Chapter 12 - THE INNER CIRCLE TRAITOR
I stared at the open ledger on the kitchen counter.
The name written in bold ink beside a massive wire transfer made my blood run cold.
*Mrs. Gable.*
The elderly head cook who had worked for the Moretti family for twenty years.
“Luca,” I gasped, pointing a trembling finger at the page.
Luca stepped closer, his eyes scanning the document.
The color drained from his face.
“Gable,” he muttered, disbelief and rage warring in his voice.
“She practically raised me.”
Just then, heavy footsteps echoed from the pantry hallway.
Mrs. Gable stepped out into the kitchen, holding a tray of warm tea.
Her usual kindly grandmotherly smile was entirely gone.
Instead, her face was twisted into a cold, chilling sneer.
She held a small silver Derringer pistol hidden beneath a linen towel.
“You shouldn't have been looking at that book, little girl,” Mrs. Gable said smoothly.
Luca reacted instantly, reaching for his holster, but Mrs. Gable cocked the pistol and aimed it straight at Oliver's bedroom window upstairs—which was visible through the security monitor on the wall.
“Don't even think about it, Luca,” she hissed.
“I have a remote detonator linked to the nursery wing. One twitch from you, and this house goes up in flames.”
My heart stopped.
Oliver was still sleeping in that wing.
“Gable... put the gun down,” Luca warned, his voice dangerously low, trembling with suppressed fury.
“You betrayed my family after everything we gave you?”
“Your father ruined my family thirty years ago, Luca,” Gable spat venomously.
“I stayed in this house for decades just waiting for the right moment to destroy everything you hold dear.”
She backed slowly toward the back exit door, keeping the detonator in her left hand and the gun aimed at Luca.
“Don't follow me, or the boy burns.”
She slipped out the back door into the rainy night, locking it behind her.
Luca slammed his fist against the marble counter so hard it cracked right down the middle.
“Find her!” Luca roared into his radio to the remaining guards outside.
“Block every exit off the estate! If she escapes, I'll skin every last one of you!”
He turned to me, his chest heaving.
“Emily, stay here. I'm going after her.”
“No, Luca, let me come,” I said urgently.
“She knows the tunnels beneath the old wine cellar. You'll never catch her alone.”
May you like
Luca looked deep into my eyes, saw the fierce determination burning there, and nodded once.
“Stay behind me. Always.”
