CHAPTER 12 — GABRIEL REVEALED THE TRUTH ABOUT MY BIRTH
Gabriel stood in the tunnel as if he had been waiting twenty-seven years for that moment.
Dominic aimed his gun at him.
“Don't move.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“No.”
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
“Your father is hiding.”
Dominic's finger tightened around the trigger.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to remember what Michael just told you.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Your father survived.”
“Then where is he?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Michael stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You've been hiding from the wrong people.”
“Who are you working for?”
“No one.”
“Then why are you here?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Because Isabella's daughter is finally ready.”
I felt cold.
“Ready for what?”
“The truth.”
Dominic lowered his weapon slightly.
“Start talking.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Your mother wasn't the mastermind you think she was.”
Michael frowned.
“What?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Isabella built the network.”
“Yes.”
“But she didn't create it.”
Silence.
“Who did?”
Gabriel looked at Dominic.
“Your grandfather.”
Dominic froze.
“My grandfather died before I was born.”
“Officially.”
Gabriel smiled bitterly.
“Your family has always been very good at official stories.”
Michael stepped closer.
“What was his name?”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Alexander Moretti.”
Dominic's face went blank.
“My grandfather was a businessman.”
“He was a businessman.”
Gabriel nodded.
“And a financier.”
“And a criminal.”
Dominic stared at him.
“What did he build?”
“An organization that moved money, information, and people.”
Michael added:
“And Isabella inherited it.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“She was supposed to destroy it.”
I looked at him.
“But she didn't.”
“She tried.”
“And failed.”
“Because Alexander threatened her children.”
My chest tightened.
“Me and Dominic?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“He told Isabella that if she walked away, both children would disappear.”
Dominic's voice was cold.
“Why us?”
“Because you were her weakness.”
“And Avery?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“You were the bigger problem.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you weren't supposed to exist.”
The words hit me harder than anything else.
“What?”
Gabriel sighed.
“Isabella was told she was carrying one child.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Then she discovered there were two.”
Michael nodded.
“She kept both.”
“Yes.”
“But Alexander wanted the girl gone.”
“Why?”
Gabriel's voice dropped.
“Because the girl had a genetic condition that made her blood extremely rare.”
I frowned.
“What condition?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not a disease.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“A marker.”
Dominic looked confused.
“So what?”
Gabriel answered:
“The marker matched Alexander.”
Silence.
I didn't understand.
“Why would that matter?”
“Because Alexander wasn't Dominic's biological father.”
Dominic froze.
Michael looked at him.
Gabriel continued.
“Anthony was.”
Dominic's breathing stopped.
“Then why did you say—”
“Alexander had a different plan.”
Gabriel turned toward Dominic.
“He wanted Dominic to believe he was his grandson.”
“Why?”
“Because Anthony was trying to leave the organization.”
“And Alexander needed an heir.”
“Yes.”
I felt a strange pressure in my chest.
“So Dominic was raised to inherit it.”
“Exactly.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“And you were hidden because Isabella refused to let him have both children.”
I stared at the photograph.
The two babies.
The secret family.
The hidden bloodline.
Everything was beginning to connect.
But one question remained.
“Where was Linda?”
Gabriel's expression softened.
“She was Isabella's nurse.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Linda worked in the private clinic where Isabella gave birth.”
My entire life felt unreal.
“She helped Isabella escape.”
“Why?”
“Because Linda had lost her own daughter.”
I stared.
“What?”
Gabriel nodded.
“She was grieving.”
“And Isabella gave me to her?”
“No.”
He looked at Michael.
“Michael did.”
I turned to my father.
“You gave me to Linda?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Isabella was being hunted.”
“And Anthony?”
“Anthony was trying to get you both out.”
“But he failed.”
Gabriel nodded.
“He trusted the wrong person.”
“Who?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then he looked at Dominic.
“Your father's closest security officer.”
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“Richard Cole.”
Dominic went still.
“Cole died six years ago.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Another official story.”
I felt dizzy.
“Is everyone in my life dead?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“No.”
“Then who is alive?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a small metal box.
