Chapter 7 - The Unraveling LieGabriel pressed a button on the intercom near the desk. Moments later, Marco escorted Serena back into the main room. She refused to sit, standing near the doorway with her arms crossed tightly, her eyes darting between Gabriel and the armed men stationed near the windows.
"Sit down, Serena," Gabriel commanded quietly.
"I have rights, Gabriel," Serena spat, though her voice trembled. "My father is a United States Senator. If you hold me here—"
"Your father's political career dies the moment I release the offshore ledger I've kept in my safe for three years," Gabriel interrupted smoothly, not even looking up as he poured a glass of water for Ben. "So sit down and answer my questions, or I will destroy your family before sunrise."
Serena’s jaw tightened, but she sank into an armchair across from the sofa.
Gabriel stood beside the fireplace, leaning his elbow against the mantelpiece. He looked like a judge presiding over a courtroom in which he was both executioner and prosecutor.
"Five years ago," Gabriel began, his voice flat, "Claire left Westchester. Two weeks later, you brought me a report from a private intelligence firm claiming that Claire had moved to Europe and was living under an assumed identity with another man."
My head snapped up. "What? I moved to Boston! I used my maiden name!"
Gabriel’s eyes flicked to me, a flash of immense pain passing through his expression before returning to Serena. "You forged the intelligence reports, didn't you? You made sure I believed she had moved on so I wouldn't go looking for her."
Serena remained silent, glaring at the floor.
"Answer him," I demanded, my voice shaking with five years of buried rage. "Did you follow me to Boston?"
Serena let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "I didn't have to follow you, Claire. I had access to the medical records network through my father's connections. Three weeks after you left Gabriel, a flag popped up at an obstetric clinic in Massachusetts. A Claire Sterling, carrying triplets."
Gabriel went completely still. The silence in the room became terrifying.
"You knew?" Gabriel’s voice dropped to a register so low it didn't sound human. "You knew she was pregnant with my sons... and you hid it from me?"
"Because you would have gone back to her!" Serena screamed, finally losing her composure. She stood up, pointing a trembling finger at me. "You were supposed to marry me, Gabriel! We were supposed to unite the Cross empire with the Vale political machine! If you knew she was carrying your heirs, you would have torn up the divorce, dropped the political deal, and put every single one of us in danger just to keep her safe!"
"They are my blood!" Gabriel roared, slamming his fist onto the marble mantelpiece with such force that the stone cracked beneath his knuckles.
The boys flinched, and Ben let out a small cry.
Instantly, Gabriel caught himself. He pulled his hand back, his chest heaving, his face contorted in agony as he looked at his crying son.
"I'm sorry," Gabriel whispered to the boys, stepping back immediately. "I'm sorry, small ones. I didn't mean to scare you."
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He turned back to Serena, his eyes dark with absolute, uncompromising lethargy. "Get her out of my sight. Put her in the holding facility in New Jersey. She doesn't leave until I decide what to do with her father."
The guards dragged Serena out of the suite, her sobbing fades dying away down the corridor.
