Chapter 4 - A Bullet Through the Window
The traitor was Gabriel’s cousin, Dominic Moretti.
Gabriel refused to believe it at first.
Dominic had grown up beside him.
They had buried Gabriel’s mother together.
They had built the organization together.
But surveillance footage showed Dominic meeting Victor Salerno three separate times.
Gabriel stared at the photographs.
Penelope stood nearby.
“What are you going to do?”
“The less you know, the safer you are.”
“That excuse is getting old.”
Gabriel turned toward her.
“This isn't a hospital problem.”
“No. It's a Gabriel problem.”
His expression hardened.
“And apparently Gabriel problems involve bullets flying through windows while I'm in the room.”
She stepped closer.
“So don't shut me out.”
For once, Gabriel listened.
Dominic had betrayed him because he believed Gabriel’s disability made him weak.
The shooting was supposed to kill Gabriel.
When it didn't, Dominic slowly undermined him from within.
Then Penelope arrived.
Gabriel began therapy.
His confidence returned.
Dominic realized that if Gabriel recovered, his opportunity disappeared.
Penelope had unknowingly become dangerous to him.
“So I’m being threatened because I made you exercise?”
Gabriel almost laughed.
“In simplified terms.”
“I should charge more.”
“You absolutely should.”
That evening Gabriel doubled her salary.
Penelope made him reverse it.
“You can't buy me.”
“I wasn't buying you.”
“What were you doing?”
“Trying to keep you.”
The words silenced them.
Their relationship had crossed a line neither could erase.
But Gabriel still carried walls.
Penelope discovered the largest one several days later.
During therapy, Gabriel fell.
Hard.
His knees collapsed and he struck the floor.
Penelope rushed toward him.
“Don't.”
He slammed his palm against the floor.
“Gabriel—”
“Don't help me!”
His voice echoed.
Everyone outside went silent.
Penelope stepped back.
Gabriel tried lifting himself.
Failed.
Tried again.
Failed.
His breathing became ragged.
“I used to walk into rooms and men moved.”
Penelope said nothing.
“I could protect myself. Protect everyone around me.”
He looked at his useless legs.
“Now I can't even get off the damn floor.”
Penelope knelt.
“You think the wheelchair made you weak?”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Look at me.”
“I am.”
She grabbed his face gently.
“And I see a man so terrified of needing somebody that he'd rather stay on the floor than accept a hand.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“That's not strength.”
The words hurt.
Because they were true.
Penelope extended her hand.
“Let me help.”
Minutes passed.
Finally Gabriel took it.
Together they returned him to the wheelchair.
He didn't speak.
Penelope started to leave.
“Stay.”
She stopped.
Gabriel's voice was quieter.
“Please.”
It was perhaps the hardest word he had spoken in years.
Penelope sat beside him.
He rested his forehead against hers.
No threats.
No mafia boss.
No caregiver.
Just two damaged people in a quiet room.
“I’m scared,” Gabriel admitted.
Penelope touched his cheek.
“Of Dominic?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“That one day you'll realize what being with me means.”
She understood.
Danger.
Violence.
A wheelchair.
Enemies.
A life nothing like hers.
“And you'll leave,” he finished.
Penelope kissed his forehead.
“You don't get to decide my choices for me.”
“What are you choosing?”
She smiled.
“You.”
That night, Gabriel stood for eleven seconds.
The following week, twenty-eight.
Then forty.
Progress came painfully slowly.
But it came.
Until one morning Penelope arrived for therapy and found Gabriel already waiting between the parallel bars.
“What are you doing?”
“Proving something.”
He locked his hands around the bars.
His legs shook violently.
“Gabriel, wait.”
He pushed upward.
Penelope rushed closer.
Gabriel stood.
One second.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Then he released one hand.
Penelope's eyes filled.
“Gabriel…”
He released the other.
For three extraordinary seconds, Gabriel Moretti stood without holding anything.
Then he collapsed into Penelope's arms.
She laughed through tears.
“You did it.”
Gabriel wrapped his arms around her.
“I did.”
Outside the room, his guards applauded.
Gabriel glared at them.
They immediately stopped.
Penelope laughed harder.
Then Marco's phone rang.
His smile disappeared.
He listened.
“What?”
Gabriel noticed.
“Marco?”
Marco slowly lowered the phone.
“Dominic vanished.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Find him.”
“We're trying.”
Penelope felt Gabriel’s hand tighten around hers.
Dominic hadn't disappeared because he was running.
May you like
He was preparing something.
And three nights later, he made his move.
