Chapter 138
Gabriel’s POV
I’d been walking into this building for six months, and today was supposed to be the last time.
My lawyer was reviewing the documents with that professional calm that drove me insane. I had no calm left. My left leg wouldn’t stop bouncing under the table, a tic I couldn’t control.
“Gabriel, breathe. She signs, you sign, and by eleven you’re divorced.”
“You don’t know Victoria.”
“I know her well enough. This ends today.”
I wanted to believe him.
In six months, Victoria had found a thousand ways to delay the inevitable. The psychiatric commitment that cost me three months. The anxiety crisis that bought her two more weeks in a private clinic. The legal motions her lawyer kept filing with the creativity of someone billing by the hour.
But the judge had had enough. Last week, he gave us a clear ultimatum. It ended today, or he would issue a ruling regardless of whatever new certificate appeared.
The back door opened.
She walked in.
Pearl-gray dress. Blonde hair pulled back. Low heels. She walked to her table and sat down without looking at me.
That was new.
Victoria never stopped looking at me. Not once. In every hearing, her eyes found me with that mix of hunger and resentment — her particular way of still claiming something she never had. Ignoring me was new.
And nothing new with Victoria was ever good.
Daniel nudged me discreetly.
“Focus.”
“She’s too calm.”
“She’s tired, like you. It’s the end.”
No. It was that calculated stillness she had when she played chess and saw two moves ahead of her opponent.
The judge entered. We stood. Sat again. Case file reading. Confirmation of parties. Reminder of terms.
“Mrs. Harrington Moretti. Do you confirm that you have read and accepted the terms of the agreement?”
Victoria looked at her lawyer. He looked back at her with an expression that lasted only a second — but I caught it. I’ve spent years negotiating contracts. I know the face of a man who knows what’s coming.
“Your Honor, before signing, I would like to request a fifteen-minute recess for a private conversation with my husband. There’s a financial detail I’d like to discuss directly with him.”
I clenched my jaw. Daniel leaned in.
“Don’t accept. This smells bad.”
“If I don’t, the judge might think I’m sabotaging.”
“Gabriel, no.”
But the judge was already waiting for my answer. And I knew Victoria. If this was a move, I’d rather see it coming straight at me.
“I accept the recess, Your Honor.”
Daniel sighed so loudly the judge heard it.
Fifteen minutes later, I was in a side room with Victoria sitting across from me. Hands folded on the table. That same stillness that now confirmed something was about to explode.
“Say whatever you came to say, Victoria. I’m not in the mood.”
“Hello, Gabriel. You look tired.”
“Tell me what you want so we can finish this.”
“I want more money.”
“You have half my shares. You have the Connecticut mansion. You have lifelong support. What else do you want?”
“One hundred million.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
“You’re insane.”
“One hundred million in cash. Into an account I designate. Before I sign.”
“Victoria, you already have a fortune. A hundred million is ridiculous.”
“It’s the price of my signature.”
“No. The price is already set in the agreement. I’m not giving you a cent more.”
Victoria smiled.
And that smile was the exact moment I knew things were about to get worse in a way I couldn’t even imagine.
She pulled out her phone. Unlocked it calmly. Turned it toward me.
A photo.
It took me three seconds to process it because my brain refused to accept it.
Lucía.
Walking down a street in a heavy coat and a scarf covering half her face. But it was her. I would recognize her silhouette anywhere.
The air got stuck in my lungs.
Victoria swiped. Another photo. Lucía entering a building. Another. Sitting on a bench. Hands tucked into cheap gloves. Thinner than the last time I saw her.
But alive. Real. Located.
“What is this?” I asked, my voice unrecognizable.
“This, Gabriel, is Lucía Sandoval. The nurse you almost destroyed your marriage for before it even began. Taken two weeks ago. She’s alive. She’s alone. And I know exactly where.”
“Where is she?”
“That information, Gabriel, costs exactly one hundred million dollars.”
I wanted to strangle her.
I wanted to flip that table, grab her by the throat, and squeeze until that calculated smile disappeared forever. The rage hit me so fast that for three seconds I couldn’t think — only feel. And what I felt was a primitive violence that left my hands shaking against the wood.
Victoria noticed. Of course she did. And instead of backing away, she leaned forward.
“Before you do something stupid, listen carefully, Gabriel. Because what I’m about to say will define what happens to your life — and Lucía’s.”
“Don’t you dare say her name again.”
“One hundred million. Cash. Before the end of today. And I sign the divorce. I give you copies of all the photos. I delete the originals. I fire the investigator. You never hear from me again. And Lucía stays alive wherever she’s hiding — with only you able to find her.”
“And if I don’t?”
Victoria leaned back slowly, pure choreography.
“If I don’t walk out of this room with a signed agreement, I ask the judge for another six-month delay for medical reasons my psychiatrist will confirm. And in the meantime, I pay Lucía a visit. But this time, I don’t go myself. This time, people my father knows go. People who understand how to make a woman disappear without raising suspicion. And you, Gabriel, will spend the rest of your life looking for a body you’ll never find.”
