Chapter 11 - The Second Shadow
Gabriel’s brow furrowed, the tenderness in his expression instantly replaced by sharp calculation. ""What are you talking about? Marcus confessed to hiring the extraction team.""
""Marcus hired the thugs at the pier,"" Clara explained urgently, walking over to the marble island and pulling out her phone. ""He hired local muscle to smuggle Mia out on the yacht. But the mercenary who came through your window—the one who shot at you with military precision—he carried a serialized titanium tactical blade. I saw the crest stamped on the hilt when I hit him with the lamp.""
She pulled up a photo of a blurred symbol she had snapped while Gabriel was securing the safe. It was an emblem of a three-headed serpent entwined around an anchor.
Gabriel stared at the screen, and for the first time since she met him, she saw true horror in his eyes. He stumbled back a step, gripping the edge of the counter.
""The Cerberus Syndicate,"" he whispered, his voice trembling. ""They aren't mercenaries. They are an elite private military contractor contracted by my father twenty years ago.""
""Why would your father’s old security force want you dead?"" Clara asked, bewildered.
""They don't want me dead,"" Gabriel realized, the blood draining from his face. ""They wanted to frame Marcus for my assassination. Marcus was a pawn, an arrogant fool manipulated into taking the blame.""
""Then who controls the Syndicate now?""
Before Gabriel could answer, the door to the kitchen swung open. Julian walked in, carrying a leather briefcase. His right arm was wrapped in a sling, and he wore a somber, apologetic expression.
""I can answer that, Clara,"" Julian said softly.
Gabriel immediately straightened, stepping between Clara and his lifelong friend. ""Julian? What is this?""
Julian reached into his jacket with his left hand and pulled out a suppressed firearm, leveling it directly at Gabriel’s heart.
""I'm sorry, Gabriel,"" Julian said, his eyes filled with genuine regret. ""Your father never intended for you to inherit the shipping lines. You were always too sentimental. Too weak. You spent three years crying over Victor instead of expanding into the Eastern European trade routes. The Syndicate couldn't allow the family empire to rot in the hands of a broken man.""
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Gabriel stared at the man he had considered a brother for fifteen years. ""Victor... the car crash. It wasn't Marcus, was it?""
Julian closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, sighing deeply. ""Victor found the offshore black budgets. He was going to turn state's evidence against our own family. I cut the brake lines myself, Gabriel. And now, you've forced my hand to finish what I started.""
