Chapter 34.

**Narrator’s POV.**

“How the fuck are we supposed to know?”, Gabriel suddenly burst out after a minute of uncomfortable silence. Alex had just handed them that kind of huge information as if it was nothing,

“I thought he would’ve told you, after all, you were being primmed to take over the family business”, he pointed out, “He really never told you?”,

“No, he didn’t. I guess we really didn’t have that kind of relationship after all. But he told you?”, all this was confusing to both Gabriel and Kevin, why would he tell Alex of all people, why didn’t he tell his oldest son?

“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong”, Alex defended, “He did not tell me anything, I found out myself”,

“How?”, Kevin still did not trust this idea, how could they live under the same roof with someone for twenty-one years and not know that they were operating an entire legal business? It just wasn’t practical.

“I have known for almost five years now and I had it in mind that you guys knew but he just chose not to tell me because I can be a bit… much sometimes”,

“You think?”, Kevin’s words made Alex roll his eyes, “But that still doesn’t answer my question”.

“It was when we were in high school. I was very sick that day so I did not go to school- you guys did though and dad was also at work but I did not know he had left already so I went to his office. He wasn’t there but I still went it either ways. As always, they were files scattered all over his desk and I went to arrange them. There was one particular file that caught my attention though, it was from a man ‘Jerome Patail’-” he was caught off by Kevin,

“Jerome Patail? Where have I heard that name before?”, he knew that name but he just couldn’t tell who or where he had heard it from,

“That was exactly my thought when I saw the name, so I did what any teenager of this century would do- looked it up on the internet. Turns out, Jerome is a level one hundred criminal, he has been to prison more times than I can count which brought me to; why was dad receiving letters from a criminal mastermind?”, he took a pause before continuing, “The envelope wasn’t sealed so I just took the paper work out- the things that were in it did not seem horrifying but when you realize that you live under the same roof with that person, you would be terrified. Jerome was requesting for fire arms and bombs from our father”.

Kevin and Gabriel’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, “Are you fucking with us right now?”, Gabriel had caught himself and had put on his stone-cold demeanor,

“I swear it to you that this isn’t a joke or a lie. I have proof but I have to know whether I can trust you guys first”, the look on his face told them that he meant every word he was saying and they nodded their head at the same time. Alex took in a deep breath and sighed, “I chipped his office”,

“Shit! Are you insane? What if he caught you? You would’ve been dead meat”, Kevin screamed, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”,

“I was seventeen, I wasn’t thinking but at the end of the day, it was worth it. I have a lot of recordings and video tapes that could be used as evidence against him. Did you know that there was a secret door behind his bookshelf?”, even though they were working together, Alex was happy that he had some kind of leverage over them. all these years, he thought they knew and were hiding it from him, he had no idea that he was the only one.

“Apparently, we do not know anything”, Gabriel stood up and went to the bar again but instead of taking a glass this time, he took the whole bottle with him,

“What is behind the door?”, Kevin asked curiously,

“Call me crazy but after I saw him entering it with some men and leaving with duffle bags, I became insanely curious so I waited for everyone to leave again, I faked being sick so I could stay at home… again. I went into his office during the day and pushed the bookshelf away, turns out that is the door and behind it; stacks of cash, heaps of coke- not the legal type and other hard drugs, crates of bombs and guns that look like they’ve been casted in a fucking action movie”, he said,

“Shit, that is been there all this time?”, Kevin was visibly surprised, “Are you sure he doesn’t know that you know this?”,

“He could’ve changed location and I am very sure that he doesn’t know shit”.

“This changes everything”, Gabriel stood up and went to window, “Tessa could be in more danger than we actually think. We will get our time to bring the bastard down but first, we have to focus on finding and possibly saving Tessa”, he took a long swing of the alcoholic drink and worried deeply about his girlfriend. What was his father doing to her? Where was she? Could he place his trust in his step-brothers? Were they going to betray him? He turned away from the window and faced the men, “I will bring him to justice and no one is going to stop me”,

“We will bring him to justice Gabriel”, Alex said and Kevin agreed. Gabriel nodded and turned back to the window, he was going to believe them but he was not going to place his complete trust in them- only a fool would trust someone who has hated him throughout his life but whether the fool liked it or not, he needed them. But he was going to watch his back before he got stabbed.