Chapter 6
Gabriele did not ask for mercy.
He asked for ten minutes.
Alessio gave him five.
They stood in the library.
Alone except for Mateo at the door.
Gabriele looked older than he had an hour earlier.
“You think I sold you.”
“I think your credentials built a recording designed to destroy me.”
Gabriele’s hands slowly closed behind his back.
“I gave Trent access once.”
Alessio’s face hardened.
“When?”
“Four months ago.”
“Why?”
Gabriele looked toward the dark window.
“Because he had something on me.”
Alessio waited.
The silence became heavy.
Gabriele finally spoke.
“Something old.”
“How old?”
“Thirty-eight years.”
Alessio’s eyes narrowed.
Gabriele was twenty-three then.
Helen was twenty-five.
Trent was born the following year.
Something in Alessio’s mind moved.
Not fully formed.
Gabriele saw it.
His jaw tightened.
“No.”
Alessio stepped closer.
“What did Trent have?”
Gabriele’s breathing changed.
“A letter.”
“From who?”
“Helen.”
Alessio became very still.
Before he could continue, the door opened.
Helen stood there.
She had heard enough.
“No.”
Her voice came sharp.
Gabriele turned.
“Helen.”
“You promised.”
Her hands shook at her sides.
Sylvia had followed behind her.
So had Trent under guard.
Trent’s face was calm.
Almost satisfied.
He had wanted this room.
This moment.
Alessio understood.
“Tell me.”
Helen stared at him.
Her mouth trembled.
Then hardened.
“That has nothing to do with Sylvia.”
Trent laughed softly.
“It has everything to do with me.”
Helen turned toward her son.
“Stop.”
He ignored her.
His voice carried a bitter amusement.
“You've spent the whole night asking why people protect me.”
Alessio looked at Gabriele.
The consigliere would not meet his eyes.
Trent continued.
“Maybe ask why your loyal old friend always did.”
Gabriele’s face tightened.
Trent stepped closer as far as the guard allowed.
“Every missed shipment.”
“Every bad deal.”
“Every mistake that somehow never reached Alessio’s desk.”
His eyes moved toward Gabriele.
“You always cleaned it.”
Helen whispered:
“Trent.”
He looked at her.
There was no warmth.
“You wanted secrets? Let’s have them.”
Alessio’s voice cut through.
“Enough.”
Trent smiled.
“Not yet.”
Then Mateo entered with another file.
Not forensic.
Financial.
He placed it before Alessio.
“For twenty-two years, Gabriele made annual payments to an account controlled by Helen.”
Helen closed her eyes.
Sylvia stared.
The amounts were small at first.
Then larger.
School fees.
Medical bills.
An apartment deposit.
Private debt coverage.
Always indirectly.
Always hidden.
Alessio looked at Gabriele.
“You've been supporting Trent since he was a child.”
Gabriele said nothing.
Trent’s smile widened.
Alessio finally understood the shape of the secret.
But before he could say it aloud, Helen looked at Gabriele and whispered:
“You should have stayed away from him.”
Trent heard.
So did everyone else.
May you like
His smile disappeared.
Because for the first time, even he seemed uncertain about what the secret actually meant.
