expression hardened.
“Of course he did.”
Rosa began crying harder.
“Victor found out years ago. He used Daniel to make me cooperate.”
“Cooperate with what?”
“At first, small things. Information. Schedules. Names.”
“And Luca?”
Rosa stopped breathing.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Rosa.”
She shook her head.
“I never thought they would kill him.”
The room became silent.
Mara felt Gabriel's hand tighten around hers.
Rosa began speaking faster.
“Luca found the shipping discrepancies. He came to me because he was frightened. He said someone was moving hospital medication through the terminals.”
Gabriel stared.
“He came to you?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
Rosa covered her face.
“I told your father.”
Gabriel froze.
His father, Angelo Vescari, had died almost three years before Luca.
The dates didn't make sense.
Then Rosa corrected herself through tears.
“Not your father. I meant his old attorney, Michael DeLuca. The man Angelo trusted with everything.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
Michael DeLuca.
The Vescari family's longtime legal adviser.
A man who still attended every important business meeting.
A man Gabriel had trusted for more than twenty years.
“What did Michael do?” Gabriel asked.
Rosa shook her head.
“I don't know exactly. But the next day, Luca told me he was going to the warehouse to meet you.”
She began sobbing.
“Later, Victor called me. He said there had been an accident. He said if I told anyone about Michael, Daniel would die.”
Gabriel's face went pale.
“Michael knew?”
Rosa nodded.
“I believe he did.”
Gabriel sat back.
The room seemed to tilt around him.
For fourteen months, he had blamed Victor Salerno.
But Victor might not have been acting alone.
The betrayal had begun inside Gabriel's own family business.
And the person responsible might still be sitting at his boardroom table.
When they left the facility, Gabriel was silent.
Mara waited until they reached the car.
“Gabriel?”
He didn't answer.
She touched his arm.
He turned toward her.
“I trusted Michael with everything.”
“I know.”
“He handled my father's estate. He negotiated our contracts. He was there when Luca died.”
Mara listened.
Gabriel's voice broke.
“He stood beside me at the funeral.”
She took his hand.
“He may still have answers.”
Gabriel looked out the window.
“I want to kill him.”
Mara remained quiet for a moment.
Then she said, “I know.”
He turned.
She continued.
“But if you do, you may never learn what happened to Luca.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“And you lose the chance to make sure he can't hurt anyone else.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Finally, he nodded.
“Then we find the truth.”
The evidence arrived unexpectedly.
Rebecca called the following afternoon.
“Gabriel, we found something.”
He immediately stood.
“What?”
“An old storage unit registered under Luca's name.”
Gabriel froze.
“How?”
“Thomas found payments from an account Luca maintained independently. The monthly charges continued after his death because he'd prepaid several years.”
Mara leaned closer.
“Has anyone opened it?”
“Not yet. Federal investigators have obtained legal access and are documenting the contents.”
They drove to the storage facility outside Baltimore.
Natalie Brooks met them.
Inside the unit were several boxes.
A motorcycle helmet.
Old business files.
Photographs.
And a small locked safe.
Investigators opened the safe under documented procedures.
Inside was a flash drive.
A sealed envelope.
And a photograph of Luca standing beside a woman holding a newborn baby.
Gabriel stared.
He recognized the woman.
Evelyn Carter.
His breath caught.
“What is this?”
Mara looked at the photograph.
Then at the handwritten inscription on the back.
Luca, Evelyn, and our little miracle.
Beneath it was a date.
Fourteen months earlier.
Gabriel slowly sat down.
May you like
His little brother had been a father.
And nobody had told him.
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