Chapter 4 - A DANGEROUS ALLIANCE
Gabriel didn't panic. The haze that had clouded his features for the past eight days vanished entirely, replaced by the calculating precision of a general who had just located the enemy's artillery line.
"Let him in," Gabriel ordered quietly.
I walked to the door and turned the deadbolt. Landon burst into the suite, clutching a leather dossier, his face pale and slick with anxiety. Behind him stood two armed security guards who immediately took positions outside the threshold.
"Gabriel, Julian went straight to the Manhattan headquarters," Landon said rapidly, breathless. "He’s invoking the emergency succession clause under Bylaw 14. He claims Dr. Byrne signed an affidavit stating your cognitive and physical degradation is irreversible."
"Byrne sold his soul to Julian three months ago," Gabriel said, his voice terrifyingly calm. He looked up at Landon, then shifted his gaze directly to me. "Show him the phone, Maya."
Landon blinked in confusion as I handed him my device. As Gabriel’s COO zoomed in on the photographed pills and read the chemical breakdown I had jotted down in my notes app, the color drained from his face until he looked like a corpse.
"My God..." Landon breathed. "The Red Hook ambush didn't cripple you permanently. They’ve been poisoning you in your own bedroom."
"They needed me alive long enough to transfer the offshore port holdings into Julian’s dummy shell companies," Gabriel said, a dark, chilling smirk playing on his lips. "If I died immediately, the board would have frozen the assets under probate. If I lingered as an invalid vegetable, Julian could act as my legal conservator."
Landon slammed his fist against the desk. "I'll call our tactical team. We'll raid Julian’s penthouse right now and put a bullet between his eyes."
"No," Gabriel snapped, the authority in his voice slamming the room into silence. "If we move with violence without legal and financial proof, the federal oversight committee will seize Cross Maritime's federal contracts by midnight. We play this on my board, under my rules."
Gabriel turned his wheelchair toward me. The intensity of his gaze was like staring into the heart of an approaching storm.
"Maya Vance," he said, his voice dropping into a low, resonant baritone. "You have no loyalty to my family. You have no stake in my company. You came here to scrub floors to pay off a fifty-thousand-dollar debt incurred by an insignificant parasite."
I stiffened, my chin lifting defensively. "How do you know about that?"
"I know the blood type and credit history of every person who breathes the air inside my perimeter," Gabriel said without blinking. "Here is my proposition: starting today, you are no longer a maid. You are my private personal assistant and medical custodian. You prepare my food. You inspect every drop of water that touches my lips. And you help me orchestrate the destruction of the men who tried to put me in the dirt."
"And what do I get in exchange, Mr. Cross?" I asked steadily. "Apart from a target on my back?"
"Your debt will be wiped clean by two o'clock today," Gabriel stated, holding out his hand. "Your ex-boyfriend will find himself legally prosecuted in three separate jurisdictions for wire fraud. And when I reclaim my empire, I will write you a check for five million dollars."
I looked at his outstretched hand. His fingers were scarred, powerful, and unyielding.
"Ten million," I said without missing a beat. "And you start listening to my physical therapy advice."
For the first time since I had walked into that estate, the corner of Gabriel Cross’s mouth twitched upward into a genuine, dangerous smile.
"Deal," he said, his grip closing around my hand like iron.
Before we could release the handshake, the estate’s perimeter alarm wailed through the room—a shrill, rhythmic siren echoing from the front gates.
May you like
Landon drew a concealed Glock from his jacket, rushing to the security console. "Gabriel... we have an unauthorized vehicle at the main checkpoint. It's not Julian. It's a man claiming to be Eric Miller—and he’s demanding to speak with Maya Vance."
***
