CHAPTER 5 — "He Told Me It Was a Secret Game..." Gabriel's Terrifying Confession Led the Billionaire Straight to the Traitor Inside His Own Empire
Rodrigo couldn't take his eyes off the note.
"YOU'LL SOON BE WITH YOUR MOTHER. DON'T TELL DAD."
The words felt like ice piercing his chest.
Who would dare send such a message to a nine-year-old child?
More importantly...
How had someone gotten close enough to slip it into Gabriel's backpack without anyone noticing?
Rodrigo slowly knelt in front of his son.
His voice became gentle.
"Gabriel... sweetheart..."
"When did you find this?"
The little boy stared at the floor.
"Three days ago."
Rodrigo's heart skipped a beat.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Gabriel's eyes filled with tears.
"Because..."
"He said something bad would happen to you if I did."
The warehouse fell silent.
Commissioner Marcos exchanged a worried glance with Detective Sofia.
Children rarely invent threats this detailed.
Someone had been communicating with Gabriel for weeks.
Maybe months.
Marcos crouched beside him.
"Can you tell us who 'he' is?"
Gabriel nodded slowly.
"I don't know his name."
"What did he look like?"
"He always wore a black baseball cap."
"And sunglasses."
"Even when it rained."
Rodrigo frowned.
"Where did you meet him?"
Gabriel hesitated.
Then quietly answered,
"At school."
Every adult froze.
"What?"
Rodrigo could barely breathe.
Gabriel continued in a trembling voice.
"He waited near the back gate."
"He said Mommy asked him to take care of me."
Valentina covered her mouth in horror.
Gabriel looked completely sincere.
"He told me Mommy wasn't really gone."
"He said she missed me."
Rodrigo closed his eyes.
The cruelty of it was unbearable.
Someone had manipulated a grieving child...
Using the memory of his dead mother.
Gabriel wiped away his tears.
"He called it..."
"The Secret Game."
Rodrigo swallowed hard.
"What game?"
"He gave me little missions."
"What kind of missions?"
"Nothing big."
"Count how many guards stayed outside the house."
"Tell him which car Dad used."
"Take pictures of the garden."
Rodrigo's blood turned cold.
Gabriel wasn't being kidnapped randomly.
Someone had been collecting intelligence.
Using his own son.
Detective Sofia immediately took out her notebook.
"Did he ever give you presents?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Candy."
"Comic books."
"A toy drone."
"And once..."
He reached into his pocket again.
"...he gave me this."
It was a small silver coin.
On one side was a strange emblem.
A black phoenix with its wings spread.
Exactly the same symbol found on the threatening note.
Exactly the same symbol on Helena's photograph.
The cases were no longer connected by coincidence.
They were connected by design.
Marcos turned toward one of his officers.
"Run this symbol through every criminal database."
The officer hurried away.
Less than fifteen minutes later, he returned.
His face was pale.
"We found something."
Everyone gathered around the laptop.
The officer enlarged an old intelligence report.
"The Black Phoenix isn't a street gang."
"It's a private criminal network."
"Founded over thirty years ago."
"They specialize in corporate espionage..."
"...kidnappings..."
"...financial manipulation..."
"...and staged accidents."
Rodrigo felt his stomach tighten.
Staged accidents.
Helena.
The boat crash.
Nothing felt random anymore.
"But there's something even stranger," the officer continued.
"No one knows who leads them."
"They never communicate directly."
"They recruit respectable people."
"Lawyers."
"Doctors."
"Executives."
"Security consultants."
People nobody would suspect.
Rodrigo suddenly realized something terrifying.
If Black Phoenix had watched his family for years...
Someone close to him had to be helping them.
Someone with access.
Someone he trusted.
Detective Sofia looked at Rodrigo.
"I need a complete list."
"Of what?"
"Everyone who knows your family's daily routine."
Rodrigo began counting.
"My head of security."
"My executive assistant."
"My driver."
"The house staff."
"My son's tutor."
"The school transportation coordinator."
"My legal adviser."
"My CFO."
The list kept growing.
Too many people.
Far too many.
Just then...
Rodrigo's phone vibrated.
It was his chief technology officer.
"Sir..."
His voice sounded unusually nervous.
"I think we've discovered something."
"What?"
"There have been unauthorized logins into your family's digital security system."
Rodrigo frowned.
"What kind of logins?"
"The cameras."
"The gate sensors."
"The GPS trackers."
"Someone has been accessing everything."
"From inside the company."
Rodrigo's heartbeat accelerated.
"Can you identify who?"
There was a long pause.
Finally...
"Yes."
"I have the employee ID."
Rodrigo held his breath.
"Who is it?"
The answer hit him like a freight train.
"It's..."
"...your executive assistant."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Rodrigo almost dropped the phone.
"No."
"That isn't possible."
His executive assistant...
Daniel Costa...
Had worked beside him for thirteen years.
He knew every meeting.
Every business trip.
Every family vacation.
He had attended Helena's funeral.
He had carried Gabriel on his shoulders during company picnics.
Rodrigo trusted him more than some members of his own family.
Detective Sofia spoke quietly.
"Where is Daniel now?"
Rodrigo immediately called him.
The call went straight to voicemail.
Again.
And again.
No answer.
One officer quickly checked the company's employee tracking system.
"Sir..."
Daniel had badged into headquarters earlier that afternoon.
But...
He had never badged out.
Rodrigo didn't hesitate.
"Let's go."
Within minutes, police vehicles raced toward Mendes Global Headquarters.
The massive glass skyscraper stood almost empty at that late hour.
Only emergency lights illuminated the lobby.
Security guards confirmed Daniel had entered his office...
Then disappeared.
The elevator cameras showed him reaching the executive floor.
After that...
Nothing.
No footage.
No exit.
No trace.
Someone had deliberately erased part of the surveillance system.
The officers forced open Daniel's office.
Everything looked perfectly normal.
Coffee still sat warm on the desk.
His computer remained on.
His jacket hung neatly over his chair.
It looked as though he had simply stepped away for a moment.
Then Detective Sofia noticed something unusual.
One framed family photograph on Daniel's bookshelf was hanging slightly crooked.
She removed it.
Behind the frame...
Was a hidden wall safe.
Inside...
There was no money.
No jewelry.
Only one sealed envelope.
Rodrigo opened it with trembling hands.
Inside lay a single sheet of paper.
Across the top, in Helena's unmistakable handwriting, were the words:
"If anything happens to me, never trust Daniel."
Rodrigo's knees nearly gave way.
His wife had known.
Years before her death...
She had tried to warn him.
But before anyone could read the rest of the letter...
The lights inside the office suddenly went out.
The entire executive floor plunged into darkness.
Then, somewhere in the hallway...
A slow pair of footsteps echoed toward the office.
One...
Two...
Three...
Someone hadn't fled the building after all.
Someone...
Had been waiting for them.
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END OF CHAPTER 5
Coming in Chapter 6: Trapped in total darkness, Rodrigo and the detectives confront a mysterious figure carrying Helena's missing diary. But the shocking identity of the person stepping out of the shadows threatens to destroy everything Rodrigo thought he knew about loyalty, love, and betrayal.
