Ch. 316..320: Charmed by the Billionaire CEO Chapter 316-320

Chapter 316: Dejected Gabriel

Sandra stepped out of the house wearing new clothes and started walking towards the bus station when suddenly she heard a honk and her footsteps stopped midway.

"Oh my god," she flinched looking at the car and watched the window scroll down with Gabriel’s face appearing from inside.

"Hey birthday girl," he said with a pleasant smile making her roll her eyes skyward.

"Common get in," Gabriel said opening the door for her, and without any hesitation, Sandra stepped in.

"You know that you are weird, right," Sandra said as she adjusted herself on the front seat.

Gabriel decided to pick Sandra up from her place before driving to the venue first. He wanted to be just the two of them when he would confess his feelings for her. He wanted it to be special.

"And so are you. Don’t you think we both fit well together, just like the missing pieces" he said winking at her with a smile making Sandra slap his arm playfully.

Whatever he said was the truth but Sandra wasn’t able to see through it. She thought just like every day, he was joking around.

Glancing at Sandra Gabriel moved his attention to the road ahead. He knew she couldn’t believe his words but after today, she will definitely see through his emotions for her.

He will make her believe that he isn’t jesting with his words and that everything he said came directly from his heart.

After driving for about half an hour, they finally reached their destination. "We are here," he said moving his eyes to the girl next to him.

The way Sandra’s eyes sparkled made his heart skip a beat. How hopelessly he was in love with her, that even a single expression on her face can move his entire world.

Gabriel’s heart was on the run making him restless all of sudden, but he kept reminding himself that it wasn’t the time to act cowardly, not after coming this far.

"Let’s go" brushing away all of his worries, they climbed out of the car and walked inside the hotel where he had booked a special room for them to celebrate her birthday.

On his way, Gabriel kept checking his phone. He had been trying to reach Tristan since last night, but the boy seems to be disappeared into thin air.

He needed courage before he stands in front of Sandra without any fear, but his friend was out of reach.

"Damn, where are you Tristan" he mumbled swirling the phone in his hand only to realize they had already reached the room.

Taking the lead, Gabriel asked the staff to leave. Standing in front of the door, he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his anxiousness, and then opened the door.

"After you," he said giving Sandra the space to step inside and when she did, he followed her.

Inside the room, Sandra looked around and found no one except them. Confused she turned around and asked," Where is everyone?"

Her friends were supposed to be there with them, then why aren’t they here yet, she thought as she watched Gabriel.

"They will be here soon," he said scratching the back of his head. His nervousness was doing no good to him making him lose his confidence.

’Why was it so hard to be vocal about your thoughts when it came to her, Gabriel’ he scolded himself mentally and watched her smile.

As she turned around, her lips stretched into a broad smile and her eyes grew wide in excitement. He could tell that she had loved the preparation and why wouldn’t she, everything was all according to her liking.

While Sandra was busy looking around, Gabriel once again checked his phone and to his disappointment, his friend hadn’t yet seen his text.

A deep frown marred his forehead as he kept staring at the cell phone. This was the first time Tristan had neglected his text and now, it started bothering him.

"I love all of this" he heard Sandra’s happy voice and his thought broke. Sliding the cell phone back inside his pocket Gabriel smiled.

’I shouldn’t be thinking so much. What if he wants to give us some privacy’ Gabriel thought and he bobbed his head in understanding.

Sandra moved her eyes from Gabriel and looked at the time on her wristwatch. She had been counting second, hoping for Tristan to show up. She could wait to see him after whatever he had done for her.

’Does it means, Tristan likes me too’ Sandra couldn’t help but think. After all this, she couldn’t help but come to assume that even he had a liking towards her.

Just the thought of it made her heart bloom with happiness and she rested her palm on her chest feeling her heart racing like crazy.

’Where are you Tristan’ she mumbled to herself.

"Ahem... Sandra" Gabriel’s whisper-like voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned around and the smile on her lips falter.

"Gabriel, w-what are you doing?" she asked as a weird feeling started to creep her heart when she saw Gabriel on his knee.

She couldn’t anticipate what was happening and why was Gabriel down on one knee but the more she looked at him, anxiousness engulf her mind.

Gabriel raised his head and saw the smile on Sandra’s face drop but he didn’t feel bad. It was obvious to her to get surprised.