“You’re talking about killing her.”
“I’m talking about protecting my interests. And you’re going to decide in the next ten minutes how much that nurse’s life is worth to you.”
I stood up.
I had to. If I stayed seated one more second, I was going to do something that would cost me ten years in prison.
I walked to the window. Pressed my forehead against the glass. Breathed.
One.
Two.
Three.
I thought. As fast as my brain — trained for impossible negotiations — could go. Every angle. Every exit. Every move.
One hundred million was a fortune, but I had it. My personal wealth, even without the company, could cover it easily. I could write the check today.
But paying meant accepting the blackmail. And accepting the blackmail meant Victoria would come back. In six months. In a year. In five. She’d find another excuse. Another secret. Another way to bleed me dry.
And yet—
Lucía was out there somewhere. Alone. With no idea Victoria had found her. No protection. No guards like Gabriela had in the Hamptons after Dante.
Just Lucía. Alone and running from a threat that had now reached her again — and she didn’t even know it.
I couldn’t risk that.
I turned around.
“I’ll do it. But on my terms.”
Victoria smiled with that subtle satisfaction of someone who knows she’s already won.
“I’m listening.”
“I pay one hundred million. Today. But not to your account. Into an escrow account controlled by my lawyer and yours. The money is released when you give me all copies of the photos, the investigator’s contact, and a notarized document where you swear you will never approach Lucía Sandoval or any member of my family again. If you break that, the money comes back to me and I sue you for extortion using that same document as evidence.”
“My lawyer will want to adjust terms.”
“Then we don’t sign today, and everything you just said stays in this room with no proof. Because let me remind you, Victoria — this conversation has been recorded by my watch since the moment you walked in.”
I lifted my wrist, showing her the smartwatch.
A complete lie. It wasn’t recording anything. And recording without consent in New York was illegal.
But Victoria couldn’t be sure — and that doubt flickered across her face for a fraction of a second.
“Well played, Moretti.”
“I learned from the worst. My father. Do you accept or not?”
“I accept. Escrow account. Notarized document. Done today.”
“One more thing, Victoria.”
“What?”
“If you so much as breathe near Lucía again, I swear on my mother, my father, my nephews, and everything I care about in this world… I will destroy you. Not with money. Not with lawyers. With methods your father knows very well — and that you probably learned too. Is that clear?”
Victoria stared at me for a long moment.
And for the first time in six months, I saw something in her eyes that looked vaguely like fear.
“It’s clear.”
“Then let’s sign.”
I walked out of the room with shaking legs but the clearest head I’d had in months. Daniel took one look at my face and knew something had happened — but had the good sense not to ask.
The rest of the hearing blurred together. Last-minute changes. Calls to the bank. Transfer to the escrow account. Signatures. Stamps. The judge striking the gavel with that solemnity that declares the end of a marriage that never should have existed.
At two in the afternoon, I was divorced.
And at two-oh-five, I was walking down the street with my phone to my ear.
“Daniel, I need the number of the best private investigator you know. Now. Someone who knows how to track people who don’t want to be found.”
“Gabriel, we just left court. Give me a second to—”
“Now, Daniel.”
“I have a contact. Former federal agent. Works for big firms when cases are impossible. I’ll send you the number in five minutes.”
“Thanks.”
I hung up. Called my assistant.
“Marina, cancel all my meetings next week. And the one after that too. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.”
“Sir, you have the board meeting on Thursday.”
“Cancel it.”
“But—”
“Cancel it, Marina. Reschedule it for when I’m back. And call my father. Tell him I’ll be away for a few days on urgent personal business. No details. Just tell him I’m fine.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hung up.
I sat on a bench in the first park I found. Pulled out my wallet. In the hidden compartment behind the cards — the one no one but me ever touched — there was a photo I’d been carrying for over a year.
Lucía and me at that café, that afternoon before the goodbye. A selfie taken with her phone. Her laughing at something I’d said. Me looking at her instead of the camera with that expression that gave everything away — the one we both pretended not to see.
I stared at it until my phone buzzed with the investigator’s contact.
I dialed.
“This is Gabriel Moretti. Daniel Reyes gave me your number. I need to find someone who’s been missing for over a year. I have two recent photos but no location. I’ll pay whatever it takes. I need speed. When can we meet?”
“Is it urgent?”
“Her life is in danger, and she doesn’t know it.”
“Tonight. My office. I’ll send you the address.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hung up.
Looked at the photo again. Lucía’s face. Her smile. The way she used to look at me — like I was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
She’d been hiding for over a year. Alone. No family nearby. No support. Running from a threat I never should have allowed to exist.
Because of me.
Because I married Victoria. Because I let her go that afternoon at the café when all I had to do was get on that plane with her and disappear together. Because I chose duty over the woman I loved… and condemned her to this.
I put the photo away before I ruined it.
I’m coming for you, Lucía.
Wherever you are.
And whatever happens—
I’m not leaving again.