Chapter 13 - GABRIEL’S LAST BETRAYAL
I did not believe Gabriel had betrayed us.
That was the problem.
After everything he had done, after every lie, some damaged part of me still believed there had to be another explanation.
Damian did not share that weakness.
“He took the drive.”
“He may have had a reason.”
Damian stared at me.
“He always has a reason.”
“So do you.”
“Yes.”
His voice hardened.
“But I don’t steal evidence that could protect my daughter.”
I could not argue.
We tracked Gabriel’s vehicle through city cameras.
He headed downtown.
Not toward an airport.
Not toward Salvatore’s known properties.
Toward the federal courthouse.
Samuel understood first.
“He’s turning it over.”
Damian frowned.
“To who?”
Samuel looked grim.
“The only person he thinks Salvatore can’t buy.”
“Who?”
“A federal judge.”
I felt relief.
Then Samuel added:
“Unfortunately, I think Salvatore already bought him.”
The courthouse plaza was surrounded by news crews.
The St. Catherine’s story had spread everywhere.
Reporters shouted about child trafficking, sealed adoptions, political corruption.
Nobody yet knew the Caruso trust connected all of it.
Gabriel parked in the underground garage.
Damian’s men reached the building three minutes behind him.
I went too.
Naturally, Damian argued.
Naturally, I ignored him.
We entered through a private security corridor using credentials Samuel somehow still had access to.
“Who is the judge?” I asked.
“Harold Benton.”
I knew the name.
Everyone did.
Respected.
Decorated.
Television interviews.
Anti-corruption speeches.
Samuel looked almost sick.
“Benton was a junior prosecutor during my investigation thirty years ago.”
“You trusted him?”
“With everything.”
“Then what changed?”
“Money.”
The oldest answer in the world.
We reached the judge’s private chambers.
The door was locked.
Damian kicked it open.
Inside, Gabriel stood with the hard drive on the desk.
Judge Benton stood behind him.
And Salvatore stood near the window.
Gun raised.
I stopped.
Gabriel looked at me.
“I told you to stay away.”
“People keep saying that.”
Salvatore smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Damian raised his weapon.
Benton panicked.
“No guns.”
Damian ignored him.
“Put down the drive.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Elena, listen carefully.”
“No more secrets.”
“I was trying to get Benton to authenticate the archive.”
“He works for Salvatore.”
“I know.”
I stared.
“You know?”
Gabriel nodded.
“That’s why I came.”
Salvatore’s smile faded.
Gabriel continued.
“The hard drive is already uploading.”
Everyone froze.
“To where?” Benton demanded.
“Twenty-three news organizations, six federal offices, three foreign regulators.”
Gabriel looked at Salvatore.
“And one extremely bored teenager in Iceland who owes me a favor.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
Salvatore fired.
Gabriel moved.
The bullet struck the desk.
Damian fired back.
Chaos erupted.
Benton crawled behind a sofa.
Samuel pulled me down.
Gabriel grabbed the hard drive.
Salvatore reached him.
They fought.
Damian crossed the room.
Then Benton pulled a gun from beneath his desk.
He aimed at Damian.
I saw it before anyone else.
“Damian!”
I shoved him.
The shot struck my side.
Pain exploded.
I fell.
Everything became noise.
Damian shouted my name.
Leah.
I thought of Leah.
Then the ceiling blurred.
I heard gunfire.
Someone screaming.
Damian pressed his hands against my side.
“Elena.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’ve been shot.”
“Apparently this family does that a lot.”
His face twisted.
“Don’t joke.”
“It hurts.”
“I know.”
Gabriel appeared.
Blood covered his forehead.
“Ambulance is coming.”
“Upload?”
He nodded.
“Finished.”
Salvatore lay unconscious near the window.
Benton had been shot in the leg.
Samuel stood over him.
The judge looked suddenly very small.
Thirty years of power disappearing in seconds.
I looked at Damian.
“Leah.”
“She’s safe.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
I closed my eyes.
When I woke, the first thing I heard was a child singing.
Badly.