"I know, you must be thinking what’s wrong with me or is this some kind of joke I am trying to play on you" Gabriel scratched his head smiling like a fool. This was all new for him since he had never fallen in love with anyone before.

Sandra was the first girl who was not only his friend but also the love of his life.

"But trust me, this isn’t a prank. I have been very serious when it came to you whether it was regarding our friendship or love. I have always been clear about you" his words made Sandra gasp in shock and suddenly everything came crashing down.

’Was all this planning done by Gabriel because he wanted to-’ she couldn’t finish her words when Gabriel again started to speak.

"I know you must be surprised but it surprised me too when I realized that I have started to see you as more than just a friend. I’ve tried to suppress my feeling for you Sandra thinking it will ruin our friendship but it was Tristan who made me realize that I can’t keep on going this way. Not when one day someone will come and take you away from me" Sandra’s eyes widen in shock and her palm clutched into a tight fist.

She couldn’t believe his words. All these while she thought it was Tristan behind this surprise birthday plan but she was wrong, it was Gabriel who had been planning everything.

’Does it mean she heard those girls wrong and kept on assuming everything without any proper check’

Sandra was now feeling stupid standing in front of Gabriel like this. All her dream of becoming Tristan’s girlfriend was getting ruined.

’No! She can let this happen. She has always dreamed to be with Tristan and there is no way Gabriel could come to love her. She never gave him any false hopes’

Heaving out a sigh, Gabriel continued pouring his heart out," Before anyone comes to snatch you away from me, I have to be open about my feeling for you Sandra" he said reaching his hand out to her and carefully holding them.

Locking his gaze on her he slowly stood up and took a step close to her. His heart had been accelerating but he didn’t care. He had to say what he felt for her, if not now then there wouldn’t be another day.

"You have captured my thoughts and heart Sandra and I am not able to get you out since then. You are my best friend with whom I can be like an open book and now I want you to be more than just a friend to me. So..." he stopped and took a deep breath before he continued," Can you be my girlfriend" he finally said it.

Sandra stood still as she couldn’t comprehend her brain after whatever she heard. She had seen this coming but she was too stuck up to stop him from going ahead.

After whatever she heard him say, Sandra couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. She had been very clear about her liking towards Tristan, and Gabriel was just a friend to her nothing more than that.

Composing her thoughts she slowly pulled back the hands Gabriel had been holding all this time and took a step back, shocking the person standing in front of her.

"Gabriel, I am sorry but... I can’t be your girlfriend" she said with a remorseful tone and turned to leave but Gabriel stopped her right away.

"Sandra, you don’t have to answer me right away. You can take your time" Gabriel felt his heart sink when tried to leave.

"I don’t think I need any time Gabriel because I have someone else whom I love," she said right away and watched him stumble back.

Gabriel watched her with tears brimming in his eyes. She didn’t give it a thought and just rejected him right away and who was the person she mentioned being in love with and why isn’t he aware of it? he thought but soon something struck his mind and he looked at her in shock.

"Is that someone Tristan who was talking about" his words took Sandra by surprise but the look on her face broke Gabriel’s heart into pieces.

 

Chapter 317: I love you Tristan

"Are you going to stop meeting Grandpa Dante?" Noah asked recalling whatever happened after the cops took away Alphonse.

Grace was very upset after she witnessed everything that happened in the hideouts with her eyes. Not only she vented her anger on grandpa Dante but also asked him to stay away from them as she didn’t want him to drag her kids into his violent world.

Their relationship was already on bricks but after today everything went back to zero.

Tristan lay on the bed with his arms over his forehead and his eyes shut. He didn’t regret going against his mother’s words but what made him feel remorseful were the words she said to her father without listening to anything back.

He loved his mother and so did he love his grandfather. He knew how much that old man had been longing for his daughter, but his mother was too blinded by the hate she had been carrying for her father all these years that she didn’t hesitate to slit his heart with her harsh words.

He remembered Dante stopping him but it was his stubborn self that wanted to cross the line.

Pulling his body up, Tristan sat on the bed before he rubbed his face and heaved out a sigh." For now yes, until everything settles down" he said looking at the two.

He was so drained out that he forgot about Sandra’s reality and how they had caught her red-handed.

Pulling out his phone, he turned it on and was shocked to see numerous messages and missed calls from Gabriel.