He handed it to me.
“What is this?”
“The original ledger.”
My heart stopped.
I looked at Dominic.
Then my father.
Then the box.
“It's been with me for twenty-three years.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because only you can open it.”
I held the box.
It had two small locks.
One shaped like a circle.
The other like a crescent.
I looked at Dominic.
“Two locks.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Your blood.”
I stared.
“You said both children were needed.”
“Yes.”
Dominic cut his palm with a small blade.
I looked at him.
He held his hand over the first lock.
A drop of blood fell.
Nothing happened.
Then he looked at me.
I hesitated.
But finally pressed my finger against the second lock.
The box clicked.
Both locks released.
The lid opened.
Inside was a thick black book.
Old.
Heavy.
Real.
The original Black Ledger.
Dominic stared at it.
“All these years…”
Gabriel nodded.
“It was never in the vault.”
“Where was it?”
“With me.”
Michael looked furious.
“You could have exposed them.”
“I tried.”
“Then why didn't you?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Because every time I got close, they threatened Avery.”
My heart stopped.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Gabriel's eyes became cold.
“The man who has been paying your mother's medical bills.”
I froze.
“The account.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Michael didn't create it.”
“Then who did?”
Gabriel whispered:
“Anthony Moretti.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why would he pay Linda's bills?”
“Because he knew Avery was his daughter.”
The room went silent.
Dominic stared at me.
“What?”
Gabriel corrected himself.
“Not his daughter.”
He looked at Dominic.
“His sister.”
My heart stopped.
Dominic was my brother.
Not a half-brother.
Not a distant relative.
My twin.
The revelation should have been enough.
But Gabriel wasn't finished.
He opened the ledger.
The first page contained a list of names.
The second page contained transactions.
The third page—
contained photographs.
I turned the page.
And saw my mother.
Linda.
Standing beside a man I had never seen.
But Dominic recognized him immediately.
“Richard Cole.”
Gabriel nodded.
“He's alive.”
My father's face turned white.
“No.”
I looked at the photograph.
Richard Cole was holding a baby.
Me.
And beside him—
was Vanessa Whitmore.
But Vanessa wasn't looking at the camera.
She was looking at the baby.
At me.
Gabriel whispered:
“She knew who you were before Dominic ever met her.”
I turned another page.
A document was clipped to the photograph.
At the top was one sentence:
PROJECT HEIR — SUBJECT A: DOMINIC MORETTI. SUBJECT B: AVERY CARTER.
Below it was a signature.
Charles Whitmore.
But beneath Charles's signature was another.
A name I recognized from my father's old documents.
RICHARD COLE.
My hands began to shake.
“Why would they create a project around us?”
Gabriel looked toward the tunnel entrance.
“Because you weren't just heirs.”
He closed the ledger.
“You were insurance.”
“For what?”
Gabriel looked directly at Dominic.
“If the original ledger ever disappeared…”
Then he looked at me.
“…your blood was the backup key.”
A gunshot exploded from the darkness.
Gabriel jerked backward.
Blood spread across his chest.
“Gabriel!”
He fell.
Dominic grabbed him.
I dropped beside them.
“Who shot him?”
Michael looked toward the darkness.
“Run!”
Another bullet struck the wall.
Dominic pulled me up.
“Move!”
We ran through the tunnel.
Behind us, Gabriel's voice echoed weakly:
“Avery!”
I turned.
He was on the ground.
His hand pressed against his wound.
“Find…”
He coughed.
“Find the man who has been paying for your mother's dialysis.”
Then he whispered the final words.
“Because he's the only one who knows where your real mother is.”
I froze.
“My real mother?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Isabella Moretti.”
Then his eyes closed.
And somewhere behind us—
a man's voice calmly said:
“That's enough.”
I knew that voice.
I had heard it once before.
Eight years ago.
At my father's funeral.
A man had stood behind the crowd.
Watching me.
Watching Linda.
Watching everything.
I turned toward the darkness.
May you like
And realized the man who had been hunting my family for twenty-seven years—
was standing only a few feet away.
