Phoenix Heart: The Last Heir

CHAPTER 5: Into the Dark

Gabriel couldn't move. The guards had him pinned to the floor and his chest felt like someone had shoved a burning coal inside it where the Phoenix Heart had settled. 

Every breath hurt and every heartbeat sent fire through his veins. He could barely think through the pain.

Ian Siegel walked closer, his expensive shoes stopping inches from Gabriel's face. When he looked up, he saw those cold blue eyes staring down at him.

Suddenly he was three years old again, hiding under the bed and praying this man wouldn't find him. But he had found him then and he had found him now.

"I should have killed you that night," Siegel said, his voice, calm like he was talking about the weather. 

"That was my mistake. I thought leaving you in the slums would be enough. I thought you would die on your own or disappear into the system. I thought no one would ever connect you to Thomas and Elizabeth Hale."

Gabriel tried to speak but one of the guards pressed a knee into his back, knocking the air from his lungs.

"Your father was my mentor," Siegel continued, walking around Gabriel slowly like a shark circling prey. 

"Did you know that? Thomas Hale took me in when I had nothing. He taught me everything about business, power and money. I learned so well that I realized something important."

Siegel crouched down so his face was level with Gabriel's and his smile was the cruelest thing Gabriel had ever seen.

"I realized that everything he had should have been mine."

Gabriel felt rage burn hotter than the Phoenix Heart. He tried to lunge forward but the guards held him down and Siegel just laughed.

"Your parents came home early that night," Siegel said, his voice taking on a tone like he was telling a fond memory. 

"They weren't supposed to be back until morning but Elizabeth wanted to check on you because you had been sick and Thomas never could say no to her."

Gabriel gritted his teeth so hard that they drew blood. He shot a murderous glare at Siegel, but that was not enough to keep him from talking.

"I was in the study transferring company funds to my accounts when they walked in," Siegel continued. 

"Your father looked so surprised and Elizabeth started crying right away because she knew. Women always know when something is wrong."

Gabriel's hands clenched into fists, and his nails dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood.

"Thomas asked me why," Siegel continued, his expression cool and collected, a cruel smile playing at his lips. 

"Can you imagine? After everything I did for him and all the years I spent playing second chair in his orchestra, he had the nerve to ask why. So I told him the truth. I said that I was better and smarter than him, and that I deserved his empire more than he ever did."

Tears had begun running down Gabriel's face. He couldn't stop them and he hated himself for crying in front of this monster.

"He tried to fight me of course," Siegel said. "Got in a few good hits too. Broke my nose actually. You can still see the scar if you look close. But I had brought help and they held him down while Elizabeth screamed for someone to call the police."

Siegel stood up, walked to the window and looked out at the night sky, a peaceful look on his face.

"I shot Elizabeth first," He said softly. "Right in the chest while Thomas watched and screamed. It was the most satisfying moment of my life. Then I shot Thomas twice and watched the light go out of his eyes. Then I took everything he had built and made it mine."

Gabriel couldn't breathe and the room was spinning. All he could see was his mother's kind eyes and his father's smile. Both of them bleeding and dying while this monster stood over them.

"I found you under the bed after," Siegel said. 

"Shaking like a leaf and crying for your mommy. You looked up at me with those big green eyes and I almost shot you right there but then I thought about it and realized you were only three. No one would believe anything you said even if you did remember,"

"So I had my men dump you on the east side where the junkies and thieves lived and I went back to the house and burned it down to cover the evidence. By morning, I was the grieving business partner whose mentors had died in a tragic fire along with their son. The whole city mourned with me."

Siegel turned back to face Gabriel and the sick smile on his face was gone now.

"But you survived and you grew up. Somehow you found your way back here. Now the Phoenix Heart has bonded with you which means I can't let you leave this room alive."

He nodded to the guards and they hauled Gabriel to his feet and dragged him out of the vault and down a hallway and through a door that led to a basement he hadn't seen on any floor plans.

The basement was concrete and cold and there were chains hanging from the ceiling. There were dark stains on the floor that Gabriel tried not to think about. 

The guards chained his wrists above his head and stepped back while Siegel walked around him slowly.

"The Phoenix Heart only bonds with Hale blood," Siegel continued and Gabriel wished the man would just shut up for a moment. The old man yapped too damn much. 

"Which is inconvenient for me because I've spent nineteen years trying to claim it and it won't accept me. But if I can extract it from you before you learn to use it, then maybe I can find a way to make it work."

"You can't," Gabriel said, his voice coming out hoarse. "It's part of me now."

"We'll see." Siegel said with a cold smirk which terrified him.

What followed were the worst hours of Gabriel's life and he had lived on the streets for years, so that was saying something. 

They tried everything to make the Phoenix Heart separate from him. Nothing worked because it had fused with his actual heart and pulling it out would mean pulling his heart out too.

They cut him, burned him and broke his fingers one by one and Gabriel screamed until his voice gave out.

The only thing that kept him from losing his mind completely was thinking about Vera.

Vera was waiting for him in that motel room with the heat and the real bed. She would be worried by now because he had promised to come back and he always kept his promises to her.

She was counting on him and he couldn't die here. Who would take care of her if he was gone?

Her face kept him going through the pain and when they poured water on him and shocked him with electricity, he thought about her smile.

When they cut him again and again, he thought about the way she said his name like he was the only good thing in her world.

He had to survive. For Vera.

But the Phoenix Heart wasn't helping and Gabriel didn't know how to use it. Every time he tried to call on its power nothing happened except more pain in his chest.

His body was shutting down and he could feel himself dying slowly.

Finally, Siegel stepped back and looked at him with disgust.

"Useless," Siegel said. "If I can't have the Phoenix Heart then neither can you."

He pulled out a gun from his jacket. "Any last words?" Siegel asked, his eyes cold as ice.

Gabriel spat blood at his feet.

Siegel shot him in the stomach and he felt something tear inside him. The pain was so bad he couldn't even scream. 

Then Siegel shot him again in the chest, and in the shoulder. Gabriel felt the Phoenix Heart trying to heal him but it was too slow and there was too much damage.

"Dump him in the river," Siegel said to the guards. "Make sure he doesn't float back up."

They unchained Gabriel and he collapsed to the floor. They dragged him up the stairs, outside into the cold night air.

His vision was going dark around the edges and he couldn't feel his legs anymore.

They threw him in the back of a van and drove for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. 

Soon, they were at the river and Gabriel could smell the water. He could hear it moving and he knew this was the end.

The guards pulled him out and carried him to the edge. He tried to fight but his body wouldn't respond.

They swung him once and twice, and on the third swing they let go.

Gabriel hit the water and the cold seeped straight into his body. The current grabbed him, pulling under and away. 

He tried to swim but his arms wouldn't work. His lungs were already full of blood and the river water rushed in to join it.

The Phoenix Heart was still trying and Gabriel could feel it burning in his chest, pushing warmth through his body but the bullets had done too much damage.

The water was too cold and Gabriel was so tired of fighting.

Maybe this was okay. Maybe Vera would be better off without him. She had five million dollars and that was enough for her treatment.

It was enough to start over. She wouldn't have to watch him die slowly or live with the guilt of everything he had done to save her.

The water was black and the surface was getting farther away. Gabriel stopped struggling and let the river take him. 

His last thought before the darkness swallowed him completely was of Vera's face and the way she looked at him like he was her whole world.

“I'm sorry. I tried.” He whispered.

The Phoenix Heart gave one final pulse and then went dark. Gabriel's eyes closed and his body went limp as he sank deeper into the black water.

He disappeared beneath the current then everything went still and quiet.

Gabriel Hale was gone.