Chapter 5 - The Empire Begins to Burn
At 6:17 the following morning, federal agents raided 3 Rossi warehouses.
By 7:00, 2 accountants had disappeared.
By 8:30, every television in Chicago carried the same headline.
ROSSI CRIME EMPIRE UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION.
Gabriel watched from his study.
He felt strangely calm.
His father would have ordered witnesses killed.
Victor expected Gabriel to do exactly that.
Instead Gabriel called his attorney.
“Shut down every illegal route.”
Silence.
“Gabriel?”
“You heard me.”
“That would cost—”
“Everything.”
He hung up.
Tommy stared.
“You serious?”
“For once.”
For the next 48 hours Gabriel dismantled pieces of the empire his family had spent 60 years building.
Illegal shipments stopped.
Cash houses closed.
Men involved in narcotics distribution were cut loose.
Gabriel preserved only legitimate companies—construction, shipping, hotels, and real estate.
Some captains rebelled.
One named Dominic Vale confronted him.
“You’re destroying us over a maid.”
Gabriel looked across the table.
“No. I’m destroying something that should’ve died with my father.”
Dominic laughed.
“Same difference.”
He walked out.
That mistake would cost them dearly.
Meanwhile Hazel remained at the safe house with Eli.
Gabriel did not visit.
He wanted to.
Every hour.
But he remembered what she had said.
She was free.
He would not turn protection into another prison.
On the 5th day, Eli called.
Gabriel stared at the unfamiliar number.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Gabriel?”
His voice softened automatically.
“Hey, kid.”
“Mom made pancakes.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
Eli giggled.
“She burned them.”
“I believe that.”
Hazel’s offended voice sounded in the background.
“I can hear you.”
Gabriel smiled before he could stop himself.
Then Eli said:
“Mom cries when she thinks I’m asleep.”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
Hazel grabbed the phone.
“Eli!”
The line rustled.
Then silence.
“Sorry,” Hazel said.
“Don’t be.”
Another pause.
“Are you okay?” Gabriel asked.
“No.”
It was the first completely honest answer she had ever given him.
“Me neither.”
Hazel exhaled.
“I spent half my life hiding from your family. Now I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“Anything you want.”
“That’s terrifying.”
Gabriel understood.
“So start small.”
“With what?”
“Make pancakes that don’t qualify as weapons.”
She laughed.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
He had missed that sound without ever realizing he had barely heard it before.
Then alarms erupted downstairs.
Tommy burst through the door.
“Gabriel!”
Hazel heard him.
“What happened?”
Gabriel stood.
“I’ll call you back.”
“Gabriel—”
He disconnected.
Tommy threw a tablet onto the desk.
Security footage showed flames consuming one of Gabriel’s legitimate warehouses.
“Dominic,” Tommy said.
Gabriel watched the fire.
“He joined Victor.”
“Looks that way.”
Then another call came.
This time from the safe house.
Not Hazel.
A guard.
Gabriel answered.
Gunfire thundered through the speaker.
“Boss! We’re hit!”
Gabriel’s blood turned cold.
“Hazel?”
“We’re moving them!”
Then the call died.
Gabriel was already running.
The drive took 22 minutes.
It felt like 22 years.
The safe house gates had been rammed open.
Two vehicles burned outside.
Gabriel jumped from his SUV before it stopped moving.
“Hazel!”
He entered.
Broken glass covered the hallway.
A wounded guard pointed toward the basement.
Gabriel found Hazel there.
Alive.
She was crouched over Eli, shielding him with her body.
When she saw Gabriel, relief crossed her face so intensely that he nearly lost control.
He knelt.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Eli?”
“Fine.”
Gabriel touched the boy’s hair.
Then Hazel grabbed Gabriel’s wrist.
“Rebecca.”
His stomach dropped.
“What about her?”
“They took her.”
On the wall upstairs, the attackers had left a message.
TRADE THE DRIVE FOR THE SISTER.
Gabriel stared.
Hazel came beside him.
“This ends now.”
“Yes.”
“No, Gabriel. Not with another war.”
“They kidnapped Rebecca.”
“And they want you angry.”
She turned toward him.
“They know rage makes you predictable.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“What do you suggest?”
Hazel’s expression hardened.
“We stop behaving like criminals.”
Tommy blinked.
“What exactly does that mean?”
Hazel looked toward the television, where federal agents were discussing Gabriel Rossi.
“We give the government Victor.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“And everything else.”
Tommy swore softly.
Hazel continued.
“The drive doesn’t just prove Victor’s crimes. It proves your father’s. It proves who was bribed. Who ordered murders. Who moved illegal weapons.”
“And it proves things about me.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel understood.
If he surrendered the evidence, he might lose his businesses.
His freedom.
Everything.
Hazel stepped closer.
“You asked how you prove you aren’t your father.”
Gabriel met her eyes.
“This is how.”
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he picked up the phone.
His attorney answered.
“Gabriel?”
“Call the U.S. Attorney.”
May you like
Hazel’s eyes widened.
“Tell them Gabriel Rossi wants to talk.”