Beautifully.
Leah sat beside my hospital bed.
She sang fragments of words.
Rosa held her.
Damian sat on the other side.
His shoulder was bandaged.
He looked exhausted.
“You look terrible,” I whispered.
“You were shot.”
“So were you.”
“That was earlier.”
I smiled weakly.
Leah climbed carefully onto the bed.
“Mama sleep.”
“I did.”
“Too long.”
“How long?”
Damian answered.
“Eighteen hours.”
I looked at him.
“What happened?”
“The archive went public.”
“And?”
He almost smiled.
“Everything is burning.”
Politicians resigned.
Executives were arrested.
Private adoption agencies were raided.
Salvatore was in federal custody under armed protection from agents Samuel personally selected.
Judge Benton had been charged.
Anthony had confessed.
Thomas had entered negotiations with prosecutors.
“And Gabriel?”
Damian’s face became unreadable.
“He disappeared.”
I closed my eyes.
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“He saved us.”
“He also stole the drive.”
“To expose it.”
Damian sighed.
“I hate when you defend him.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m explaining him.”
“That might be worse.”
Leah looked between us.
“No fight.”
We both stopped.
Damian looked at me.
I looked at him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
Leah nodded seriously.
“Good.”
I laughed.
Pain shot through my side.
Damian immediately reached for the nurse button.
“I’m fine.”
“No lie.”
I stared.
“That child is becoming dangerous.”
“She’s a Caruso.”
“Partly Russo.”
Damian looked at me.
“Partly you.”
Something passed between us.
This time it was different.
Not danger.
Not shared fear.
Something warmer.
Something I was not ready to name.
Then Samuel entered.
He carried an envelope.
“What now?” I asked.
His expression was serious.
“The DNA results.”
“Yours and mine?”
“Yes.”
He handed them to me.
Probability of paternity: 0%.
I stared.
Samuel was not my father.
Again.
I laughed until tears came.
Damian looked confused.
“What?”
I handed him the paper.
Samuel sat down.
“I was wrong.”
“Who is my father?”
Samuel looked toward me.
“I don’t know.”
I closed my eyes.
“Wonderful.”
“But your mother left something.”
He placed an old audio cassette on the table.
“We recovered it from Vittorio’s bunker.”
My name was written across the label.
ELENA — WHEN SHE IS READY.
My hands trembled.
“My mother’s voice?”
Samuel nodded.
A nurse found an old player from hospital storage.
We pressed play.
Static.
Then my mother’s voice filled the room.
I had not heard it in eleven years.
I immediately cried.
“Elena, if you are hearing this, then the secrets I tried to bury have survived me.”
I held Leah tighter.
My mother continued.
“Michael Russo raised you. Samuel Morgan protected you when he could. Vittorio Caruso tried to repay a debt he could never repay.”
Pause.
“But none of them was your biological father.”
Damian stared at me.
My mother took a breath.
“Your father was Luca Romano.”
Damian stopped moving.
The room went silent.
Luca Romano.
Damian’s biological father.
My mother continued.
“Luca died before he knew I was pregnant.”
I looked at Damian.
No.
My mother’s voice shook.
“That means Elena and Damian share the same father.”
My blood turned cold.
Damian stepped backward.
Leah looked between us.
The entire room seemed to collapse.
Then the tape continued.
“But there is something you must understand before believing the records…”
Static.
The cassette stopped.
“No.”
I grabbed the player.
“Why did it stop?”
The tape had snapped.
Damian stared at me.
If Luca was truly both our father, then everything we believed about Leah’s DNA became impossible again.
Unless—
Dr. Warren appeared at the doorway.
His face was pale.
“I heard the recording.”
Damian turned.
“What?”
Warren swallowed.
“There’s something I should have told you about the paternity test.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
He looked toward Leah.
“We never tested Damian directly.”
Silence.
Damian’s voice became cold.
“Then what did you test?”
Warren answered.
“A stored blood sample marked with Damian Caruso’s name.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“And?”
May you like
Warren looked terrified.
“The sample belonged to someone else.”
