Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE GLASS
The rescue operation took place forty-eight hours later.
Authorities traced the location to a private property outside Milwaukee.
The building had once operated as a medical retreat.
Its current ownership was concealed through several companies.
Records linked those companies to Victor Hale and two former associates of Vittorio Duca.
Investigators obtained the necessary warrants.
Gabriel was not permitted to participate in the operation.
He waited in Chicago.
For the first time in his life, he accepted that waiting was the safest thing he could do.
At 6:20 a.m., Matteo entered the library.
Gabriel stood immediately.
“What happened?”
Matteo's eyes were wet.
“They found her.”
Gabriel gripped the desk.
“Mara?”
Matteo nodded.
“She's alive.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
The room seemed to tilt.
“Is she hurt?”
“She needs medical care and time. But she's alive.”
Gabriel sat down.
Then covered his face with both hands.
For a long moment, he made no sound.
Then he began crying.
Mara had spent years under a false identity.
The circumstances of her confinement were being investigated.
She had endured isolation, coercion, and repeated attempts to convince her that her family had abandoned her.
But she remembered Gabriel.
She remembered Luca.
She remembered the old estate.
And she remembered Nero's ancestors.
When authorities showed her a recent photograph of Gabriel, she touched his face on the screen.
“My brother,” she whispered.
Luca was found later that day.
He had been held at a second location after attempting to contact Mara.
He was injured but alive.
When Gabriel received the news, he stood motionless.
Then laughed.
A broken, disbelieving sound.
“Both of them?”
Matteo nodded.
“Both.”
The reunion took place in a private hospital several days later.
Gabriel entered the room slowly.
Mara sat beside the window.
She looked older than the girl in his memories.
Of course she did.
Twenty-two years had passed.
But her eyes were the same.
“Gabe?” she whispered.
He stopped.
For a moment, he was eighteen again.
Standing in the hallway outside her bedroom.
Calling her name.
Receiving no answer.
Then he crossed the room.
Mara stood.
They embraced.
Gabriel held her carefully.
She began crying against his shoulder.
“I thought you forgot me.”
He shook his head.
“Never.”
She clung to him.
“I waited.”
“I know.”
His voice broke.
“I'm sorry.”
Mara pulled back.
“Don't.”
She touched his face.
“You came.”
Luca entered the room an hour later.
Gabriel stared at him.
His brother smiled weakly.
“Hey, Gabe.”
Gabriel crossed the room and pulled him into an embrace.
“You idiot.”
Luca laughed through tears.
“Missed you too.”
Gabriel held him tighter.
“You should have come home.”
“I tried.”
“I know.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“I know you do.”
That evening, Gabriel called Olivia.
She answered from her mother's kitchen.
“Hello?”
He was quiet for a moment.
Then said, “We found them.”
Olivia stood.
“Both?”
“Yes.”
She covered her mouth.
“Oh, Gabriel.”
He closed his eyes.
“You helped bring them home.”
Olivia looked toward Lily, who was coloring at the table.
“No,” she said softly.
“Nero did.”
May you like
Gabriel laughed.
For the first time in years, the sound was completely unguarded.
