Chapter 6 - The Architect
Gabriel lay on the steel operating table, his torso heavily stitched and wrapped in white gauze.
Despite the severe blood loss, his dark eyes were wide open and terrifyingly alert.
Clare walked into the medical bay, looking like a ghost who had just seen a demon.
She told him everything the hospital nurse had just revealed over the phone.
Gabriel did not show any shock or sympathy.
He simply asked her for the exact name of the catering company that hired her for his party.
Clare gave him the name, her mind still struggling to process the cruelty of her sister's poisoning.
Gabriel gestured to one of his men, who handed him a secure, encrypted laptop.
He typed with one hand, his face bathed in the pale blue light of the screen.
A few seconds later, he turned the screen toward Clare.
The corporate registry proved the catering company was a shell corporation entirely owned by Sullivan.
"You were never a random waitress, Clare," Gabriel said, his voice stripped of all emotion.
He explained that Sullivan knew Gabriel retreated to his study when he wanted to be alone.
Sullivan needed a distraction, someone pathetic and desperate enough to keep Gabriel's attention while the assassins breached the house.
Sullivan poisoned Clare's sister to ensure Clare would be crying in the dark on this specific night.
Clare felt her stomach heave violently as the sheer scale of the manipulation crashed down upon her.
Her entire life, her sister's pain, and her crippling debt were just pawns in a mafia chess game.
Gabriel closed the laptop and swung his legs off the side of the medical table.
He ignored the doctor's frantic warnings about his torn stitches.
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He told Clare they were going to the hospital right now.
He handed her a small, loaded pistol and told her it was time to stop crying.
