Chapter 6 - The Sister's Verdict
The blast threw Franco to the floor, the syringe shattering against the concrete.
Gabriel charged through the smoke, a smoking shotgun in his hands. His eyes were wild, his face covered in soot and blood. Behind him, three of his loyal soldiers flooded the room, securing the exits.
Franco scrambled to his feet, pulling a silver pistol from his belt, but Gabriel was faster. He fired a round into Franco’s shoulder, sending the older man crashing back into the wall, his gun clattering away.
"You betrayer!" Gabriel roared, pinning Franco against the wall with his forearm against Franco's throat. "I trusted you like a father!"
"You... you are weak, Gabriel," Franco gasped, spitting blood. "Just like your father was. I made this family!"
I finished picking the lock on my leather restraints. The numbness in my arm was fading, replaced by a cold, sharp adrenaline. I stood up, stepping out of the chair, and walked over to where Franco was pinned.
"It’s over, Franco," I said, my voice steady and cold. "Gabriel, don't kill him yet."
Gabriel looked at me, his eyes dark with a mixture of fury and relief. "He killed Natalie, Lauren. He deserves to bleed."
"He will," I said. "But first, he’s going to tell us where the backup drive is. Because Natalie didn't hide it in her gallery. She hid it where only I could find it."
I looked at Franco, a dark smile spreading across my face.
"Our father taught us that if you want to keep a secret safe, you put it in plain sight," I said. "Six months ago, Natalie left me a voicemail. She said she chose her life, and she wished I could be part of it. The file name of that voicemail on the cloud wasn't a date. It was a set of GPS coordinates."
Franco’s eyes widened in horror. "No..."
"Yes," I said. "The coordinates point to our parents' old safe house in Indiana. I accessed the cloud server yesterday before the gala. The files on that drive don't just incriminate you, Franco. They detail every single asset, bank account, and corrupt politician allied with the Moretti family."
I turned to Gabriel.
"You wanted to go clean, Gabriel? This is your ticket out. You can dismantle the Moretti empire, hand Franco over to the feds, and walk away from this life forever."
Gabriel stared at the silver-haired man who had raised him, his chest heaving. Slowly, he lowered his shotgun.
"Get him out of my sight," Gabriel ordered his men. "And call the authorities. Tell them we have a gift for them."
As Franco was dragged out, screaming curses in Italian, the basement room fell quiet.
Gabriel turned to me. He looked at my face—the face of the woman he had lost, and the woman who had saved him.
"What will you do now?" he asked softly.
I looked down at the emerald ring on my finger, then slowly slid it off, placing it in his palm.
"Natalie wanted a normal life," I said. "I think... I think I’ll go find one for both of us."
"And if I come looking for you?" Gabriel asked, his voice low and laced with a strange, hopeful warmth.
May you like
I walked toward the exit, stopping at the doorway to look back over my shoulder, wearing my own, true smile for the first time.
"Then you’d better remember your lessons, Gabriel. Because I’m very hard to find."
