Chapter 6 - Daniel Took Clara to Break Gabriel, But She Discovered the One Secret That Could Bring Down the Entire Costa Family
Clara was taken.
Gabriel did everything possible to find her.
He tore through warehouses.
Safe houses.
Financial networks.
He called every contact he had.
Nothing.
Clara woke in a basement.
Daniel sat across from her.
“You look disappointed.”
She stared.
“I'm mostly angry.”
“At Gabriel?”
“At you.”
Daniel laughed.
“You still think he can save you.”
“He already did.”
“He's a Costa.”
“So?”
“He'll always choose power.”
“No.”
Daniel smiled.
“You don't know him.”
“I know him better than you.”
That made him angry.
He placed a file in front of her.
Photos.
Gabriel as a child.
His father.
Violence.
Then one photograph.
Gabriel kneeling beside a dead man.
Daniel said:
“He was always capable of this.”
Clara looked at it.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“That picture was staged.”
Daniel stared.
“How do you know?”
“Because the man behind him is holding a gun.”
“So?”
“Gabriel's hand is empty.”
Daniel's expression changed.
She continued:
“The blood is on the wrong side.”
Daniel stepped back.
Clara smiled.
“You're not as clever as you think.”
He slapped her.
Gabriel arrived before Daniel could do it again.
The rescue was violent.
But when Gabriel found Clara, he didn't ask about the ledger.
He asked:
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He pulled her close.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then:
“I thought I lost you.”
Clara held him.
“You didn't.”
Daniel had escaped.
But Clara had taken something.
A USB drive.
She had stolen it from his office.
Back at Gabriel's penthouse, they opened it.
The files were explosive.
Daniel had bribed judges.
Politicians.
Police.
But the worst file was a transaction involving Gabriel.
It showed Gabriel had been listed as the beneficiary.
Clara stared.
“Why is your name here?”
“I don't know.”
“Someone has been moving money through you.”
He looked at the date.
Years earlier.
Before he'd taken full control.
“Dad.”
His father had used Gabriel's name without his knowledge.
Daniel had continued.
Clara looked at him.
“Then they built your reputation before you built your empire.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“That means I never controlled the organization.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
They looked at the ledger.
One name appeared repeatedly.
A name neither expected.
Evelyn Costa.
Gabriel's mother.
Clara stared.
“She runs it.”
Gabriel went still.
“My mother is dead.”
“Apparently not.”
They found her.
She had been hiding for years.
When Gabriel saw her, he was speechless.
“Mom.”
Evelyn cried.
“My son.”
He hugged her.
Then:
“Why did you disappear?”
“To protect you.”
“From whom?”
“Your father.”
She looked at Clara.
“And from him.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
Evelyn explained.
Daniel had manipulated the entire family.
He had convinced everyone Gabriel was inheriting power.
He was actually positioning himself to control Gabriel.
Evelyn had resisted.
She disappeared.
Clara's father helped her.
That was why Samuel Hughes died.
Daniel had ordered his murder.
Gabriel finally understood.
The war had never been between the families.
It had been one man manipulating both.
Daniel.
But Daniel had one final weapon.
The media.
He leaked evidence making it appear Gabriel had ordered every crime.
Within hours, Gabriel became a wanted man.
Clara looked at him.
“What will you do?”
He looked at the city.
“For the first time?”
“Yes.”
May you like
“Tell the truth.”
---
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