Chapter 8 - THE HEIRLOOM BRACELET
“Isabella?” I breathed, my mind spinning. “Isabella is the one poisoning my mother?”
Gabriel stared at the photograph on his phone, the realization hardening his features into granite.
“Bring her in,” Gabriel ordered the guards.
Moments later, Isabella was shoved into the study. Her burgundy gown was wrinkled, her makeup smeared from the rain outside. She glared at Gabriel with venomous pride.
“You can’t treat me like this!” Isabella snapped. “My family will destroy you!”
Gabriel slowly walked toward her. He held up his phone, showing her the picture of her with Valerie Stone.
Isabella’s arrogant sneer vanished.
“How much were you going to take, Isabella?” Gabriel asked quietly.
Isabella swallowed hard, glancing at Daniel, who was still slumped in the chair.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied.
Gabriel reached out and grabbed her left wrist. He forcefully pulled up the sleeve of her gown.
Clasped around her wrist was a heavy, antique gold bracelet.
“My grandmother’s bracelet,” Gabriel said, his voice laced with cold fury. “The one that went missing from the estate vault three years ago. You’ve been wearing it right in front of me.”
Isabella tried to pull away. “Gabriel, you gave me the code to the vault!”
“I gave you the code because I thought I was going to marry you,” he spat, releasing her arm in disgust. “Daniel was too much of a coward to kill Sarah himself. So you hired Valerie Stone to do it. You used Daniel’s paranoia about the inheritance to manipulate him, didn’t you?”
Daniel looked up, betrayed. “Isabella… you said you were just securing our future.”
Isabella laughed, a cold, harsh sound.
“You’re an idiot, Daniel,” she sneered. “You think I wanted to marry Gabriel to be a mob wife? Your father’s fifty million in bearer bonds was the prize. Once Sarah was dead, Daniel was going to transfer the bonds to me to ‘hide’ them from Gabriel.”
She looked at Gabriel with pure hatred.
“And then, I was going to disappear. But this little maid—” she pointed a perfectly manicured finger at me “—had to find that stupid photograph.”
Gabriel didn’t blink.
“The police are already on their way to the clinic, Isabella. Valerie Stone is in custody. She’s singing like a bird.”
Isabella’s face went pale.
“You’re going to prison for attempted murder,” Gabriel stated. “And Daniel… Daniel is no longer my brother.”
Gabriel motioned to the guards. “Take them both. Hand Isabella over to the police. Daniel goes to the Five Families. They deal with thieves.”
Daniel screamed, begging for mercy as they dragged him out. Isabella fought silently, her eyes burning holes into me as she disappeared into the hallway.
The study fell silent.
Gabriel leaned heavily against the mahogany desk, running a hand over his face. The feared mafia boss looked suddenly, profoundly exhausted.
I stepped forward. “Gabriel?”
He looked up at me.
“We need to go to the bank,” Gabriel said softly. “Before sunrise. We need to open Dad’s box and finish this.”
An hour later, as dawn broke over New York City, Gabriel and I stood in the steel-walled vault of the First National Bank.
Gabriel slid his father’s key into the safety deposit box. I slid the silver key Margaret gave me into the second lock.
We turned them together.
The heavy metal door clicked open.
Gabriel pulled out a large, leather-bound box. He opened the lid.
Inside were the bearer bonds. Fifty million dollars.
But resting on top of the bonds was a sealed white envelope.
Gabriel picked it up. Written on the front in his father’s handwriting was: For Gabriel and Sarah.
Gabriel opened the envelope and unfolded a single piece of paper.
He read it in silence. A tear slipped down his cheek.
He handed it to me.
“My dearest Gabriel. If you are reading this, I am gone. And you have found your sister, Sarah. I lacked the courage to defy my family and protect her when I was young. I ask you now to do what I could not. Protect her. Protect her blood. The money is hers, but the family is yours to lead. I love you both.”
I covered my mouth, sobbing.
Gabriel pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly.
“It’s over, Claire,” he whispered. “You’re safe now.”
But as we walked out of the vault, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was a text from an unknown number.
I opened it.
May you like
It was a picture of Leo’s blue teddy bear, lying torn in the dirt.
And a message: Isabella didn’t work alone. Check your mother’s hospital room.
