Chapter 6 - The Architect of Ruin
Gabriel stared at the medical documents until the words blurred together.
The twins were not his biological children.
Norah had used a donor to ensure the Costa bloodline ended with him.
She had allowed him to believe he was finally going to be a father.
She had played the role of the loving, expectant wife perfectly.
Every smile, every ultrasound appointment, every painted wall in the nursery was a lie.
Gabriel let out a roar of absolute anguish that echoed through the empty studio.
He threw the heavy metal safe across the room, shattering a massive window.
Luca rushed into the room, his weapon drawn.
He saw the broken man standing among the ruined art and asked what was wrong.
Gabriel handed him the medical file without saying a word.
Luca read the donor name and gasped audibly.
The donor was Dominic.
Norah had used Luca's brother to create the children she had just stolen.
Gabriel realized the entire marriage had been a carefully constructed trap.
He was not the hunter tracking a fleeing wife.
He was the prey walking blindly into her maze.
Gabriel ordered his tech team to trace the encrypted ping from the tollbooth camera.
An hour later, they located the SUV abandoned in a snowy field just across the Wisconsin border.
Gabriel and his men boarded a private helicopter and flew through the freezing rain.
They landed in the desolate field and surrounded the empty vehicle.
The doors were wide open, and the engine was cold.
There were no footprints in the heavy snow.
They had vanished into thin air.
Gabriel inspected the interior of the SUV.
He found a small, blinking tracking device taped under the steering wheel.
The device was completely disabled and useless.
But next to it, resting on the driver's seat, was a pacifier.
Gabriel picked it up and noticed a tiny, rolled-up piece of paper stuffed inside the nipple.
May you like
He unrolled the paper and read the handwritten coordinates.
Norah was inviting him to the final battleground.
