Taken By The Mafia Lord

That same evening, Gabriel and Daniel were in another one of their meetings after their newfound liaison, oblivious to the incident that happened at the base or the brewing war.

"Adele is out of the deal," Daniel announced to him, sipping from his glass.

"What?!" Gabriel shouted, unable to believe what he just heard. "How is that possible? You said she's on our side and everything would go well…." It dawned on him, "What did you do?"

Something must have happened for Adele to back out all of a sudden and Daniel was a troublemaker - everyone knows that.

"Well…." Daniel tilted his head unsure, obviously believing he had done nothing wrong, "Apparently, fucking her mother was her breaking point."

Unfortunately, Gabriel who just took a sip of his drink spat out everything, some of it falling on Daniel who stilled at once.

"You did what?!" Gabriel was dumbfounded. What did he just hear? Adele was his half-sister and if Daniel has been sleeping with her mother, then….. Dear God, his family was messed up.

Gabriel was not ignorant of his father's affairs with Adele's mother, considering his mother had made a huge deal out of it. He couldn't tell if his father was still secretly seeing the woman, but the fact Daniel was also interested in her made him uncomfortable. As much as he wasn't that close to Adele, she was still his sister and he wasn't in support of this relationship.

"She made the right decision," Gabriel was surprisingly in support of Adele's decision. He told Daniel, "You crossed the line this time. If you wanted someone to have fun with, you should have chosen another woman, not…." It was embarrassing thinking about it.

"Do I look like I care about your opinion?" Daniel arched a brow at him haughtily, "I saw someone I like and went after her. What's my crime? So tell me, like your foolish sister, would you back out of our deal too?"

While it seemed like an ordinary question, Gabriel could sense the threat beneath his tone. Adele might have had it easy backing out of the deal, but the same couldn't be said for him. Unlike him, Adele had more power and Daniel couldn't deal with her carelessly. But him…. his performance was mediocre, at least when compared to his rival and cousin, Arthur. Moreover, part of the reason he had agreed to this deal was to have Daniel's support. If he backed out now, he would lose everything.

"I-of course not!" Gabriel laughed nervously, "There's no way I'm backing out over such little matter." But inwardly, he was beginning to regret agreeing to this. He was no less than Daniel's lackey right now.

"Good," Daniel sat up straight, ready for business as he crossed his leg over the other, "Since we have lost Elijah and kidnapping him is out the option, let's send the Draven family a message then."

"A m-message? What message?" Gabriel felt the hairs on his back stand on edge, having a feeling he was not going to like this.

"What do you think?" Daniel smirked devilishly, "An eye for an eye."

Oh no.

_________

If Arianna thought there was tension at Marcel's place, then she obviously hadn't come back home. The tension at Eric's place was suffocating, especially the heightened state of security. It was almost as if the president of the country was residing at her place, which was not the case.

While she hated to admit it, Marcel was right. Eric's place was the safest for her. Not even a fly could get in here without getting noticed. It had taken Arianna a lot of will to separate from Marcel once again, but she understood the severity of the situation and had no choice but to bid him goodbye.

She would miss him greatly, but this had to be done. Arianna knew she would be nothing but a distraction to Marcel if she stubbornly remained at the base. He needed to concentrate and take care of that nuisance called Richardo who nearly took her life.

The brothers drove into the lawn, and Arianna barely stepped out of the car before she was pulled into a body. It was Natalie.

"Mom…" She was still saying, but the woman didn't care and hug her tightly before pulling back and frantically searching her body for any bruise on her.

"I'm fine," Arianna stopped her because she was beginning to embarrass her, especially in front of the brothers.

"Wow, it's nice having a mother to worry about me. Lucky you, Arianna." There was a teasing look in Ephraim's eyes.

Arianna didn't have the chance to answer him because her mother pulled her into another hug that nearly drained the air out of her lungs. For crying out loud, she was pregnant, you know. Not that Natalie knows yet. And when she does know, Marcel is going to get it from her. And that was more reason why she can't know yet.

"Thank God, you're safe," Natalie finally let go. She clasped her face this time, tracing her daughter's features with a relieved breath. "I almost lost you," she said.

"I'm here. Neither am I going anyway. You forgot that I'm as tough as you." Arianna joked, clasping her face too.

Natalie smiled, and she smiled back.

For the first time, Arianna was scared of losing her mother, just the same way Natalie was scared of losing her.

"This is such a touching scene. Why don't we have a group hug to finish off?" Elvis suggested, already spreading his arms and engulfing Arianna and her mother before they could escape.

When Ephraim tried to sneak away, unnoticed, he reached out and pulled him into the group.

"You big brute!" Arianna beat him on the arm, yet a smile couldn't help but leave her lips. This was so nice.

"Let go now or I'll cut off those hands." Ephraim was not exactly a fan of hugs and kisses - except when his wife and children were around.

He let go and they went in together, like a family.