"Shit" he cursed catching both Karl’s and Noah’s attention.

"We forgot about Gabriel" he mumbled and quickly called him back but this time, his phone was turned off.

"Should we tell him everything about Sandra? We can’t let him keep in the dark" Karl said and Tristan agreed to him but before that, they had to do a few things.

*****

Sandra left the venue after confronting Gabriel. She told him that she always liked Tristan and she thought it was his idea to surprise her. She even told him that she wished to confess her feeling for him but then everything turned different.

She knew Gabriel was finding it hard to absorb her words but she didn’t want to keep him in the shadows and hoped he would understand her.

Walking a few distances away, Sandra was about to hail a bus back home when suddenly her phone buzzed and she quickly slide open the screen and found a message from the same unknown number on the notification bar.

Her grip on the phone tightened as she blankly stared at the screen and without wasting any time, she turned and walk in the other direction that lead her to the university.

After fifteen minutes of walking, Sandra finally reached the campus. Her eyes were busy observing the place when suddenly her phone buzzed.

Pulling out her phone she read the message that popped up once again.

[ Meet me on the same floor where you last met Alexa] the text said, making Sandra fume in rage.

The floor was sealed by the cops because of the investigation purpose and this blackmailer was asking her to invade that space.

Sandra was hesitating to take a step ahead but when she recalled the image she received from the same person blew her mind.

"No, I can’t get caught. I will have to negotiate" she mumbled to herself and took a few deep breaths before she walked through the huge gate and reached the main building.

Since it was a day off, there weren’t many people around but only a few staff members who worked half days.

Quickening her steps she entered the building. Luckily, the security didn’t question her and let her step in and without looking back, she kept marching ahead until she reached the top floor of the building.

Sandra cursed her fate for being this careless. If not for her one mistake, she wouldn’t have been here.

Standing in the corridor next to the stairs she looked around to see the person. Her grip on her bag tightened when she saw a shadow emerging out of the pillar and her heart dropped when looked at who the person was...

"T-Tristan"

"Yes, it’s me," he said as he approached her, with his cold, sharp eye.

Sandra was at loss for words and her mind freeze for some time. ’The person who had been threatening her was none other than Tristan but how did he find it’s her behind Alexa’s death’

There was a pin-drop silence between the two with only the sounds of his footsteps that kept approaching her. Standing a few distances away, Tristan gawked at Sandra with his emotionless eyes.

This was the first time she had seen the different side of Tristan and that made her feel nervous like hell.

"How long have you been planning to hide Sandra and why did you get killed an innocent soul," Tristan asked looking straight into her eyes.

He couldn’t believe Sandra who had been kind and loving all this while was only disguising her true identity.

The moment he fell suspicious about her, Tristan did a background check and the details he found had been an eye-opener for them.

Being the daughter of the drug dealer had caused them a lot of misery. Not only her mother lost her mind but even as a child Sandra had to suffer constant bullying.

He could somehow understand why was her behavior so twisted. But one thing that surprised him was her dedication to her family. Even after facing so much still, she did give up and worked hard. Even though her emotions were just masked, her intentions were clear.

Sandra fluttered her eyelashes slowly absorbing Tristan’s words and quickly shook her head." I-I didn’t do anything. It’s a trap. Someone is purposely trying to drag me into this mess"

Tristan could see the fear in her actions. She was again lying, even though she knew she was caught red-handed.

"You got the wrong information, Tristan. It’s not me who killed Alexa. I was just passing by. I have nothing to do with her" Sandra had no clue what she was blabbering. All she wanted to do was to escape this place clearing her image in front of Tristan.

Tristan let out a chuckle and pulled out his phone waving in front of her eyes and said," So the text you send me has nothing to do with this crime"

Sandra’s eyes widen in shock but she quickly compose herself and shook her head once again denying everything.

Tristan could only chuckle humorlessly. He couldn’t believe she was lying right in his face.

"Okay, you won’t agree right, then I have only one choice left to make you accept your crime. I will give this proof to the cops and they will take care of the rest" his words pulled the ground under her feet and Sandra panicked.

"No Tristan you can’t" she rushed towards him and hugged him tightly.

Tristan was caught off guard by her sudden embrace. He tried to push her but she kept holding him tight.

