Chapter Six: The Unraveling

Gravenport simmered with unease. The city’s pulse had quickened, and beneath its cobbled streets, something darker stirred.

Dante stood in the estate’s study, the folder Julian had given him still unopened. He stared at it, fingers tense, jaw set. Gabrielle’s photo was burned into his mind—her eyes, her defiance, her silence.

He opened the folder. Maps, contracts, names. And Gabrielle—again. Her name circled in red.

Why?

He left the study and made his way to the archives. The estate’s lower levels were rarely visited, filled with dust and forgotten ledgers. The air was thick with age, and the flickering lanterns cast long shadows across the stone walls.

Dante searched for hours, pulling records, tracing Julian’s movements. Land acquisitions, council meetings, disappearances. And Gabrielle’s name kept surfacing.

She was everywhere.

Dante’s jaw clenched. His father was hiding something.

He dug deeper. Julian’s correspondence with council members, coded letters, and a ledger marked with symbols Dante didn’t recognize. He found a map of Gravenport with certain districts shaded in red—places where disappearances had occurred.

One name kept appearing beside Gabrielle’s: Elias Moreau.

Dante flipped through a stack of old council minutes. Elias had once proposed a motion to dissolve Julian’s authority. It had been denied.

A rebellion. A betrayal. A cover-up.

Dante’s heart pounded.

Gabrielle wasn’t just part of the city. She was part of its buried truth.

And Julian had kept that truth hidden for years.

Dante clenched his fists.

He would find the answers.

Even if it meant tearing everything apart.

---

Gabrielle sat in her room, the note still in her hand. He’s watching you.

She didn’t know what Dante wanted. But she knew Julian. And if her name was in his plans, it wasn’t by accident.

Elira entered quietly. "You haven’t slept."

Gabrielle shook her head. "Something’s happening. It seems Julian’s pulling strings my way."

"And Dante?"

Gabrielle looked out the window. "He’s caught in it. Whether he knows it or not. He must be. Julian is his father after all, and he's been acting strange."

Elira sat beside her. "You think he’s loyal to his father? Rumor has it they have never really gotten along."

Gabrielle hesitated. "I think he’s trying to figure out who he is. And that makes him dangerous."

---

Dante returned to the study, folder in hand. Julian was there, sipping dark liquor, the fire casting flickers across his face.

"You’ve been digging," Julian said.

"Why is Gabrielle in your files?"

Julian’s smile was thin. "She’s part of the city. And part of you."

"You’re using her as a pawn in your schemes? Why her? What exactly is the relationship?"

Julian stood. "I’m protecting what’s mine. Gravenport needs order. You need focus."

Dante stepped closer. "If you touch her—"

Julian’s eyes flashed. "You’ll do what?"

Silence.

Dante turned and left. He did not know much about Gabrielle, had barely spent time with her those years ago, but what he knew for a fact was that his heart longed for her, and he didn't know why. In a world where he had seen people dead and buried in the middle of the chaos in the world, what he knew for a fact was that he didn't want Gabrielle to be one of such statistics. 

He was going to get to the bottom of this. The fire inside him was growing. 

---

Gabrielle walked through the market, her senses sharp. She felt eyes on her.

A man brushed past her, slipping a note into her hand. She opened it. He’s lying to you.

She looked around, but the man was gone.

She folded the note and walked faster. She knew the Virellis were behind this; she just didn't know if Dante was a key player, if he was a supporting party to Julian's game or if he wasn't involved at all. Julian’s game was unfolding. And she was in the center of it.

---

Gabrielle sent a message to Dante. A request to meet.

He agreed, but only on his terms. The estate gardens. Noon.

She arrived early, nerves taut. The garden was quiet, the roses in bloom, the air heavy with tension.

Dante stood waiting, arms crossed, expression unreadable.

"Why is your father’s name in my father’s journal?" she asked.

Dante’s eyes narrowed. "What journal?"

"The one I found years ago. My father kept records. His name came up more than once."

Dante said nothing.

Gabrielle stepped closer. "You knew something. Even then?"

"I know my father is dangerous," Dante said. "But I didn’t know what exactly your father and mine got entangled with and why you are involved."

"He knew my father, and I need to know why."

Dante turned away. "I’m not your answer."

Gabrielle’s voice rose. "You’re making this impossible."

"I’m protecting you," he said.

"From what?"

"From him. From me. From whatever this is."

Gabrielle’s fists clenched. "You don’t get to decide that."

Dante looked at her, eyes cold. "Then stop asking questions you’re not ready to hear answered."

He walked away.

Gabrielle stood alone, frustration burning in her chest.

---

Gabrielle sat by the river, the journal open in her lap. Elias Moreau’s handwriting was precise, deliberate. She traced the lines with her fingers, reading the names, the dates, the warnings.

Julian’s name appeared again and again. Meetings. Votes. Secrets.

She turned the page. A sketch of Dante’s estate. A note beside it: Julian and Celeste.

Her breath caught. Her mother’s name. Written beside Julian’s. In red.

Elira approached, carrying a satchel. "You found something?"

Gabrielle nodded slowly. "My father knew Julian. He knew my mother. He saw this coming."

"Then we need to act!" Elira exclaimed. 

Gabrielle closed the journal. "We will. But not yet. I need to understand what my father was trying to protect me from."

---

Dante stood in the training yard, fists bloodied, breath ragged. He had fought three men and won, but the ache in his chest remained.

Julian watched from the balcony. "You’re restless," he said.

"I’m ready," Dante replied.

Julian tossed him a folder. "Then prove it. There’s a meeting tonight. The old council. They want to see you."

Dante opened the folder. Names, locations, threats. And at the bottom—Gabrielle’s name again.

"She’s not part of this," he growled.

Julian’s smile was thin. "She’s part of everything."

---

Dante arrived at the catacombs beneath the city. The council members sat in a circle, their faces half-hidden by candlelight.

"You’ve returned," said one.

"I didn’t have a choice," Dante replied.

"You always have a choice," said another.

Julian entered last, his presence chilling the room.

"Let’s begin," he said.

Dante’s eyes scanned the room. Secrets hung in the air like smoke.

A council member stood. "Before we proceed, there’s something you need to see."

He placed a box on the table and opened it. Inside was a bloodstained crest—Elias Moreau’s.

Dante was stunned. Why was the council affiliated with Elias Moreau? He began to wonder what this meeting was actually about. 

"This has been in Julian’s private vault," the man brought out a document and handed it over to Dante. "Proof of what he did. We have been insisting that your father tell you for years now. You have become your own ma, a dangerous one at that, exactly what the Virelli clan needs."

Julian’s face darkened. He knew the truth was about to come out. And while he was ready, he knew Dante, his son, was a different kind of breed. He wasn't sure how Dante would take it and if he could rely on him to follow through with the plan the council members had devised. 

Dante stepped forward. "What is this?"

He opened it and read the bold print. It was a birth certificate showing Julian's name as the father and another name he hadn't come across before he read it out loud, "Celeste Moreau" and then he saw it, Gabrielle Alice Virelli. 

He gasped. 

The council erupted. Voices clashed. Accusations flew.

Julian turned to Dante, eyes blazing. "It is time you knew, I am Gabrielle's father."

Dante didn’t flinch. "I think the truth is finally speaking."

The leaders of the council had known all along. They had been involved from the very beginning. While some were divided, others understood the escapades of the syndicate. 

Dante stared at the paper in his hands, and realization hit him. 

Gabrielle was his sister.