CHAPTER 5 – THEY TOUCHED THE WRONG MOTHER
CHAPTER 5 – THEY TOUCHED THE WRONG MOTHER
The words hit Gabriel harder than any bullet ever had.
"They've taken Mrs. Rossi."
For half a second, the room went completely still.
Then the air changed.
The calm, controlled businessman disappeared.
The son remained.
Gabriel's eyes locked on Enzo.
"Who was assigned to my mother's car?"
"Marco and Ellis."
"They're alive?"
"Marco has a concussion. Ellis is in surgery."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"And my mother?"
Enzo lowered his eyes.
"No contact."
The marble ballroom suddenly felt too small.
Guests instinctively stepped backward as Gabriel removed his tuxedo jacket and handed it to Enzo.
His movements were frighteningly calm.
Everyone in the Rossi family recognized that calm.
It meant mercy had ended.
Vivienne watched him in disbelief.
Only minutes earlier, he had refused to yell at her.
Now he looked far more terrifying than any shouting man.
Richard Hartwell whispered hoarsely,
"Who would be insane enough to kidnap Rosa Rossi?"
One elderly Rossi uncle answered without looking at him.
"Someone who doesn't expect to see tomorrow."
Gabriel turned toward the head of his security division.
"Lock the hotel."
Within seconds, more than forty Rossi security personnel moved.
Every entrance was sealed.
Every elevator was stopped.
Every guest was politely—but firmly—asked to remain inside.
A senator protested.
"I have another engagement."
Enzo looked at him.
"No, Senator."
"You don't."
The senator sat back down without another word.
Gabriel faced the ballroom.
"My mother has spent forty years feeding hungry people."
"She has never carried a weapon."
"She has never harmed anyone."
His voice remained steady.
"So if someone laid a hand on her..."
He paused.
"...they weren't sending a message to me."
"They declared war on every person who ever called her Mama."
Around the ballroom, chairs scraped backward.
Every Rossi man stood.
Then their wives.
Then cousins.
Then longtime employees.
Even waiters who had worked in Rossi restaurants for decades quietly stepped forward.
None of them had been asked.
One by one, they spoke.
"I'll search the docks."
"I've got people at Logan Airport."
"I'll call Providence."
"I'll cover the hospitals."
Within two minutes, an entire private network had mobilized.
Vivienne had never seen loyalty like it.
Not purchased.
Not demanded.
Earned.
Enzo's phone rang again.
He answered immediately.
"What?"
His expression darkened.
"They found the security camera."
Everyone turned.
"It shows a black SUV leaving through the service entrance."
Gabriel asked only one question.
"License plate?"
"Fake."
"Faces?"
"Covered."
Enzo hesitated.
"But..."
"What?"
"The driver wasn't one of ours."
Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
"It was a woman."
Across the ballroom, Vivienne suddenly remembered something.
A conversation.
Two weeks earlier.
Her father arguing quietly in his study.
A woman's voice.
"They'll never touch Gabriel."
"They don't have to."
"We only need leverage."
At the time she hadn't understood.
Now...
Her blood ran cold.
She slowly turned toward her father.
"Dad..."
Richard refused to meet her eyes.
"Dad..."
His silence was answer enough.
"No..."
She backed away.
"No."
Richard whispered,
"I didn't know."
"You knew something."
"I only introduced people."
Vivienne's voice rose.
"To who?"
He closed his eyes.
"Vincent Moretti."
The name spread across the ballroom like poison.
Several Rossi men instinctively reached inside their jackets.
Enzo muttered one word.
"Damn."
Gabriel's expression finally changed.
For the first time all night...
Real anger surfaced.
The Moretti family.
The Rossis' oldest enemy.
A rivalry buried beneath years of uneasy peace.
Until tonight.
Gabriel looked at Richard.
"You invited wolves into your house."
Richard began crying.
"I thought they only wanted information."
"You thought wrong."
At that exact moment...
A small delivery box arrived at the hotel entrance.
No return address.
Inside...
Rosa's wedding corsage.
Covered in blood.
And beneath it...
A handwritten note.
YOU CHOSE THE WRONG BRIDE.
NOW WATCH YOUR MOTHER DIE.
The ballroom erupted into panic.
Gabriel folded the note once.
Twice.
Then placed it carefully into his pocket.
His voice became ice.
"Find them."
May you like
No one asked what would happen when they did.
Everyone already knew.
