CHAPTER 2: Gabriel’s Trap
Gabriel was not blind in love.
He had been lonely. He had longed for someone sincere to stand beside him. But he was not foolish.
Vivian was too perfect.
And in his world, things that were too perfect were often carefully constructed.
The first thing that made him suspicious was not Vivian herself.
It was an old photograph.
During a party, when Vivian bent down to tie a child’s shoelace, the necklace hidden beneath her dress slipped out. The pendant was very small, engraved with two letters:
M.B.
Gabriel had seen that symbol before.
Years ago, his father had a rival named Malcolm Blake. Blake had run a major investment company, but after a failed deal, he went bankrupt. Before disappearing from the business world, he publicly accused the Whitmore family of destroying him.
Gabriel’s father had always denied it.
But Malcolm Blake vanished, his wife passed away, and no one knew what happened to his young daughter.
Gabriel told no one about his suspicion.
He hired someone to investigate Vivian’s past.
The results arrived on a rainy night.
Vivian was not Vivian Reed, as her records claimed.
Her real name was Vivian Blake.
The daughter of Malcolm Blake.
The relative who had raised her was an old associate of Malcolm — a man who always believed the Whitmore family had taken everything from the Blake family.
Gabriel sat alone in his study the entire night.
What hurt him was not the Blake name.
If Vivian had come to him and told him the truth, he would have listened. If her family had truly suffered injustice, he would have investigated it again.
He was not afraid of the truth.
What hurt him was the possibility that every smile, every touch, and every word of love had only been part of a revenge plan.
But Gabriel still did not cancel the wedding.
Because he needed to know what Vivian truly wanted.
A week later, he pretended to reveal that he would transfer part of the family shares into a joint trust after marriage. Only Vivian and his private lawyer knew that information.
Three days later, Whitmore’s business rivals began spreading rumors that Gabriel was about to lose control of the corporation.
That was when he understood.
Vivian did not simply want to hurt him.
She wanted to destroy the entire Whitmore family.
So Gabriel began setting a trap.
He replaced all real contracts with fake ones. He allowed Vivian to believe she had gained access to important documents. He changed the lawyer in charge of the wedding to someone he trusted. He quietly installed legal surveillance equipment in the mansion’s common areas, especially the hallway near the bride’s room.
But there was one thing Gabriel did not expect.
His mother would discover everything before the ceremony began.
He knew Helena was worried. He knew she suspected Vivian. But he did not want to drag her into danger.
Malcolm Blake had died many years ago, but the people who followed him were still around. One of them was Damien Cole — the man in the black suit Helena had seen in the bride’s room.
Damien was the person behind Vivian.
He did not only want revenge.
He wanted money, shares, power, and the collapse of the Whitmore family for his own gain.
Vivian thought she was avenging her father.
But in truth, she was also Damien’s pawn.
Gabriel had planned to expose everything during the wedding before the toast could happen.
But when he saw his mother’s pale face outside the wedding hall, Gabriel understood something painful.
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His plan had hurt the woman who loved him most in the world.
And that almost made him lose his calm.
