Chapter 23
"Of course sir, I'm alkears."
"I need you to find someone for me. A child, no more than five years old, with blonde hair and grey eyes, associated with Leonica Romero. Get all the information that you can on him." "Yes Sir. Is that all?"
Gabriel glanced back in the direction of Angelina's ward, recalling the promise he had told her. "Yes, and once you're done, pick up a red Chanel bag from the
store and have it delivered to Angelina's residence."
"Understood Sir. If that's all, I'll get to the tasks now.
And with that, the call ended, leaving Gabriel standing alone in the hospital's hallway with his thoughts, the sounds of beeping hospital machines and distant chatters.
"Okay, so you know how the drill goes, Ashely Leonica who was crunched at Ashely level, began, adjusting his new school uniform as they stood in front of the school's entrance. "Be at good boy and?"
Aunt Annie and mommy would take me to the amusement park during the weekend." The young boy completed, glancing between his mother and aunt who nodded their heads at their said promise.
"That's mommy's prince." Leonica praised, pecking his head. "Now, follow your teacher to your class and be sure to make lots of nice friends, alright?"
"Alright. Bye mommy. Bye Aunt Annie." Ashely waved, turning around and entwining his fingers with his teacher who bowed one last time before leading them towards his classroom.
Leonica watched with a smile on her lips, a genuine one, Anastasia could tell.
The smile however, faded at the start of their new conversation.
"You know," There was a pause in Anastasia's words as they both turned around and began walking away. "You can't keep Ash hidden for much longer."
Leonica remained quiet, and Anastasia continued
"Even if this is Norway's most secured kindergarten, that kid looks too much like Gabriel, who might I remind you, has his face plastered across half of the city. It would only take someone five minutes of staring before they point out the resemblance between the two." "I know," Leonica admitted with a sigh.
"So? You have a plan right?" She questioned. "You know, in the event that Gabriel discovers that Ashely is his? You do have a countermeasures for that, right?"
Leonica opened her mouth to speak, however closing it back the moment she felt her phone
Infangsten Data Breach
vibrating on the inside of her pocket.
"Excuse for a seconds," She fetched the phone out, glanced at the caller ID and excuses herself.
Taking a few steps ahead, she answered the phone and pressed it to her ear. "Leonardo, what is it?"Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
The rustling sound of papers were heard from the other end of the line before her brother's voice resounded. "Leo, where are you? Where's Ashley? Did anything happen?" He bombarded her with questions.
"What? Wait, wait hold on." She gestured her hand in the air even though she was well aware that he couldn't see her. "What are you talking about. I'm at Ashely's kindergarten and Ashely, well he's in class. Why'd ask?"
"Did something happen today? Like did you perhaps run into anyone?" Leonardo questioned once again rather than answering her question.
"No, no I didn't." She answered, switching her phone to her other ear and glancing around. "Why?"
Kaden just got back to me," Kaden was one of Leonardo's strongest sources as well as his personal assistant. "Someone tried to breach our information base. To be precise, Ashley's information and it was Gabriel's men. So I'll ask you this one last time Leonica, what happened today?"
Drunk A
Dumb.
The ticking sound of a clock on his work table was Gabriel's only source of concentration. After his
conversation with Bill, he had returned to the company, burying his nose in all the works that had pilled up over the days due to his neglect.
The hours went by and soon, he became unaware of the time of the day and the daylight sipping through the blinds of his window was quickly fading.
His concentration towards work was disrupted as the sound of soft footsteps accompanied by knocks on his door, caught his attention.
He looked up from the work at hand. "Come in."
The door opened at his command and Bill walked in, brown folder in his arms containing the information he had been assigned to get.
"Sir," The assistant greeted. He passed the folder to Gabriel and stood back, watching as his boss unraveled the envelope and pulled out it's contents, a couple of white print papers.
"I got the information on the boy as you requested." He voiced.
"Good. You're dismissed." He waved his hand, the assistant bowing respectfully before taking his leave.
Gabriel eager to get answers, began reading the paper. However, with each line he completed, his face became more gloomy. One line in particular completely destroyed his mood. Name: Ashely.
Age: Three years old.
Ashely, the boy he had ran Into, was three years old, not four?
Gabriel's grip on in the paper tightened as he thought; He had divorced Leonica five years ago, and it was then she had conceived his child, so by now, his child was meant to be five, at least four.
Yet it showed here that the boy was three years old. Didn't that mean that he belonged to another man other than himself?
Anger cursed through Gabriel's veins and he nearly crumbled the entire paper in his grasp. How bold if Leonica!
So while he was here, barely getting any sleep at night, worrying over the stupid decision she had made by making away with his child, she was busy enjoying the pleasure a man brought her in bed building another family with him! If that wasn't something to be angered about, then he didn't know what anger truly meant.
