Chapter 7 - St. Michael’s
St. Michael’s Church stood between two old brick buildings on the south side.
Gabriel’s grandparents had been married there.
His father had been baptized there.
Gabriel had buried him there.
At 10:02 p.m., the church doors were unlocked.
That alone made Dante nervous.
Police units stayed two blocks away.
Gabriel did not want Vincent spooked.
Chloe did not want to be there at all.
Yet she was.
So was Beatrice.
Gabriel had tried to leave both women at the hospital.
Beatrice refused.
Chloe refused more creatively.
Eventually Gabriel lost.
They entered through the side chapel.
The church was dark except for rows of votive candles.
Beatrice stopped beneath a stained-glass window.
Her face changed.
Memories lived here.
Good ones and terrible ones.
Chloe took her hand.
Dante moved ahead.
Gabriel stayed beside his mother.
They found Vincent near the altar.
He was sitting in the first pew.
Alone.
No weapon visible.
No phone.
No remote.
He looked almost peaceful.
Gabriel stopped twenty feet away.
“Vincent.”
Vincent turned.
His smile was tired.
“I wondered if she’d remember.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
Beatrice could not hear him.
Chloe began signing quietly.
Vincent noticed.
His expression twisted.
“The waitress.”
Chloe translated that too.
Beatrice stared at him.
Vincent stood.
“This entire mess because one waitress knew sign language.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“No.”
His voice echoed through the church.
“This entire mess because you thought my mother had no voice.”
Vincent laughed softly.
“She didn’t.”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
Vincent pointed toward Beatrice.
“For years she waved her hands at you and you looked away.”
Gabriel did not flinch.
“I did.”
Chloe looked at him.
He continued.
“And I’ll live with that.”
Vincent smiled.
“But you won’t live long.”
Dante raised his weapon.
Vincent lifted both hands.
“Relax.”
“Where’s the trigger?”
Gabriel asked.
Vincent shrugged.
“Destroyed.”
“Why?”
“Because the hospital was never supposed to explode.”
Chloe stared.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Vincent walked slowly toward the aisle.
“It was leverage.”
“For what?”
“To make you move your assets.”
Gabriel understood.
“You expected me to transfer control.”
“I expected you to save your hospital.”
“You threatened children.”
“I threatened a building.”
“Six hundred people were inside.”
“They were never in danger unless you refused.”
Chloe’s stomach turned.
Vincent spoke as though that distinction mattered.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“My father.”
Vincent stopped smiling.
For the first time, emotion appeared.
Gabriel said, “Did you kill him?”
Beatrice’s hands trembled.
Chloe translated the question for her.
Vincent looked toward Beatrice.
Then back at Gabriel.
“Your father destroyed me.”
“He caught you stealing.”
“He humiliated me.”
“So you killed him.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“I gave him a choice.”
Gabriel’s voice became quiet.
“What choice?”
“To retire.”
Gabriel stared.
“He laughed at me.”
Vincent’s expression filled with bitterness.
“He said I would never lead anything because I confused fear with respect.”
Chloe saw Gabriel absorb the words.
They sounded like something his father might have said.
Vincent continued.
“The next morning, his car lost control.”
Beatrice covered her mouth.
Gabriel stopped moving.
Eight years of grief.
Eight years of believing rain and bad luck had taken his father.
Gone in one sentence.
Dante stepped closer to Gabriel.
Vincent smiled.
“Go ahead.”
Gabriel’s hand curled into a fist.
“Kill me.”
Beatrice suddenly moved forward.
Chloe grabbed her arm.
Beatrice pulled away.
She walked directly toward Vincent.
Gabriel said, “Ma.”
She ignored him.
Vincent watched her approach.
Beatrice stopped three feet away.
Then she signed.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Chloe translated.
“She says her husband was right about you.”
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
Beatrice continued.
“You wanted people to fear you because you never knew how to make them respect you.”
Vincent’s face reddened.
Beatrice signed again.
“And you hated Gabriel because his father loved him without making him earn it.”
Vincent took a step toward her.
Gabriel immediately moved between them.
Vincent laughed.
“There he is.”
Gabriel stared.
“You’re done.”
“Am I?”
Vincent reached inside his coat.
Dante shouted.
Weapons came up.
But Vincent did not pull a gun.
He pulled a small device.
A digital trigger.
Chloe’s heart stopped.
Vincent held his thumb above the button.
“You think the hospital was the only place?”
Gabriel froze.
“What did you do?”
Vincent smiled.
“Pier 19.”
Gabriel stared.
“You said it wasn’t the target.”
“It wasn’t the only target.”
Dante spoke into his radio.
“Evacuate everything around Pier 19.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Too late.”
His thumb moved.
Beatrice suddenly slapped his hand sideways.
The device fell.
Gabriel lunged.
Vincent grabbed Beatrice.
A weapon appeared from beneath his coat.
He pressed it against her side.
Everything stopped.
Chloe raised both hands.
“Vincent.”
“Stay back.”
Gabriel’s face went white.
“Let her go.”
“You finally care what she has to say?”
Vincent dragged Beatrice backward.
Her eyes locked on Chloe.
Then she began signing with one hand.
Small movements.
Hidden against her dress.
Vincent did not notice.
Chloe did.
Distract him.
Chloe swallowed.
“Vincent.”
“Shut up.”
“You’re right.”
His eyes flicked toward her.
Chloe continued.
“Gabriel ignored her.”
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
She gave him the smallest possible glance.
Trust me.
“He ignored her for years.”
Vincent smiled.
“So did everyone else.”
“Yes.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“You counted on it.”
“Stop moving.”
She stopped.
“You built everything around people assuming a deaf woman wasn’t important.”
Vincent’s grip tightened around Beatrice.
Chloe continued.
“But there’s something you didn’t understand.”
“What?”
“People who are ignored notice everything.”
Beatrice moved.
She slammed her heel onto Vincent’s foot and twisted sideways.
Gabriel lunged.
Dante fired.
A shot exploded through the church.
Vincent fell.
The weapon skidded across the floor.
Gabriel caught his mother before she hit the ground.
Chloe rushed forward.
“Beatrice!”
The older woman was unhurt.
Vincent was on the floor gripping his shoulder.
Dante kicked his weapon away.
Police poured into the church seconds later.
Gabriel held Beatrice tightly.
She touched his cheek.
Then signed.
I am fine.
Gabriel did not need Chloe.
He recognized it.
Maybe not every sign.
But enough.
He nodded.
“Fine.”
His voice broke.
He hugged her again.
Outside, sirens filled the street.
Pier 19 had been evacuated hours earlier.
The device Vincent triggered damaged an empty storage section.
No one was hurt.
The hospital device was disabled.
Carlo was in custody.
Vincent Moretti was arrested before midnight.
For the first time in twenty-four hours, Chloe thought the nightmare might actually be over.
She was wrong.
Because while police officers searched Vincent’s coat, one detective found a second phone.
And on that phone was a message sent only ten minutes earlier.
It contained Chloe’s photograph.
Her home address.
May you like
And three words.
IF VINCENT FAILS.
