Chapter 10 - THE HIDDEN MASTER
The message on the floor changed everything.
THE NEXT PERSON TO DISAPPEAR WILL BE ELENA.
Gabriel stared at the words.
The red ink was still wet.
Whoever wrote it had been inside the mansion minutes ago.
Maybe seconds ago.
The impossible part was not the threat.
It was the confidence.
Someone wanted them to know they were watching.
“Find Valeria.”
Gabriel’s voice was sharp.
The security team immediately moved.
But Richard grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Gabriel turned.
“Why?”
Richard looked toward the empty hallway.
“Because this is what they want.”
Gabriel pulled his arm away.
“What they want?”
His anger exploded.
“My mother was kidnapped.”
He pointed at the message.
“They are threatening her life.”
“And running blindly is exactly how they win.”
Gabriel stared at his father.
For years, Richard had controlled every situation.
Every company decision.
Every family crisis.
But now Gabriel saw something different.
Fear.
His father was terrified.
Not for himself.
For what was coming.
Elena stepped closer.
“Richard.”
He looked at her.
“You knew this day would come.”
Richard didn’t answer.
That was enough.
Elena’s expression hardened.
“How long?”
Richard sighed.
“Since the beginning.”
Gabriel froze.
“What?”
Richard looked at him.
“I knew someone would come back.”
“Who?”
Richard looked toward the old family portrait hanging on the wall.
“The person who built this nightmare.”
He walked toward it.
Behind the portrait was a hidden compartment.
Inside was an old black notebook.
Gabriel stared.
“What is that?”
Richard opened it slowly.
“Your grandfather’s journal.”
Everyone became silent.
The pages were filled with names.
Dates.
Payments.
Secrets.
Margaret covered her mouth.
“He kept records…”
Richard nodded.
“He trusted nobody.”
Gabriel grabbed the notebook.
He turned through the pages.
Then he stopped.
One sentence caught his attention.
Elena must disappear before Gabriel turns eighteen.
His hands began shaking.
The date was written underneath.
The day before his eighteenth birthday.
Gabriel looked at his father.
“You knew.”
Richard looked away.
“Yes.”
The pain in Gabriel’s eyes was worse than anger.
“You knew they were coming for me.”
Richard whispered:
“I tried to stop it.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“You tried to hide it.”
Before Richard could answer, Thomas suddenly grabbed the notebook.
“Give it to me.”
Everyone turned.
Gabriel looked confused.
“Why?”
Thomas’s face changed.
Because he was no longer pretending.
“Because you don’t understand what you’re holding.”
Gabriel stepped back.
“What are you hiding?”
Thomas looked at the notebook.
Then at Elena.
“The truth about Gabriel’s birth.”
The room went silent.
Elena’s face changed.
“What?”
Thomas opened the notebook.
There was one final entry.
One that nobody had seen.
One that had been hidden for twenty-nine years.
Gabriel Whitmore is not Richard Whitmore’s biological son.
Nobody breathed.
Gabriel felt the world disappear.
“No…”
Thomas looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Gabriel stared at Elena.
His voice broke.
“Mom?”
Elena looked devastated.
Because she knew.
May you like
She knew this secret.
And she had carried it alone.
