Chapter 3
Vanessa Bellini stepped forward, her red silk gown whispering against the marble floor as she closed the distance between herself and Gabriel. Her diamond necklace clicked softly against her collarbone. "Gabriel, don't listen to this little liar," Vanessa hissed, her voice dripping with venomous sweetness as she placed a manicured hand heavily onto Gabriel’s black-suited shoulder. "It’s a pathetic stunt. Some discharged maid looking for a payday, bringing her bastard child in here to hustle money out of the Moretti name. Security should have thrown them out at the gates." Gabriel didn't stand up. He remained kneeling on the cold marble, his eyes slowly shifting from Vanessa’s desperate face back down to Rachel, who stood frozen near the doorway. Rachel’s brown hair had slipped slightly from its loose bun, a stray lock falling across her pale cheek as she met Gabriel’s intense, burning gaze with quiet dignity. "Is she lying, Rachel?" Gabriel asked softly, the words barely audible over the faint hum of the chandeliers, yet they carried the weight of a supreme judge delivering a final verdict. Rachel swallowed hard, her throat dry as dust. She looked at Lily, then back at the man who had once been Daniel’s closest brother. "Daniel told Lily about you every single night before he tucked her into bed," Rachel spoke, her voice steady and clear, cutting through the murmurs of the horrified dinner guests. "He told her that if anything ever happened to him, she could come to you, because you were the only man in this city with a heart buried beneath that black suit." Vanessa let out a sharp, hysterical laugh. "Oh, please! Daniel Hayes has been rotting at the bottom of the Atlantic for five years! Anyone can coach a five-year-old kid to say a dead man’s name for a handful of cash!" Gabriel slowly stood to his full height, towering over Vanessa with a dark, suffocating menace that made the blonde woman instinctively shrink backward. He ignored Vanessa entirely, taking two slow strides toward Rachel and Lily. The guests held their collective breath, watching the apex predator move toward the quiet maid. Gabriel stopped mere inches away from Rachel, his gaze dropping to the white carnation still clutched in Lily's small hand. "Daniel never mentioned he had a family," Gabriel murmured, his voice laced with a dangerous, razor-sharp suspicion. "He told me he had no one. He told me he was entirely alone in the world." "He kept his family hidden to keep us breathing, Mr. Moretti," Rachel replied unflinchingly, looking straight into the dark depths of his eyes. "He knew what your enemies would do if they found out he had a daughter. He trusted you with his life, but he didn't trust the men standing in this room."