"Why aren’t you trying to understand? I can’t accept my crime. It will only separate us and I don’t want to be away from you. I love you so much Tristan" Sandra had lost her sanity the moment she heard those words from him.

She couldn’t let him disclose her crime as she couldn’t afford to separate from him. He can’t ruin everything.

Tristan stood there like a statue as he tried to grasp her words. Her words kept ringing in his mind turning everything into a mess.

Pulling away, she cupped his face and looked at him with teary eyes." Everything I did was all for you Tristan. How can I let any girl lay their eyes on my man" her words held a glint of warning but there was also a tint of desperation in them.

She sounded like a maniac to him. A completely different person from the original one. The way she held him made him feel disgusted.

Tristan never liked those people who hide their true intentions behind a good façade. Lying was something he couldn’t handle and Sandra was lying straight in his face.

Looking at her with pure hate, Tristan pushed her away from him as her touch burned him. He truly cared for her as a friend never once giving her any false hope, then why would she go to such an extent for him?

Stumbling to her feet, Sandra looked at Tristan with shock. The gentleness she had always seen in his eyes for them was now replaced with hatred.

"You can’t push me, Tristan. I do love you a lot, if not I wouldn’t have rejected Gabriel" another word from her left him speechless, and he stared at her in disbelief.

"He said he liked but, but I decline it. How can I say him yes when I love you" she reached her hand to touch him but he jerked off.

Chapter 318: Take her away

Tristan shook his head in disbelief as he watched her spout rubbish. How can someone be this shameless? She wasn’t even regretting what she did.

"You are mine, Tristan. I have always dreamed of being with you and no one can snatch you away from me" she declared firmly as she wiped off the tears from her face.

She wasn’t a damsel in distress but way more than that. She was tired of showing a fake image in front of everyone, but now that it was disclosed, she didn’t care.

"I always warned those girls to stay away from you, even went on circulating the rumors of you and me being close but still, they didn’t stop. They still had their eyes on you. So I decided to take care of everything" she started speaking, shocking Tristan to the core.

"I started bullying them secretly and it somehow started to work as those girls who tried to approach you took a step back, but this Alexa" her teeth gnashed at the mention of her name," She didn’t give up. So I had to take extra care of her" she stated and started smiling like a maniac.

"I called her here" she pointed at the place where he stood. The amusement in her eyes seemed creepy and it was somehow bothering Tristan.

"What did you do to her after you called her," he asked as he watch her enact.

"I hit her on her head," she said with a smile.

"She fainted and I had to drag her to the restroom" she kept telling about it as if it was some kind of adventure for her.

"It took me some while to tie her up. She was too noisy whining like a child but after another hit, she stopped moving. I asked her if she will drop the idea of pursuing you but she didn’t answer that pissed me off so much that I had to keep on kicking her" Sandra dropped her shoulder as she recited everything she did to Alexa.

No doubt her body had so many bruises.

Tristan watched Sandra and his eyes turned cold. She was a psycho who felt pleasure in bullying people, especially girls who tried to woo him.

Clutching the bracelet in his hand, Tristan raised his voice," Don’t you feel sorry for the girl whom you killed? She was someone’s daughter"

Sandra paused and looked at Tristan. Yes, she was scared at first because she didn’t intend on killing her, but when she gave it a thought she didn’t feel guilty. For her, Alexa was the girl who was eying the man she liked and she had to take care of her somehow.

"Tsk, she deserved it" her voice held no remorse and that was enough to break Tristan’s heart.

For the first time in his life, he failed to recognize someone’s true face. Sandra was not what she pretended to be in front of them.

Taking a step closer to him, she tried to touch him but Tristan moved back. He felt disgusted by her. He considered her his friend but she ruined everything.

Sandra creased her brows when she saw him distancing himself from her. "You can’t go away from me, Tristan. I won’t let you. You are mine... only mine. I will kill everyone who tries to snatch you away from me"

" I can never be yours, Sandra. You have to pay the price for taking someone’s life" Tristan declared moving his cold eyes from her.

Sensing something odd, Sandra turned behind only to find the cops approaching her way. Her head snapped back in Tristan’s direction as she watched him in shock.

"You can’t do this to me, Tristan" she yelled but he didn’t care. For him she was wrong and she had to accept her crime.

"Argh!!" yelling frustratingly Sandra tried to run but she was blocked by the cops and before she could analyze the situation her hands were handcuffed.

