Chapter 13: The Confession of a Traitor
Chapter 13: The Confession of a Traitor
The underground corridor became deathly still.
Gabriel Rossi stood alone beneath the flashing red emergency lights.
His perfectly tailored charcoal suit was untouched by the chaos consuming the mansion above.
No weapon.
No bodyguards.
No sign of panic.
Only a faint smile.
The smile of a man who believed he had already won.
Marco raised his pistol.
"Don't move."
Gabriel barely glanced at the weapon.
"You won't shoot."
Marco narrowed his eyes.
"Try me."
Gabriel calmly spread his hands.
"If I die..."
"The truth dies with me."
His confidence unsettled everyone.
Grace slowly stepped behind Alessandro.
For the first time in seventeen years, she stood outside the glass room that had been her prison.
She looked terrified.
Lily stared at her identical gray eyes.
The two sisters had never truly met.
Yet neither could stop looking at the other.
It was like staring into a forgotten mirror.
Alessandro took one step forward.
"You murdered my father."
Gabriel looked at him quietly.
"No."
"I failed to save him."
The answer stunned everyone.
Thomas shouted,
"You're lying!"
Gabriel slowly turned toward the elderly butler.
"Thomas..."
"You've known me for thirty-eight years."
"Have I ever lied when the truth would hurt more?"
Thomas's face tightened.
He hated the question because he wasn't certain of the answer.
Gabriel sighed.
"You deserve to know."
He looked directly at Alessandro.
"The night Enzo died..."
"...I begged him to leave the city."
A long silence followed.
"He refused."
"He said he would expose Vincent the next morning."
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
"I knew Vincent would never allow that."
Alessandro's voice became cold.
"So you warned Vincent instead."
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
Finally...
He nodded once.
"I thought Vincent would threaten him."
"I never believed..."
"...he would order the execution that same night."
The admission echoed through the corridor.
Marco never lowered his pistol.
"You expect us to believe you're innocent?"
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"Innocent?"
"No."
"I've been guilty for twenty years."
"But guilt and murder aren't always the same."
Grace suddenly spoke.
Her voice was soft from years of isolation.
"He came every birthday."
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed toward Gabriel.
"He brought me books."
"He taught me mathematics."
"He said one day..."
"...someone would come for me."
Gabriel quietly closed his eyes.
Alessandro stared at him.
"If you wanted to save her..."
"...why keep her prisoner?"
Gabriel answered honestly.
"Because Vincent wanted her dead."
"I convinced him a living prisoner was more useful."
Grace whispered,
"He told me..."
"...never to trust the man called Vincent."
Marco frowned.
"Then why continue helping him?"
Gabriel slowly removed his glasses.
For the first time...
He looked old.
Very old.
"Twelve years ago..."
"Vincent found my daughter."
The corridor became silent.
"I had one child."
"Claire."
He swallowed hard.
"She was nineteen."
"He kidnapped her."
"He said every mistake I made..."
"...would be paid for by her."
Thomas whispered,
"My God..."
Gabriel nodded.
"For seventeen years..."
"I obeyed."
"I drafted documents."
"I hid evidence."
"I destroyed records."
"And every month..."
"...Vincent sent me proof that Claire was still alive."
Alessandro's expression changed slightly.
Not forgiveness.
Understanding.
Gabriel reached slowly into his jacket.
Marco shouted,
"Hands where I can see them!"
Instead...
Gabriel removed a worn photograph.
A smiling young woman stood beside him.
Dark hair.
Bright blue eyes.
She couldn't have been older than nineteen.
"My daughter."
"They took her because of me."
Another explosion rocked the underground facility.
Concrete dust fell from the ceiling.
One emergency light shattered.
The room grew darker.
Gabriel looked toward the ceiling.
"We're running out of time."
"What do you mean?"
"Vincent never intended to escape."
"He intended to erase everything."
Marco's face hardened.
"The explosives."
Gabriel nodded.
"This underground complex."
"The mansion."
"The tunnels."
"They've all been wired."
Lily clutched Alessandro's arm.
"Wired?"
Gabriel knelt beside her.
His voice softened.
"With bombs."
Everyone froze.
Amelia instinctively hugged Emma tighter.
"How long?"
Gabriel checked his watch.
"Less than twenty minutes."
Marco grabbed him by the collar.
"Where's the detonator?"
Gabriel looked him directly in the eyes.
"There isn't one."
"What?"
"It's automatic."
"When the evidence servers finish deleting..."
"...the entire estate explodes."
Marco's blood ran cold.
"The countdown already started."
Gabriel nodded.
"It began the moment you opened Enzo's safe."
Alessandro immediately turned toward the computer.
The deletion bar had advanced.
67% COMPLETE
Every second...
More evidence disappeared forever.
Grace quietly stepped closer to Gabriel.
"You promised..."
"...someone would rescue me."
Gabriel smiled sadly.
"I did."
"And they came."
He looked toward Alessandro.
"Exactly as Enzo believed they would."
Suddenly...
A loud metallic clang echoed behind them.
The heavy blast door at the far end of the corridor began opening.
Not slowly.
Forcefully.
Someone on the other side had overridden the security system.
Marco spun toward the doorway.
Security officers raised their weapons.
Smoke drifted into the corridor.
Then...
A wheelchair rolled through the opening.
Pushed by two armed men dressed in black.
Seated in the chair was an elderly man wearing an expensive black overcoat.
His silver cane rested across his lap.
His smile was calm.
Cold.
Victorious.
Vincent Moretti had finally arrived.
He looked first at Lily.
Then at Grace.
Finally...
At Alessandro.
He smiled as though greeting family at dinner.
Then he spoke the sentence Enzo Moretti had feared for more than twenty years.
May you like
"Now..."
"...let me show you why I could never allow either of my granddaughters to inherit the Moretti empire."
