A Waitress Was the Only Person Who Understood My Terrified Daughter—Then She Revealed Someone Already Knew About Her Deadly Allergy.

Colin groaned under the crushing weight of the brass bar pinned against his windpipe. His polished suit was covered in grease and dust, his neat hair disheveled, and his right wrist hung limp, broken from Hannah’s strike.

"Don't move," Hannah hissed, pressing the bar harder against his throat.

Behind her, Lucia stayed silent, curled tightly in the corner of the shower stall, her eyes wide with terror.

"Hannah... please," Colin wheezed, his face turning purple. "You don't understand..."

The bathroom door flew open with violent force.

Gabriel burst in, his pistol aimed dead center at Colin’s forehead. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, dark soot smudging his jaw, but his eyes were blazing with lethal fury.

"Step back, Hannah," Gabriel commanded.

Hannah eased her weight off the bar and stepped back, keeping herself positioned between the men and the shower stall.

Colin slid down the marble wall, clutching his broken wrist and gasping for air. He looked up into the barrel of Gabriel’s gun and began to weep.

"How did you get into my house, Colin?" Gabriel asked, his voice deathly cold.

"The service tunnel," Colin choked out through tears. "The wine cellar delivery tunnel... it connects to the old carriage house. Your brother... your brother gave me the security bypass codes four years ago!"

Gabriel didn't lower the gun. "My brother Julian has been dead for two years."

"Julian set this up before he died!" Colin cried, desperate to keep Gabriel from pulling the trigger. "He knew you were going to take the family leadership! He created an offshore fund with Enzo Rossi’s faction in Palermo! They’ve been waiting for Lucia to return to the States!"

Hannah stepped forward, her voice sharp. "Why poison her at the restaurant? Why not do it quietly here at the house?"

Colin swallowed hard, looking between Gabriel and Hannah. "Because the trust conditions require public verification! If Lucia died of a known medical accident in front of dozens of high-society witnesses, there would be no police investigation into the family! It would just be a tragic allergic reaction! Elena would inherit the properties without Gabriel being able to accuse anyone!"

Gabriel’s finger tightened on the trigger. "And Mrs. Gable?"

"She panicked!" Colin stammered. "When you locked down the restaurant, she called me from the house, saying she was going to confess everything to Dante to save her own skin! I had to silence her!"

"And the blonde man?" Gabriel pressed. "Where is he?"

Colin looked up at Gabriel with pure dread in his eyes.

"He's not running away, Mr. Moretti," Colin whispered, his voice trembling violently. "He was the distraction. While I cut the power to the basement, his team took the garage."

Before Gabriel could react, the deep, rumbling roar of an armored engine echoed from the courtyard below.

Tires screeched against wet pavement, followed by the deafening sound of an explosion near the front security gate.

Gabriel bolted to the bathroom window, tearing open the blinds.