Chapter 11 - Gabriel Russo
Gabriel Russo.
The name tasted like old blood.
His organization and mine had been rivals before I inherited anything.
Twenty years of hostility.
Businesses sabotaged.
Men arrested.
Families divided.
Adrian secretly trusted him.
I almost laughed.
Samuel didn’t.
“Adrian and Gabriel were working together.”
“On what?”
“Stopping Victor.”
That answer broke half my assumptions.
Adrian had discovered Victor’s scheme expanded beyond stolen foundation funds.
Victor was using Northstar payments to finance unauthorized operations and buy influence without family approval.
Adrian feared telling me because my position was unstable after a federal investigation.
So he approached Gabriel.
An enemy.
Why?
Because Gabriel had no reason to protect Victor.
Sometimes rivals were safer than loyalists.
I hated how much sense that made.
Investigators contacted Gabriel’s attorney.
Gabriel agreed to meet.
Neutral location.
Lawyers present.
No weapons.
No theater.
He looked older than I remembered.
“Your brother was an idiot,” he said.
“You came here to insult a dead man?”
“He trusted people because they called him family.”
I couldn’t argue.
Gabriel confirmed Adrian gave him copies of Northstar records.
Not the final recipient list.
Mia contacted him after Adrian died.
She wanted the copies.
He refused initially.
“Why?”
“Because she had a baby.”
“That didn’t stop Victor.”
“No.”
Gabriel looked tired.
Two weeks ago, Mia contacted him again.
She had found the blue notebook.
She believed Victor knew.
Gabriel arranged a safe apartment in Albany.
Mia planned to leave with Harper.
Then Claire locked her in the cellar before she could.
“What happened after Roman freed her?”
Gabriel received a message at 3:09 a.m.
MIA:
PLAN CHANGED. HARPER STILL INSIDE. CAN’T LEAVE.
That explained everything.
Mia could have escaped.
She went back because Harper remained in the mansion.
Then another:
VICTOR HAS SAMUEL. I NEED THE LIST FIRST.
At 3:24:
IF I DON’T CALL BY FOUR, CONTACT DOMINIC.
Gabriel never did.
I stood.
“Why?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because at 3:41 I received a message from your number.”
My number.
“What did it say?”
He showed me.
MIA IS SAFE. STAY OUT OF VALE BUSINESS.
I had never sent it.
Somebody used my identity again.
Gabriel believed me now.
Too late.
He waited.
At 5:12, Mia’s phone went offline.
Gabriel’s failure was simple.
He trusted the message he wanted to believe because getting involved risked war.
Fear made cowards of powerful men too.
Then he gave me one more thing.
Mia’s last location share.
May you like
An abandoned chapel north of the estate.
📖 Mia’s final location led to a chapel Adrian once used for secret meetings, where we found proof she had survived the night—and left something specifically for me. 👇
