Chapter 4 - The Sister at the Iron Gates
Gabriel did not remember the drive back.
Only fragments.
Gray highway.
Rain against bulletproof glass.
Hazel sitting across from him.
His mother's letter folded inside his jacket.
And one impossible sentence repeating in his mind.
Sofia Rossi is waiting at the estate.
When the convoy reached the iron gates, Gabriel saw Anthony's sedan parked near the fountain.
No one spoke.
Gabriel entered the house.
Anthony Caruso stood in the foyer.
At seventy-one, Anthony still looked formidable. Silver hair. Tailored charcoal suit. Calm eyes.
Beside him stood a thin woman.
Gabriel stopped.
The woman was around fifty.
A silk scarf covered her head.
Her face was pale from illness.
But Gabriel knew her.
Not because he remembered Sofia as a baby.
Because she had Elena's eyes.
The same eyes Gabriel saw every time he looked at the photograph beside his bed.
The woman whispered, “Gabriel?”
His chest tightened.
“Sofia?”
She smiled through tears.
Then Gabriel crossed the room.
They embraced.
For several seconds, everything else disappeared.
Gabriel felt her shaking.
“You got old,” Sofia whispered.
A broken laugh escaped him.
“So did you.”
She touched his face.
“I thought I'd never see you again.”
Gabriel looked over her shoulder.
Anthony watched them.
Smiling.
Gabriel immediately understood.
Anthony did not know what Gabriel knew.
Good.
Gabriel stepped away from Sofia.
“What happened?”
Anthony answered.
“She contacted me.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Why?”
Sofia frowned.
“I didn't.”
Anthony's smile vanished for half a second.
That was enough.
Gabriel looked at Tommy.
“Take my sister upstairs.”
Anthony stepped forward.
“Gabriel, we need to talk.”
“We will.”
Hazel entered behind them.
Anthony saw her.
His expression barely changed.
But Sofia gasped.
“Hazel.”
She rushed forward and embraced her daughter.
Gabriel watched Anthony.
Anthony watched Hazel.
The game had begun.
Later that evening, Gabriel invited Anthony into his study.
Two glasses of bourbon sat between them.
Just like old times.
Anthony took his usual chair.
“You've had an interesting morning,” he said.
Gabriel poured himself a drink.
“I have.”
“Sofia appearing after all these years.”
“Strange.”
Anthony studied him.
“You don't seem angry.”
“Should I be?”
“She abandoned this family.”
Gabriel took a slow sip.
“She was a baby.”
“Your mother abandoned the family for her.”
There it was.
A tiny piece of venom.
Gabriel placed his glass down.
“My mother loved her children.”
“Your mother was complicated.”
“You knew her well.”
Anthony smiled.
“Better than most.”
Gabriel wanted to kill him.
Instead, he smiled back.
“Tell me about Samuel Bennett.”
Anthony's eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
“He's alive.”
Anthony paused.
Then sighed.
“I always suspected.”
“My father said Samuel killed my mother.”
“He did.”
Gabriel nodded.
Anthony relaxed slightly.
Gabriel continued.
“Hazel claims otherwise.”
“Hazel is confused.”
“She's Sofia's daughter.”
“I know.”
Gabriel looked directly at him.
“How?”
Anthony realized the mistake immediately.
Silence stretched between them.
Gabriel leaned back.
“I only learned that today.”
Anthony said nothing.
“So I'll ask again. How did you know?”
Anthony smiled slowly.
“You're becoming suspicious.”
“I've always been suspicious.”
“Not of me.”
“No.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“That was my mistake.”
Anthony's expression changed.
Gabriel reached into his jacket.
He placed Elena’s letter on the desk.
Anthony looked at it.
For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.
Gabriel watched him carefully.
“Recognize the handwriting?”
Anthony stood.
Gabriel remained seated.
“Sit down.”
Anthony looked toward the door.
Tommy entered.
Two security men stood behind him.
Anthony laughed.
“So this is how it ends?”
“I haven't decided.”
“You believe a dead woman's letter?”
“I believe records.”
Gabriel slid another folder across the desk.
During the drive home, Tommy's people had uncovered banking records from twenty-two years earlier.
A payment.
Anthony Caruso to a mechanic.
The mechanic had died six months after Elena.
Anthony stared at the evidence.
Gabriel's voice was quiet.
“You killed my mother.”
Anthony looked at him.
Then something remarkable happened.
He stopped pretending.
“She was going to destroy everything.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“She was my mother.”
“She was weak.”
Gabriel stood.
Tommy moved instinctively.
Gabriel raised a hand.
He would not become Vittorio.
Not tonight.
Anthony smiled.
“You think you're different from your father?”
“Yes.”
“Look around you. Armed men. Locked gates. Fear. You became exactly what he created.”
Gabriel did not answer.
Because part of him knew Anthony was right.
Anthony continued.
“And that little maid upstairs? You frightened her so badly she ran before dawn.”
That hurt more than Gabriel wanted it to.
Anthony saw it.
He smiled.
“You can pretend you've changed, Gabriel. But everyone eventually runs from men like us.”
Gabriel walked toward him.
For one moment, Anthony expected violence.
Instead, Gabriel opened the study door.
“Take him.”
Tommy handcuffed Anthony.
Anthony stared at Gabriel.
“You're letting police handle this?”
“No.”
“Then where are we going?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“To hear Sofia testify.”
Anthony's confidence vanished.
Sofia had spent years collecting evidence.
Bank records.
Letters.
Recorded conversations.
Enough to connect Anthony not only to Elena's death but to financial crimes committed against the Rossi organization and legitimate companies.
By morning, federal investigators had copies.
Gabriel did something his father never would have done.
He surrendered evidence.
Anthony Caruso disappeared behind federal doors rather than into an unmarked grave.
When Gabriel returned home, sunrise was breaking over the estate.
Hazel sat on the back steps.
He sat beside her.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Hazel said, “You didn't kill him.”
“No.”
“Did you want to?”
“Yes.”
Hazel looked at him.
“Why didn't you?”
Gabriel watched the sunrise.
“Because my mother spent her life trying to get us away from men who solved everything that way.”
Hazel smiled faintly.
“She would be proud.”
“You never knew her.”
“No.”
Hazel looked toward the house.
“But my mother remembers.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
“How sick is Sofia?”
Hazel's smile disappeared.
“Very.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Then we'll get her the best doctors.”
“She doesn't want your money.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Hazel laughed softly.
It was the first time Gabriel had heard her laugh.
He looked at her.
For the first time, there was no employer and employee between them.
They were family.
Then Hazel's expression changed.
“There is one more thing.”
Gabriel sighed.
“I'm beginning to hate that sentence.”
Hazel reached into her cardigan.
She handed him another photograph.
Gabriel looked at it.
His mother stood beside Sofia.
But there was another child in the photograph.
A boy.
Around ten years old.
Gabriel frowned.
“Who is that?”
Hazel shook her head.
“My mother won't tell me.”
Gabriel turned the photograph over.
Three words were written on the back.
Protect my son.
Gabriel stared.
“I was sixteen when this was taken.”
Hazel nodded.
“Then who is he?”
Behind them, Sofia's voice answered.
“Your brother.”
Gabriel slowly turned.
Sofia stood in the doorway.
May you like
And the expression on her face told him the most dangerous Rossi family secret had not yet been revealed.
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