Serena Ellery dared to rob an elderly, dignified matriarch of her basic ability to eat

Within ninety seconds, the massive, opulent room was entirely empty of guests. The bright, luminous video colors of the room remained, casting a soft elegant warmth across the deserted tables. The cascading crystal chandeliers continued to bathe the carved walnut walls and the gilded mirrors in a continuous, golden glow. The only people remaining in the vast hall were Gabriel, his mother Helen, the housemaid Lydia, Serena, and a dozen heavily armed security guards standing silently in the periphery shadows.

Serena was trembling violently, her fair, rosy skin completely drained of blood. She looked at the armed guards, realizing that she was completely trapped.

"Gabriel, you cannot do this," Serena whispered, reaching up to grip the diamond necklace at her throat. "My father will declare war. He will shut down your supply lines."

"Will he declare war?" Gabriel asked, tilting his head with dangerous curiosity. "Or will he thank me for returning his defective, cruel daughter before she caused a war he could not possibly win?"

He looked toward the main doors of the dining hall.

"Will someone escort Ms. Ellery to the lower levels?" Gabriel asked the shadows.

Two massive men in tailored dark suits stepped forward instantly. They didn't offer their arms; they simply stood flanking Serena, their expressions grim and unyielding.

"Get your hands off me!" Serena shrieked, batting her hands wildly at the air. She looked back at Gabriel, her face twisted with a mixture of terror and absolute, venomous hatred. "You are choosing a fragile old woman and a common maid over an empire! You are a fool, Gabriel!"

"Are empires built by men who allow their mothers to be tortured in their own homes?" Gabriel inquired, turning his back on her, an ultimate gesture of dismissal.

Serena's furious, terrified screams echoed through the bright, airy room as she was dragged away, fading only when the heavy double doors slammed shut.

Gabriel turned his full attention back to his mother.

"Will you allow Lydia to take you to your suite, Mother?" Gabriel asked softly. "Will you rest now, knowing you are safe?"

"I will, Gabriel. Thank you," Helen whispered, her fragile hands reaching out to take Lydia’s arm.

"Will you accompany her, Lydia?" Gabriel asked, his cold, perceptive eyes softening completely as he looked at the housemaid.

"Of course, Mr. Rook. I will stay with her until she is completely settled," Lydia replied with a graceful nod.

Gabriel watched them walk toward the heavy double doors leading to the residential wing. His angular face, usually a mask of impenetrable authority, softened with a rare, genuine gratitude.

As the doors clicked shut behind them, the heavy, quiet reality of the criminal underworld rushed back into the room. A senior capo stepped out from the shadows of the marble columns.

"The perimeter is locked down, Boss," the capo reported. "But we are receiving chatter from the eastern territories. Serena's father is mobilizing his lieutenants. They view the broken engagement as an act of war."

Gabriel slowly buttoned his tailored dark suit jacket. The bright, luminous colors of the room felt suddenly charged with a lethal, violent energy.

"Did we expect them to accept their dismissal quietly?" Gabriel asked, his voice dropping back into the cold, calculated register of a wartime general.

He walked toward the marble fireplace, looking at the tall candles glowing inside the crystal hurricane holders. He had protected his mother, and he had found a new, fiercely loyal ally in his household. Now, he was prepared to unleash absolute hell to ensure his family's safety remained untouched.

"Are the strike teams fully armed and ready to move?" Gabriel inquired, turning his cold, perceptive eyes back to his capo.