Firework of happiness

6

Some distance away, three figures were standing on the sidewalk. No sunglasses, but the hoods pulled deep into their faces. Rachel, Gabriel, and Cas kept watching for half the day, wondering what the owner must be thinking as the three constantly stood in front of his café.

"Okay, the bird has left the nest. Let's go," Gabe said, but Rachel grabbed his arm before he left.

"You don't do anything stupid. Promise, pops?"

Rachel looked at him seriously, but Cas promised to take care of him. Rolling his eyes, Gabriel nodded and took one last look around before his daughter hurried into the hotel to look for her friend.

As a chambermaid, it was easy to get into all the rooms, and Meredith, that was Rachel's friend's name had worked a double shift that day to help the three of them.

"There are four rooms in total on this floor. Keep a lookout!"

Rachel positioned herself to face all sides, and the girls exchanged a tense look.

...

With a sigh, Meredith closed the fourth door again, looking at her friend with a shake of her head. The last two rooms were two floors above them, and the girls ran up the stairs in no time.

"Damned!"

It was only a whisper, but when Gabriel felt the elbow in his side, he knew something was about to go wrong.

"Crap. Rachel isn't answering!"

He cursed when there was no dial tone because he panicked when Susan returned to the hotel. No one expected the criminal to be so quick; if the action weren't taken quickly, Julia wouldn't be the only one in danger.

"Keep trying. I certainly won't be able to stop her for long," Gabe murmured, handed his brother the cell phone, and stormed after his ex-wife.

He hastily pushed open the revolving door and saw her picking up the room key from reception. He didn't have a plan. Improvisation was announced.

"Susan!"

Startled, she turned around.

"Gabriel?"

He grabbed her arm and struggled to control his raging anger. He wasn't allowed to blabber, and they already had the guests' attention.

A thousand thoughts were circling in his head, and something had to be said because the two had been staring at each other for far too long.

"I wanted to talk to you again, the matter in court ..." he began and had to force himself to smile a little because he wanted to throw up his guts in front of her shoes.

Susan squirmed out of the tight grip, hissing at him about not having time now, and babbled something about an affair.

Gabriel only heard words anyway, no context. He was upset and hoped that the two girls could free Julia and that all three were already safe.

"Can I talk you into a cup of coffee?" he asked in a sweet voice but only got a head shake.

Every attempt failed to stop her, and with a sigh, he had to watch as Susan climbed into the elevator. Several quick prayers towards heaven followed.

"Please say you reached Rachel," Gabriel asked with a pleading look when he was outside the hotel again.

A few moments later, Gabe took his daughter in his arms, full of relief, and wanted to know how things were going.

She explained that five out of six rooms were clean, and Meredith was watching the last room.

"We'll know more in fifteen minutes; then, she'll stop working."