Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Inside Gabriel's Family
The betrayal came twenty minutes later.
Luca found the encrypted message.
Someone had been sending their location.
Every location.
Every movement.
Every hotel.
Every safe house.
The sender used a secure Franks code.
But there was one problem.
That code had belonged to Gabriel's father.
Only three people still had access.
Gabriel.
Matteo.
And Mercer.
Gabriel looked at Mercer.
Mercer looked back.
Then he lowered his gun.
"I didn't do it."
Gabriel didn't answer.
"Search me."
Mercer opened his coat.
Nothing.
Luca checked his phone.
Nothing.
Then Emily heard a sound.
A second phone.
It came from inside Mercer's boot.
He froze.
Gabriel's expression changed.
Mercer was the traitor.
"Why?"
Mercer looked ashamed.
"Because he has my daughter."
Silence.
Matteo had kidnapped Mercer's sixteen-year-old daughter.
He had forced Mercer to cooperate.
Gabriel's anger shifted.
Not forgiven.
But understood.
"Where is she?"
Mercer gave them an address.
An old mansion outside Marseille.
They went that night.
Emily insisted on coming.
Gabriel argued.
She won.
They entered through the rear.
Mercer's daughter was alive.
Unharmed.
But Matteo was waiting.
He stood in the ballroom.
Beside him was Emily's twin sister.
Alive.
Emily stopped.
The woman looked exactly like her.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Same face.
For several seconds, neither moved.
The woman whispered:
"Emily."
Emily could barely breathe.
"You."
Her sister smiled.
"My name is Emma."
Evelyn began crying.
Gabriel stared.
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because Emma was taken."
Matteo laughed.
"She was raised to be loyal to me."
Emma looked at him.
Then at Emily.
"I was told you abandoned me."
Emily's heart broke.
"I didn't know you existed."
"I know."
Emma cried.
Matteo tried to raise his gun.
Emma moved first.
She shot his hand.
Chaos erupted.
Gabriel's men stormed the room.
Matteo escaped through a hidden passage.
But Emma stayed.
The twins embraced.
Emily cried into her sister's shoulder.
For the first time, the missing half of her family had returned.
Later, Emma explained everything.
She had been taken as an infant.
Raised under another name.
Trained in languages.
Told that her family had chosen Emily.
Her resentment had been cultivated.
Matteo had used her.
Gabriel looked at her.
"You don't have to become what they made you."
Emma stared.
"Why?"
"Because I didn't become what my father made me."
It was the first time Gabriel admitted what he had spent years trying not to see.
He had inherited violence.
But he could still choose.
The siblings began rebuilding their lives.
But Matteo remained free.
And he had one final move.
He released the evidence publicly.
The files exposed corrupt politicians.
Judges.
Police chiefs.
Business leaders.
And Gabriel himself.
A warrant was issued.
Gabriel's empire collapsed overnight.
He was now the city's most wanted man.
Emily found him packing a bag.
"Where are you going?"
"To surrender."
"No."
"If I run, they'll hurt you."
"If you surrender, they'll hurt you."
He looked at her.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Trust me."
He stepped closer.
"I do."
"Then don't leave."
She took his face in her hands.
"Your father made choices."
"So did mine."
"Then make better ones."
Gabriel kissed her.
A slow, desperate kiss.
Not because the moment was romantic.
Because both knew it might be their last.
Then the door opened.
Police.
Weapons raised.
"Gabriel Rossi."
He turned.
Emily stepped in front of him.
"Wait."
The officer showed her the warrant.
"He has five minutes."
Gabriel looked at Emily.
She whispered:
May you like
"Trust me."
He did.
