Chapter 14 - The Fall of the Prodigal Son
Luke stared at the folder on the coffee table as if it were a venomous viper.
“No… no, that’s a lie!” Luke screamed, his voice cracking with hysteria as he struggled against his handcuffs. “It was a loan! I was paying off a debt! I didn't know they were going to put a bomb in your car, Gabriel! You have to believe me!”
“I believed you for five years, Luke,” Gabriel said, his voice dropping into a register of profound, sorrowful finality. “I gave you my trust. I gave you twenty million dollars to clear your debts. I gave you luxury, freedom, and protection. And in return, you tried to sell an innocent woman to a monster and sent hitmen to Lower Wacker Drive to finish the job you started in Milan.”
The federal agents stepped forward, grabbing Luke by his arms and lifting him to his feet.
“Luke Moretti, you are under arrest for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, federal kidnapping, and interstate racketeering,” the lead agent declared, reading him his constitutional rights.
Luke trashed violently in their grip, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Gabriel! Don't do this! You’re nothing without me! You’re just a crippled freak hiding in a tower! Nobody will ever love you! She doesn't love you! She’s using you for your money!”
Gabriel didn't flinch. He didn't blink. He stood tall, holding his cane with steady dignity, watching his brother get dragged out the front door into the pouring rain.
The sirens outside wailed and slowly faded into the Chicago distance, taking the ghost of my past with them.
The living room grew quiet again.
My mother walked over, wiping her eyes, and looked at Gabriel with profound reverence and guilt.
“Mr. Moretti… Gabriel… I don't know how we can ever repay you,” she whispered. “You saved our lives. You saved Leo.”
Gabriel inclined his head with quiet grace. “You owe me nothing, Mrs. Bennett. Your daughter has already paid every debt ten times over with her courage. Harold Vance will arrange private medical transport for Leo to Johns Hopkins tomorrow morning. Your family’s home will be secured by private detail until the trial concludes.”
My parents nodded through their tears, thanking him repeatedly as the security team helped them into a waiting transport vehicle.
Finally, Gabriel and I were left alone in the quiet hallway of my childhood home.
He turned to me, his dark eyes soft and unguarded.
“Are you ready to go home, Claire?” he asked gently.
I looked at him, realizing that the word home no longer meant a house with a white picket fence or a childhood bedroom.
May you like
Home was the man who had stood between me and every wolf in the dark.
“Yes,” I said, taking his hand. “Let’s go home.”
