Chapter 6 - Why His Mother Pulled the Trigger
Gabriel sat beside Rosa's grave until darkness fell.
Nobody interrupted him.
Eventually Norah sat beside him.
"My mother killed my father."
Norah didn't answer.
"All these years..."
Gabriel looked toward the stone.
"I destroyed an entire rival organization because I thought they did it."
The weight of that truth was different from grief.
It was shame.
Norah unfolded Rosa's letter again.
"There's another page."
Gabriel looked at her.
The pages had stuck together.
Norah separated them carefully.
Rosa's explanation continued.
Michael discovered Victor's theft, but that wasn't the only secret.
Victor had secretly made agreements with corrupt officials and criminal crews. Michael planned to expose everything and leave.
Victor threatened Gabriel.
Michael responded by arranging for Victor's death.
Rosa discovered the plan.
She begged Michael to take Gabriel and run.
Michael refused.
He believed Victor would never stop hunting them.
On October 17, Michael went to meet Victor.
Rosa followed.
She arrived to find Michael holding Victor at gunpoint.
But Victor had brought proof that several men were already waiting outside Gabriel's school.
If Victor didn't leave the meeting alive, Gabriel would die.
Michael refused to surrender.
Rosa made an impossible choice.
She shot her husband.
Once.
Then she forced Victor to promise Gabriel would live.
Victor kept that promise because Rosa possessed copies of evidence that could destroy him.
For years they existed in a stalemate.
Then Gabriel became powerful enough that Victor needed a new strategy.
He became Gabriel's mentor.
His adviser.
His substitute father.
Gabriel lowered the pages.
"She saved me."
Norah nodded.
"And spent the rest of her life believing you'd hate her if you knew."
Gabriel looked at the grave.
"I don't know what I feel."
"You don't have to."
The next morning, Gabriel called a meeting of every senior figure in his organization.
Victor arrived last.
He smiled when he saw Gabriel eating breakfast.
Eggs.
Toast.
Coffee.
"You've recovered."
Gabriel cut a piece of toast.
"Apparently."
Victor sat.
"You wanted to discuss Paulie's replacement?"
"No."
Gabriel placed Rosa's letter on the table.
Victor's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
"Recognize the handwriting?"
Victor leaned back.
"So she finally told you."
Gabriel's men shifted.
Leo stood behind him.
Victor sighed.
"Your mother was always sentimental."
"You threatened a sixteen-year-old boy to save yourself."
"I survived."
"You poisoned Paulie."
Victor shrugged.
"Paulie became weak."
"And you tried to make me believe everyone around me was trying to kill me."
Victor smiled.
"That part was surprisingly easy."
Gabriel felt anger rising.
Victor wanted that.
He wanted Gabriel furious.
Impulsive.
Violent.
Instead Gabriel remembered Rosa's words.
Don't become him.
Gabriel placed documents on the table.
Bank records.
Audio recordings.
Financial transfers.
Proof.
Victor's smile disappeared.
"You won't walk out of here controlling anything," Gabriel said.
Victor laughed.
"You think these men choose morality over money?"
Gabriel looked around the table.
"No."
He nodded toward Leo.
Leo placed another folder down.
"They choose survival."
The documents proved Victor had been stealing from them too.
Millions.
Every man at the table suddenly understood.
Victor stood.
"You ungrateful little—"
"Sit."
Gabriel didn't raise his voice.
Victor remained standing.
Gabriel continued.
"For years, you taught me fear was leadership."
He looked around the table.
"You were wrong."
Victor laughed bitterly.
"And what is this? Forgiveness?"
"No."
Gabriel's gaze remained steady.
"Consequences."
Victor was removed from the organization without a shot fired.
Evidence of his financial crimes was anonymously delivered to federal investigators.
Accounts were frozen.
Properties seized.
Men who had protected him disappeared from his payroll.
Within forty-eight hours, Victor Hayes had something he feared more than death.
Irrelevance.
But Norah's story wasn't finished.
Daniel came to see her.
He carried a small envelope.
"Your mother left this."
Norah opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Evelyn holding baby Norah.
Daniel stood beside them.
They looked happy.
Norah cried.
"Why did she never tell me?"
"Because she thought I was dead."
Daniel's voice shook.
"And because being a Hayes could have put you in danger."
He handed her another document.
It was a bank statement.
An account Rosa had established.
The balance made Norah stare twice.
$486,000.
"What is this?"
"Rosa saved money for you."
"I can't take this."
"She wanted you to become a nurse."
Norah covered her mouth.
All those nights studying after diner shifts.
All the tuition calculations.
All the fear that one emergency would destroy her plans.
Rosa had known.
Norah looked at Gabriel.
He smiled.
"Looks like you're quitting Benny's."
Norah wiped her eyes.
"Absolutely not."
Gabriel blinked.
"Why?"
"Because Benny still owes me two shifts."
Leo laughed.
Gabriel shook his head.
Then Norah became serious.
"What happens now?"
Gabriel looked toward the city.
"I change things."
"Can you?"
"I don't know."
That answer surprised her.
Gabriel Hayes had spent his life pretending he knew everything.
For the first time, uncertainty sounded like progress.
But that evening, Gabriel received one final package.
No sender.
Inside was Paulie's phone.
The dead underboss had recorded one message before his death.
Gabriel played it.
Paulie's frightened voice filled the room.
"Gabriel, if you're hearing this, Victor got to me."
A pause.
"But there's something else you need to know."
Gabriel listened.
"Victor wasn't trying to poison you."
Another pause.
"He was trying to poison the girl."
Gabriel's blood went cold.
May you like
"The girl named Norah Bennett."
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