Drum Ainu Dumbo
Standing from his desk, Gabriel walked towards the bar installed in his office. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey, a glass and sat on a still before pouring himself one glass.
As he chugged the first glass down, Leonica's face flashed in his mind and his temper flared, resulting in him chugging another glass down and another glass down and another and before he knew it, the world around him began to swirl. He felt his mouth moving but couldn't hear the words that were coming out. Soon, the door to his office opened and Bill walked in once more.
""Sir, you called."
"I did?' He thought, getting off the Stool and walking towards Bill.
Maybe he had taken a little too much alcohol for the night.
Bill, seeing the state his boss was in, knew what he had to do.
"Let's get you home, Sir." He suggested, leading Gabriel out of his office and towards his car.
When he had placed his in the back seat and started the engine, he glanced at his boss through the rare view mirror and announced. "Sir, I'm taking you home now."
"Hmm." Came Gabriel's response.
Without saying another word, Bill drove towards his house. The drive was short, the stress thankfully being free, and in under an hour, he had driven the car into the premises of the Bryce estate and parked in front of the palace like mansion. Reaching behind, he gently shook Gabriel awake. "Sir, we're here."
Slowly, Gabriel's eyes opened. He stared at his assistant for a few seconds before turning to look at the structure of his house, outside the window.
"Did you-"
"Yes, I brought you home, Sir." Bill interrupted. Stepping out, he rounded the car and opened the door of the seat Gabriel was seated. "Shall I help you out?"
"No," Gabriel dismissed, well capable of coming out himself.
Once he was out of the car, Bill closed the door and bowed his head before rounding the car once more and driving off. Gabriel ignored everyone of his gesture and walked, stumbled towards his house. Once he was in, he climbed up the stairs and flung the door to his bedroom
open.
The shocking sight In front of him seemed to sober him up somewhat.
"Angelina?" He asked, looking at the brunette who was dressed in a red lace night gown and had placed herself seductively on his bed.
Druckfind Dumb.
"Hey, Gabe." She responded, getting off the bed and walking towards him, hips swaying as she did.
"What are you doing here?" He questioned, voice low, eyes following her movements and noticing the small limps in her step. All credit to her strained ankle.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing their bodies close. "Why, I'm your fiancee aren't I?"
Gabriel didn't respond, not knowing how to.
Smelling the scent of alcohol coming off strong from him, Angelina couldn't help but smirk on the inside.
This was her chance.
"Gabe, are you drunk?" Concern dripped in the silver sound of her voice as she asked. "You are, aren't you? Come on, let's get you to bed."
Before Gabriel could even register the words that had left her mouth, Angelina had already slipped his coat off and begun unbuttoning his shirt. "Ange," He muttered out, hands stopping the movement of her hands.
She looked up at him through her long lashes, eyes shinning. "Yes?" Her voice had a seductive low that made Gabriel gulp.
No doubt, Angelina was beautiful. She possessed the type of innocent beauty that made men turn their heads each time she walked by. And despite the innocent look she had, her aura at times could be extremely seductive and tempting at times. Times like this, Gabriel thought as he looked down at Her and felt his desires stir inside of him..
Angelina was a wonderful and beautiful woman, and he, a man who hadn't had sexual intercourse with a woman for close to five years running.
Perhaps, this wasn't so bad.
Angelina was his fiancé after all.
Making up his mind, Gabriel leaned down, lips hovering over bers, giving her time to reject if she wished.
Angelina who was excited seeing a step forward in his relationship, closed her the best.
But seconds passed and nothing happened.
eyes, expecting
"I'm sorry," He uttered, leaning his head on her shoulder. "I really am, but I can't do this." He got up.
DunayAna Dumb:
"G-gabe?"
"I have to go." He turned around grabbing one of his car keys as he walked out.
"Gabe! Gabriel!" Angelina called out, but her call fell on deaf ears.
Gabriel continued down the stairs and exited his house. He entered the garage and settled in the car. Starting the engine, he sped off.
The ride to the Romero mansion was long and silent, the radio was not turned on, neither were any songs played on the phone.
And when the car was parked, he wasted no time exiting it and walking towards the gate.
He refused to believe that Ashely wasn't his son and for that, he needed concrete answers. Answers that only Leonica could give him. Walking-towards the gate, Gabriel's steps flattered as he watched a red sport car come to stop
in front of the house.
www
From the front window, Gabriel watched as Leonica chatted with the man in the driver's passed a few smiles to him before leaning over and encasing him in a hug.
seat,
It wasn't the hug that angered him, nor was it the smile. It was the kiss.
The kiss on the cheek, which lasted a second longer than usual, was what enraged him the
most.
Seeing her exchange such a close and intimate action with a man other than himself, a stranger even, made Gabriel's blood boil.