Chapter 13 - Gabriel’s Trap
Police followed Gabriel’s sedan for seventeen miles.
He never noticed.
The car entered an abandoned industrial property near the river.
Gabriel stepped out.
Three men waited inside.
Officers surrounded the building.
The arrest should have been simple.
It was not.
Gabriel discovered the surveillance moments before agents entered.
He escaped through a rear loading dock.
One accomplice was arrested.
Another surrendered.
Gabriel disappeared into an adjacent rail yard.
By sunrise, police had recovered his abandoned car.
Inside was something worse than a weapon.
There was a folder labeled SOFÍA.
It contained photographs of the therapy center.
School schedules.
Staff names.
And a fake passport carrying Sofía’s photograph.
Roberto stared at it.
“He planned to take her.”
Maya nodded.
“Possibly out of the country.”
Roberto immediately moved Sofía to a secure family property.
He went with her.
For the first time in years, Whitmore Global continued operating without Roberto physically present.
The empire survived.
That embarrassed him.
He had spent years convincing himself his constant presence at work was necessary.
It had never been true.
Sofía was necessary.
The company was not.
One afternoon, Sofía sat beside him on the porch.
“Are you going to work?”
“Not today.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Maybe from here.”
She smiled.
“I like when you’re here.”
Roberto’s throat tightened.
“So do I.”
Sofía leaned against him.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Was Mommy scared?”
He did not know how to answer.
“Sometimes.”
“Was she brave?”
“Yes.”
“Can you be both?”
Roberto smiled sadly.
“I think that’s what brave means.”
That night, Detective Hale called.
One of Gabriel’s arrested accomplices was cooperating.
He described the crash.
Gabriel had ordered the brake line damaged.
Vanessa knew.
But according to the accomplice, killing Elena had not been the original plan.
They wanted to frighten her.
Cause a minor accident.
Destroy her credibility.
The tampering went further than intended.
Elena died.
Sofía was blinded.
Then Vanessa made a decision.
Instead of running, she moved closer to Roberto.
She watched him.
Studied him.
Learned his routines.
Eventually she entered his social circle.
Two years later, they “met.”
Roberto had never been seduced by chance.
He had been selected.
The accomplice gave police one final piece of information.
Gabriel was trying to reach Canada.
But he needed money.
Vanessa controlled an account containing four million dollars.
The funds could only be released with a biometric code from her personal phone.
The phone was in police evidence.
Gabriel would need Vanessa.
That meant he might try to contact his sister.
Investigators arranged monitored access.
At 11:32 p.m., Vanessa’s phone rang.
Gabriel’s voice came through.
“You owe me.”
Vanessa answered.
“You ruined everything.”
“No.”
Gabriel said.
“You did that when you fell in love with the man we were supposed to use.”
Everyone in the monitoring room looked at Roberto.
Vanessa went silent.
Then Gabriel laughed.
“He still doesn’t know, does he?”
Roberto stepped closer to the speaker.
“Know what?”
Gabriel heard him.
And after three years of lies, he gave Roberto one final secret.
May you like
“Vanessa was supposed to marry you before Elena ever died.”
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