"You are under arrest, Miss Sandra," the man with the uniform said.

"Tristan, tell them to let me go" Sandra wriggled as she found it hard to free herself from their clutches. Her eyes hopefully looked at him hoping for him to help her but when she watched him turn his eyes from her, her heart broke.

She had turned into a maniac for him but Tristan he didn’t care for her. She could see everything turn back against her, especially the man she loved like crazy.

Tristan didn’t pay attention to her and motioned the cops to take her away. He didn’t feel sorry for her after whatever she did. Sandra broke his trust by playing with their friendship. Not only him but she also hurt Gabriel who liked her so much.

The thought of Gabriel Tristan snapped his eyes on her and before the cops could take her, he rushed to her and asked," Where is Gabriel?"

She said about telling Gabriel that she liked him and he had this nasty feeling about something unpleasant happening to him.

Sandra looked at him for some time and chuckled." That loser must be crying somewhere"

Tristan clench his jaw in anger as he couldn’t bear to watch her face. She made him feel disgusting.

"Take her away," he said moving his eyes from her. Tristan didn’t want to hate her more than he already was.

Once Sandra was out of his sight, Tristan pulled out his phone and tried calling Gabriel but even after a few rings the call wasn’t answered.

Gabriel had never ignored his call and now it was bothering Tristan. Leaving the campus, he then drove to the venue where he was going to propose to Sandra but after reaching there he couldn’t find him.

Tristan was feeling guilty for encouraging Gabriel on expressing his feelings for Sandra. If e even had the slightest clue of who she was in person, he would’ve stopped him from falling this deep.

"Where the hell are you Gabriel" Tristan mumbled clutching the phone in hand firmly, trying to think where he could find his friend.

****

Inside the dark room, bottle after bottle was being trashed, messing up the entire room.

After facing Sandra’s rejection, Gabriel found his entire world collapsed. He would have understood if she needed time but when she confirmed her feeling for Tristan, he lost everything.

Gabriel had always noticed different behaviors when she was with Tristan. Her eyes would shine with admiration but he was too blinded to see it.

Bringing the bottle in his hand close to his lips, he gulped the content and started laughing. But soon that laugh turned into sobs.

’I can’t accept your proposal Gabriel not when I have someone else in my mind’ her words stab like a knife into his heart making him died a thousand death.

’Is that someone Tristan’ he had asked her out of instinct hoping she would deny it but his assumption turned out to be true.

Gabriel had no idea how many bottles he had finished gulping. He was drowning himself in the pool of pain, trying to forget whatever happened with Sandra but he couldn’t erase anything.

Before he could understand, he lost all his strength and passed out on the couch.

Chapter 319: We are under attack

Alphonse lay unconscious inside the ambulance that kept driving with two police vans tailing it from behind.

A doctor was keeping a tab on his pulse updating the cops about his condition. The patient had lost enough blood and if not treated, can risk his life.

Keeping that in mind, the driver speeded the vehicle when suddenly they heard a loud burst and the ambulance slowed down, stopping it after moving a few distances.

"What’s wrong?" the doctor inside the ambulance asked and moved to check the driver through the square window but before she could ask someone shot the driver right through his skull.

"Shit" the doctor yelled in horror but her voice was silent when another shot was hit and her body limps down.

Everything happened so quickly that the cops inside the ambulance couldn’t react before he could pull his gun out and check, some from the staff stabbed in with the knife right from behind.

"Boss" the male nurse pulled out his mask and looked at Alphonse. He was none other than Max.

After receiving a call from his father about the attack on the hideouts, Max quickly came up with a plan, but they were too late as the cops had already sealed the entire place and they had Alphonse with them.

Since Alphonse was shot in one of his legs, he quickly changed his plan and instructed his team to step back. Disguising one of the nurses from the called ambulance, Max kept carrying monitoring his boss.

"Nothing will happen to you," he said as he examined Alphonse’s condition. The doctor who was monitoring his health told the truth. Alphonse had lost a lot of blood and if not treated quickly he may lose his life.

Pulling away the curtains from the back seat of the ambulance, he looked behind and cursed.

"Damnit, how did I forget about the cops" closing the curtains back he turned to look at the man lying unconscious on the stretcher.

Meanwhile, the two vans that were following them too came to a halt after they watched the ambulance stop abruptly.

