Chapter 5
Gabriel’s calloused, ink-stained fingers reached out and gently lifted the silver signet ring from Rachel’s palm. The heavy metal was cold, but the sight of the familiar, jagged scratch across the inner band sent a searing wave of recognition through his chest. It was the ring he had handed to Daniel on their twenty-first birthday—a silent vow that wherever one walked, the other would never be far behind. He closed his fist around the ring, pressing it tightly against his palm as if holding onto the ghost of his fallen brother. The dining room was dead silent; not a single guest dared to whisper, and even the waitstaff near the service doors stood frozen in place. "He kept it," Gabriel whispered, the words catching in his throat, stripped of all syndicate authority, leaving only the raw, aching core of a grieving man. "He kept it all these years." "He never took it off, Mr. Moretti," Rachel said softly, her brown eyes shining with unshed tears. "Not even when the fever was burning him up, and not even when he took his last breath on our narrow kitchen cot. He told me that if I ever showed you this ring, you would know the truth." Vanessa’s face twisted into an ugly, desperate mask. She rushed forward, grabbing Gabriel’s arm with manicured claws. "Gabriel, are you out of your mind?! You’re ready to hand your entire empire, your estate, and your name over to a random maid and a brat because of a piece of scratched metal?! She could have stolen that off a corpse in an alley! She could have bought it at a pawnshop!" Gabriel turned his head slowly, looking at Vanessa with a gaze so devoid of human emotion that she involuntarily recoiled, stumbling back against the gold chair. "My men searched the harbor for three weeks after the ambush, Vanessa," Gabriel said, his voice a low, terrifying rumble. "They never found Daniel's body. And you were the one who insisted the search be called off after twenty-one days. You were the one who told me it was time to move on, and coincidentally, moved into my estate three months later." Vanessa’s breath hitched, color draining completely from her face until she looked like a porcelain doll about to shatter. "I... I only wanted to help you heal! I wanted to bring light back into this house!" "You brought darkness, Vanessa," Gabriel stated flatly, stepping away from her as if she were a plague rat. He turned back down to Lily, who was still holding out the white carnation with innocent persistence. Slowly, awkwardly, the formidable mafia boss knelt down again, gently taking the white flower from the little girl’s tiny fingers. "Thank you, sweetheart," Gabriel murmured, a strange, choked emotion softening his harsh features. "What did your daddy say about me?" Lily beamed, her blue eyes sparkling. "He said you had a big scary bark, but you were really just a big teddy bear who loved chocolate cake."
