Chapter 8
"She is a maid!" Evelyn shrieked, pointing a shaking, diamond-adorned finger at Phoebe, though she shrank back under Gabriel's lethal glare. "She is nothing! I am the daughter of a king! You cannot humiliate me in front of our families over a lie that benefited us both!"
"You humiliated yourself the moment you brought a stolen child into my home," Gabriel replied coldly.
He moved with absolute, predatory grace. Gabriel stepped decisively forward, inserting his broad-shouldered, masculine frame directly into the medium wide space between Evelyn and the reunited family. He placed his body entirely between his fiancée and Phoebe, creating an impenetrable physical shield of authority that covered both the trembling housemaid and the twin boys.
"You will not look at them. You will not speak to them," Gabriel commanded, his voice a low, vibrating rumble that shook the crystal glasses on the nearby tables.
He slowly swept his gaze across the room, taking in the numerous capos, donors, and relatives standing frozen among the marble columns. His eyes locked onto Vincent, his most trusted lieutenant.
"Have you all finished your champagne?" Gabriel asked the room at large.
It was phrased as a polite question, but the command hidden within it was unmistakable and absolute.
Guests practically scrambled toward the exits. There were no polite farewells, no lingering handshakes. Men in tailored suits and women in expensive evening gowns fled the bright, elegant room with frantic urgency, eager to escape the blast radius of Gabriel Vale’s wrath.
"What are you doing?!" Evelyn shrieked, watching her audience, her leverage, and her protection sprint for the heavy mahogany doors. "You can't just dismiss them! My family's capos are in this room!"
The men loyal to the Cross family did not stay. They took one look at the cold, calculating fury in Gabriel's eyes and the armed men loyal to the Vale syndicate stepping out from the shadows, and they ran just as fast as the civilians.
Within ninety seconds, the expansive grand salon was completely empty, save for Gabriel, Evelyn, Phoebe, the twins, and four heavily armed Vale bodyguards.
The heavy mahogany doors slammed shut, sealing the room and locking Evelyn inside with her greatest nightmare.
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"Did you truly believe you could run a kidnapping operation against my household and remain standing in my home?" Gabriel asked, turning his terrifying focus entirely back to the woman in the emerald gown.
Evelyn backed away, her heels clicking unsteadily against the polished marble floor. She wrapped her arms around her waist, a defensive posture that crushed the luxurious satin of her dress. Her diamond earrings shook as her aristocratic bravado finally shattered, leaving only primal terror in its wake.