"What’s wrong?" one of the cops asked the one sitting in the driver’s seat.

" Something feels off. Let’s go and check," the other in the driver’s seat said found the whole scene suspicious, and stepped out of the van, pulling out his gun for safety precaution

"Inform the headquarters," he said to the cops sitting inside the other van and the two started approaching the ambulance with cautious steps.

Keeping their eyes around, the two cops reached the door of the ambulance and were about to open the door when multiple gunshots came their way, killing the two of them on spot.

"There is an emergency. We are under attack. Ahh.." the cop inside the van fell limp with the line on the pager going dead.

A group of men emerged out from the shadows and approached the police van, checking the men.

Confirming their death they quickly rushed and took Max and Alphonse out of the ambulance and drove away from there before the cops arrived at the location.

****

A few hours passed when Gabriel finally woke up. Holding his head, he pushed himself to sit straight on the couch when suddenly the door of his room flung open and a few men walked in.

"Young master, we need to vacate this place," the man said confusing Gabriel.

He was still coping with his emotions and now his father’s men were trying to piss him off with their commanding tone. But when he sensed the stress on his face, Gabriel dropped his annoyance and bobbed his head.

He just gave in his words and followed them out of the mansion, when on his way the man informed him about Alphonse being attacked by his rivals and that was enough to snap him out of his drowsiness.

Hopping into the car, they drove out of the mansion gates, heading to a secluded place far away from the city.

Gabriel had this nasty feeling about everything he heard, but he still kept intact on his thoughts until they finally reached the place.

He knew his father was an underworld leader but he never once visited his hideouts. He had asked his father to keep him out of this mess because he wanted to live a normal life away from guns and violence.

Stepping inside the building, the man guided him to the place where Alphonse was being treated by the doctors.

Stopping in front of the room, his eyes met Max and he quickly stepped in to greet Gabriel. "Young Master"

"How is dad and what happened to him" Gabriel eyes Max with a complicated expression. He was hell scared for his father and the silence between the two was already bothering him.

"The doctors are still treating him" Max answered.

Gabriel didn’t say a word after that and just waited for the doctors to step out. He was still confused by the change in events. He remembered Ruth informing him about the meeting his father wanted him to attend but he declined it because of his plans and now he regretted it.

Recalling Sandra’s words made him feel the void in his heart grow bigger. She said she loved Tristan and that stabbed his heart. He was too blinded by his love for her that he didn’t see the truth.

Soon the door opened and the doctor stepped out. Shoving his thoughts aside, Gabriel approached the doctor who informed them that Alphonse was out of danger, but unfortunately, the hit he received on his legs ended up breaking his bone and it was hard for him to stand on his feet again without external support.

"He is still unconscious. You can meet him once he regains consciousness" the doctor informed and walked away from there.

While Gabriel was still grasping the doctor’s words, a man walked to Max whispering something in his ears.

"Young master, we need to show you something," he said snapping Gabriel out of his thoughts. Composing himself, he bobbed his head and they walked away from there.

Max then took him to the surveillance room and asked Gabriel to take a seat. He was amazed to see the highly built security system that monitored Alphonse’s every secret hideout.

Turning off the lights, soon one video started playing the things Gabriel witnessed pulled the ground under his feet.

"Tristan..." a muffled whisper left his mouth as he watched his best friend brutally kill their men.

"What is he doing here?" Gabriel asked as he couldn’t move his eyes from the screen ahead.

Max paused the video and watched Gabriel finally look at him with complex emotions in his eyes.

****

Slumping on the bed in defeat, Tristan closed his eyes. He searched for Gabriel everywhere but wasn’t able to find him.

It was like the boy had completely discarded himself from them. There wasn’t any place Tristan didn’t look for him but everywhere he went he was welcomed with disappointment.

"He hasn’t mentioned his address in the student profile form" Noah moved his eyes from the laptop screen and looked at Tristan.

He already knew it because Gabriel didn’t like talking about his personal life. But with him suddenly going underground was something bothering him.

After whatever happened with Sandra, he felt the need to talk to him and tell him that he wasn’t aware of Sandra’s liking towards him. Just like him even he found out today. He just wanted to find him and see if he was alright but the boy had just disappeared without any word.

