Chapter 5 - The Desperate Gamble
The private study smelled of aged leather, pipe tobacco, and burning adrenaline. Gabriel stood behind a massive walnut desk, staring intently at a live security feed displayed on a wall-mounted monitor.
When Clarina and Enzo entered, Gabriel didn't look away from the screen, but his entire posture tightened.
“What happened?” Clarina asked, stepping up to the edge of the desk.
“Preston lost everything yesterday,” Gabriel said, his voice terrifyingly calm. “His bank accounts are frozen, his friends have blocked his phone numbers, and his mother has suffered a stress-induced collapse in a private hospital. Instead of accepting defeat, he decided to blame you.”
Gabriel tapped a key on his keyboard. The monitor switched from financial charts to a live drone feed outside Boston Medical Center.
A crowd of reporters, television cameras, and flash-mob paparazzi had swarmed the emergency room entrance. Standing at the center of them, looking disheveled in a wrinkled shirt without a tie, was Preston Carmichael holding a microphone.
“Clarina Davis is a fraud!” Preston shouted into a local news microphone, his face twisted with ugly desperation. “She trapped me! She used illegal narcotics stolen from hospital inventory to drug my family, and she’s working in league with organized crime figures to extort my father's company! Boston Medical Center is harboring a criminal masquerading as a nurse!”
Clarina felt the blood drain from her face. Her hands began to shake. “He’s lying... everything I worked for—my license, my reputation at the hospital—if the board investigates this based on a public smear campaign—”
“They won't investigate anything,” Gabriel interrupted.
He walked around the desk, stopping right in front of her. He reached out and gently took her trembling hands in his. The warmth of his touch grounded her immediately.
“What are you going to do?” Clarina whispered.
“Elena,” Gabriel called out without breaking eye contact with Clarina.
His sister rushed into the study. “I’m here.”
“Activate the media syndicate. Release the federal indictments regarding the Carmichael pension embezzlement to every major news outlet in New York and Boston simultaneously. Make sure Preston’s face is featured right beside his father's.”
“Done,” Elena smiled fiercely, already tapping away on her tablet.
“Enzo,” Gabriel continued, turning his gaze toward his enforcer.
“Boss?”
“Take four men, go down to that news conference in Boston, and bring Preston Carmichael to my basement.”
Enzo’s eyes flashed with dark satisfaction. “Consider it done, Mr. Costa.”
“Gabriel, wait,” Clarina said, grabbing his arm. “Don't hurt him. I don't want blood on my account. I just want him to leave me alone.”
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Gabriel looked down at her hand on his arm, then met her eyes. A soft, reassuring smile touched his lips—a smile he reserved for her alone.
“Clarina, I am a businessman,” Gabriel said softly. “And right now, the best business decision I can make is ensuring that no one ever dares to speak your name with disrespect again.”
