Instinctively, Sydney’s hand slid off Gabriel’s after hearing his demand. She had a little faith he was an honest man.
Why would he offer to fly her to Arizona if he wouldn’t benefit from it? No wonder he wanted her to go into the house first. It had been his plan all along.
“Have you lost your mind!” Caleb barked.
Over the past few weeks, he had lost a lot of money and incurred loads of debts. He barely had 50 million left, and this man wanted to rip him off.
Gabriel seemed nonchalant. “Send me fifteen million, and I’ll delete the video and leave you to do as you please with these women.”
Sydney couldn’t hold it in anymore. She grabbed Gabriel’s arm and forced him to look at her.
“You are a disgusting man! How can you let someone die because of money? If you’d told me from the start money was your goddamn problem, I would have given it to you.”
Caleb jumped in. “Don’t you dare emotionally blackmail him?”
He turned to Gabriel and said, “Fine, I’ll give you the money, but first delete the video.”
Gabriel’s expression remained unchanged. “I’m not a fool, I know what a man like you is capable of. Send the money, and I’ll delete the video.”
Caleb’s anger fueled his actions, but Gabriel remained calm.
“Time is money, Mr. Morgan, and you have wasted enough of my time.” Gabriel cut him off. “If you don’t send the money in a minute, I won’t relent to send your s! x tape to the press.”
Caleb grumbled loudly. The man in front of him didn’t look like he was going to hesitate to disparage his reputation.
“Fine, give me your account details. I’ll send the money, then you delete the bloody video and get the fu- and leave my house.” Gabriel gave him the account details.
While Caleb made a phone call with the bank manager to carry out the transaction, Gabriel looked at Sydney, who clung to her mother protectively. Since the first day he had seen her helplessly walking onto the busy road, he couldn’t stop thinking about he. And after hearing what her husband did to her, he made it his obligation to protect her.
She reminded him terribly much about his mother. She was a fragile woman who had been destroyed by a man she claimed to be in love with. No one would have guessed Mrs. Patel was being abused, not even Alfred.
Gabriel’s face grew wrinkles just remembering the day he’d seen his mother in a pool of her blood.
Caleb ended the call and turned to Gabriel. “All right, I transferred twelve million. Delete the video, and the remaining three million would be sent to you.”
Amaya grabbed Gabriel’s feet, begging, “Please, don’t do this. Madam Ashley won’t survive another beating. She needs to go to the hospital.”
Caleb kicked her away without mercy.
Sydney gasped and ran to Amaya, who was crying in pain. She looked up at Caleb with daring eyes.
“Haven’t you done enough? I won’t stand here and watch you hit any of us.” Sydney barked.
“F**king B!*ch.” Caleb’s jaw tightened in anger at her outburst. He raised a fist to hit her, but Gabriel stood in the way.
“I’ve sent you the money, so get out of the way.” Caleb snarled.
“No, you didn’t, Mr. Morgan, you didn’t fulfill your end of the bargain, so I won’t fulfill mine,” Gabriel stated.
Caleb dropped his fist and looked up at Gabriel in awe. His cruelty took most of his height. He was barely taller than his wife.
“What are you talking about?! I sent you twelve million!” Gabriel asked rhetorically.
“You didn’t send any money to me, Mr. Morgan. Instead, you sent the money to the hospital as a deposit for your wife’s treatment in case she ever falls sick.”
Caleb was seeing red now. He was ripped off! This middle-class man ripped him off His anger fueled, but he couldn’t do anything.
Gabriel grinned at Caleb’s defeated look. He resumed, “If you think of harming any of them, I won’t hesitate to ruin you.”
“You are making a huge mistake, you have no idea who I am. You won’t get to breathe in peace when I’m done with you.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Caleb threw Ashley a nasty glare before storming out of the house.
Gabriel looked at Sydney, who was being choked in a hug by mortified Amaya. She didn’t look at him. She didn’t want him to see the gratitude in her eyes.
Breaking the silence, Gabriel said, “I’ll stop a taxi. Bring your mother down.”
Ashley was attended to immediately after they arrived at the hospital. The doctor advised Ashley to undergo a test to know what illness she actually had or what stage of cancer she was in, if she had cancer.
Sydney stood in front of the ward door, watching as the test was being run. She prayed it wasn’t actually cancer. People die of cancer! Cancer kills! Ashley was too young to die.
Gabriel looked at Sydney as she was shuddering while praying. It took every bit of his self-control for him not to peel himself off the wall and comfort her.
But he couldn’t. At least not now. She was married, and besides, she didn’t look like she wanted more drama in her life.
_____________________
Gavin pushed his drunk self into his house. The entire place was dark and silent. He grimaced at the taste of his saliva. He didn’t recognize the man he was becoming.
How could Sydney go off with some guy that wasn’t him? Didn’t she feel a bit jealous or pained about what he did to her?
She didn’t care. She never did.
Gavin stopped by the dining room, expecting to see his family having dinner but it was void and dark.
” Ethan! Emily!” He beckoned but no one answered. The silence cut layers into his patience.
Maybe they went to bed early. He went to their room, nearly falling off the stairs. He knocked softly before opening his kids’ room door. Again. Empty. He went to his and Sydney’s room. Empty.
The alcohol in his bloodstream accelerated his apprehension. He raced around the house, stumbling, falling, and breaking things. Empty.
He asked Alexa if Sydney had left a message. Nothing.
Could she have left him and run off with the kids? She left with that man he’d met at the restaurant. She took the kids and eloped with him! She left him!
Gavin remembered what Gabriel had said at the restaurant. Ask your wife, she’d know me.
” J**us Ch**t!” Gavin kicked his foot hard against the wall in frustration. ” F**k!” He groaned loudly when the pain hit him.
He took out his phone and called Sydney. No answer. He called countless times. Send text messages.
Yet, no answer.