Tristan was feeling lost. Just one day, his life turned into a mess, not only he was forbidden to talk with his grandfather, but he also had this nasty feeling that he was about to lose his friend.

*****

Gabriel walked out of the surveillance room after he found Tristan was the grandson of Dante Corner, his father’s sole enemy.

At first, he couldn’t believe him but when Max showed him the evidence, he was convinced. Leaning on the wall next to the surveillance room door, Gabriel ran his palm over his face.

He was suddenly feeling suffocated and wanted to get out of this isolated place. He needed to breathe some fresh air, but he couldn’t after finding the cops are searching them everywhere.

How can Tristan hide such a big thing from him, he thought but he wasn’t to be blamed because even he concealed his identity from them.

Gabriel was still trying to figure out everything when suddenly Max walked out of the room and informed him about Alphonse gaining consciousness.

Leaving everything aside, Gabriel rushed to his father. The moment, he stepped in, the first thing he noticed was his father’s eyes already looking his way.

Gabriel didn’t know how was he supposed to look into his father’s eyes. He somewhat started to blame himself for not being there with him.

"Come here son" Alphonse reached his hand in Gabriel’s direction asking him to come close to him.

Gabriel looked down at his hand, hesitating for a while before he decided to walk to him and get hold of his hand.

There was a long pause between the two, but the words Alphonse said next blew off Gabriel’s mind.

Chapter 320: Friends with Tristan

Inside the cell, Sandra sat on the ground next to the wooden bed. Her appearance was disheveled, with dark circles prominent around her eyes. The shabby place was disgusting to her making her nauseous.

A wave of uneasiness once again passed through her and she quickly rushed to the small sink and threw up again. By now she had forgotten the count but even after so long, Sandra couldn’t forget the disgusting smell this place emitted.

She had lost all of her energy and was on the verge of passing out but she couldn’t as Tristan’s betrayal kept running through her mind. Pushing her drained body towards the bed, she helped herself to sit on the ground with her back resting on the edge.

Her eyes burned with the tears that kept surging with his every thought, but she didn’t cry. The man she loved like crazy turned his back on her. She confessed her feeling for her but what he did, he refused it.

"Why did you do this Tristan? Whatever I did, it was only for you. Yet you turned your back on me" Sandra wasn’t able to handle this. She wanted to get out of this place as it was only making her feel shit.

Her thoughts were busy wondering when suddenly she heard the lock of the cell room open and a woman wearing a uniform entered.

"You have a visitor," the woman said and walked out.

Sandra sat there thinking of who it could be but still pulled herself up to meet the person. She was guided by the lady cop to the waiting room where Sandra found someone was already waiting for her with their back facing her

A deep frown marred her forehead, but still, she walked around the table and took a seat for herself.

The moment she raised her head, the frown on her face was replaced with confusion and she asked," Who are you?"

.

.

.

Twenty minutes passed and the lady cop who stood outside the visitor’s room was about to step in when suddenly the door opened on its own and Sandra stepped out with her head down.

"Take me back to the cell" her voice cracked but she didn’t lift her head and that kind of surprised the lady cop. Without wasting a second she took Sandra back to her cell before she locked her and walked away.

Sandra wiped off the sweat from her face as she recalled the words the man said. She didn’t know who the man was but whatever he said was enough to shake her entire being.

Slumping down on the floor, Sandra pulled her knees together and buried her face into them as her body kept shivering.

*****

Two days passed and yet Tristan didn’t hear anything from Gabriel’s end. It was like the boy had completely pulled away from them. He didn’t even come to the university and that only made Tristan’s heart sink.

"Don’t worry maybe Gabriel needs some time to get himself back on track" Karl patted Tristan’s shoulder.

They were currently inside the cafeteria with most of the students still lingering on Sandra’s scandal. Not a single person inside the hall wasn’t gossiping about her while glancing at them from time to time.

"That doesn’t mean he would shove us away like this. Since yesterday his phone is off, how am I supposed to contact him now.." Tristan raised his voice getting extremely worried for Gabriel.

He just wanted to see him. He just wanted to clear everything up, but now as the days passed by, Tristan found it hard to reach the boy.

He tried to track his cell number but before he could trace it, the number was turned off.

Rubbing his forehead, Tristan tried to think of how he could reach Gabriel but he couldn’t find any way.

"I think Karl is right. We need to give him some space. What if he shows up unexpectedly? You can then talk with him and clear everything" this time it was Noah who suggested.

Tristan glanced at both of his friends and bobbed his head agreeing with them. What if Gabriel wanted some time alone? Sandra had already broken his heart, hurting his feeling. It was better for him to take his time before they could talk.

Spending some time in the cafeteria the trio then stood up to leave. On their way out they stumble on Mia. Eyeing Noah both Karl and Tristan walked out.

After learning about Mia’s true intention, Noah ended his relationship with her, but the girl was too stubborn to claim him.

"Why are you here?" Noah asked giving Mia and lazy look. He didn’t want to associate with her anyhow but she kept finding ways to meet him.

"I wanted to talk with you-" she looked around, every pair of eyes on them. Pulling away she looked back at him and continued," alone"

Noah stared at her for a few seconds before he bobbed his head and they both walked out of the cafeteria.

****

Tristan and Karl were waiting for Noah to return and when he finally did, his appearance didn’t look good.

"What did she come to talk about?" Tristan asked as he sensed the change in his mood.

Noah heaved out a sigh and said" Same old thing. She wants us to resume our relationship"

"Didn’t I warn you earlier, not to give any girl false hope? Look what’s happening now" Karl complained.

Noah glared at him but that didn’t intimidate him. There were many times they tried to stop Noah from being this reckless in breaking every girl’s heart. They knew he enjoyed fooling around but they also knew the consequences and one of them were happening to him right now.

Scratching the back of his neck Noah looked at Tristan who just rolled his eyes and turned to leave. Karl shook his head at Noah and tailed behind Tristan.

Watching both his friend walk away Noah pursed his lips before he followed them.

******

Back inside the secret hideouts, Gabriel kept himself isolated for two days. After meeting his father, he needed sometimes to sort out his thoughts.

’Tristan purposely approached you because he knew you were my son’ his father’s words kept ringing in his mind and he recalled the time he spend with them.

Alphonse had lied to his son about Tristan’s genuine motive. He knew if he told him the truth, his son would never take over his organization and it was the last he expected for his clan to vanish without any trace.

But Gabriel was too innocent to see through his father’s lies. The words he spoke about Tristan and Dante had somewhat managed to manipulate him because now he started to have second thoughts about Tristan’s loyalty.

Gabriel clasped his palm firmly as he was having a hard time accepting the reality, but what about the video, he saw earlier? It clearly showed that Tristan was with a man named Dante.

’Was it all their strategy’ he thought.

Gabriel couldn’t come to believe any of this, but whatever his father said can’t be a lie. Why would he risk his life if he knew, the enemies would soon come to attack them?

Sighing in defeat, Gabriel closed his eyes. He wanted everything to return to as it was a few days back. He never wanted any of this but now with his father not being in a position to handle his organization, he requested him to take the rein in his hand and lead his clan.

Gabriel had no valid reason to reject his father because he had already given his words and now he couldn’t back out. He had to avenge the people who tried to kill his father as it was the only way to mend his mistake.

Composing his emotions, Gabriel slowly opened his eyes." If Tristan had approached me with an ulterior motive, then there is no point in holding the friendship. I will not let them fool me" his eyes shined with determination as he kept staring at the unknown.

*****

Meanwhile, the news about Alphonse’s sudden escape made Dante restless. The cops had been trying to locate him but there wasn’t any single trace of him to be found.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose Dante sighed." Okay let me know" he said on the call and hung up.

He had been in constant touch with the head of the police department regarding Alphonse’s case. They even accepted to extend help to find him, but even after two days passed, they couldn’t find him.

Ace stepped inside the room breaking Dante’s trance and he looked up." Did you find anything about the boy?" he asked with hope.

Ace bobbed his head before he started to dictate." Gabriel seems to be missing since the same day" he said and passed him an envelope.

"What is this?" Dante asked and he opened them and saw some pictures of Gabriel with a girl as they entered a restaurant.

"This was the last place he entered with this girl but after some time this girl was seen returning alone," Ace said with a heavy tone.

"And who is this girl?" Dante further asked.

"She is the same girl who is studying with Tristan at the same university and unfortunately they both are friends with him" Dante frowned as he finished confirming his question.

"How come we never knew about it?" Dante asked with a glint of anger in his voice which only made Ace gulp in fear.