Chapter 9 - Chloe Bennett
Gabriel raised both hands.
“Take the files.”
Harlan smiled.
“I plan to.”
“Take the warehouse.”
“Maybe.”
“Take whatever Bishop wants.”
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
Harlan laughed.
“That almost sounds sincere.”
Gabriel’s eyes never left Chloe.
“It is.”
Something in his face surprised her.
This was not business.
Not negotiation.
He was genuinely afraid.
For her.
Harlan motioned toward one of his men.
“Get the laptop.”
The man moved forward.
Beatrice stood beside Gabriel.
Her hands remained low at her sides.
She signed one small word.
Chloe saw it.
Wait.
Chloe did not react.
Harlan pulled her toward the exit.
Gabriel watched.
Beatrice signed another word.
Three.
Chloe understood.
She did not know what Beatrice planned.
But she trusted her.
Harlan’s men moved closer together.
Beatrice lifted one hand.
Three fingers.
Then two.
Then one.
She dropped her purse.
A deafening alarm erupted.
Everyone jumped.
Beatrice had activated the personal security siren Chloe had given her at the townhouse.
Dante moved instantly.
He tackled the nearest man.
Gabriel lunged toward Harlan.
Chloe dropped her weight.
Harlan lost his grip.
A shot hit the ceiling.
Chloe crawled behind a crate.
Beatrice ducked.
Gabriel slammed Harlan against a metal shelf.
Dante disarmed another man.
Warehouse security rushed inside.
The fight lasted less than thirty seconds.
It felt like an hour.
When it ended, Harlan was on the floor.
Two men had surrendered.
One ran and was caught outside.
Chloe sat against the crate.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
Gabriel approached slowly.
“Chloe.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I can shake and be fine.”
He crouched.
She tried to laugh.
Nothing came out.
Gabriel looked at her.
Then he did something she did not expect.
He held out his hand.
He did not grab her.
He did not order her up.
He simply offered.
Chloe stared at it.
Then took it.
He pulled her to her feet.
Beatrice hurried over and hugged her.
Chloe closed her eyes.
For several seconds she let herself be held.
Then Beatrice pulled back.
She signed.
You protected me.
Chloe shook her head.
You saved me.
Beatrice smiled.
We are even.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“What did she say?”
Chloe wiped her eyes.
“That we’re even.”
Gabriel nodded.
Then he turned toward Harlan.
The softness disappeared.
Harlan was arrested by officers from a different district.
Federal investigators seized the memory card.
By afternoon, Councilman Bishop had disappeared.
His office claimed he was ill.
His home was empty.
His passport had been flagged.
Airports were alerted.
Gabriel brought Chloe back to his townhouse.
This time she did not argue about security.
Not much.
By evening, exhaustion finally reached her.
She fell asleep on the living room sofa.
When she woke, the room was dark.
A blanket covered her.
Voices came from the kitchen.
Gabriel and Beatrice.
Not spoken voices.
Hands.
Chloe sat up.
Gabriel was practicing ASL.
Beatrice signed a simple sentence.
Gabriel repeated it.
Wrong.
Beatrice corrected him.
He tried again.
Wrong.
She slapped his hand.
Chloe smiled from the doorway.
“You’re terrible.”
Gabriel turned.
“How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough.”
Beatrice signed.
He is stubborn.
Gabriel recognized that one.
“I know what stubborn means now.”
Chloe walked closer.
“That should be your first vocabulary category.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes.
Then he became serious.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
“For all of this.”
“You didn’t put the note in my apartment.”
“No.”
“You didn’t kidnap me.”
“No.”
“You did order me into an SUV.”
“I asked.”
“You absolutely did not.”
Beatrice nodded vigorously.
Gabriel sighed.
“Fine.”
Chloe sat at the table.
“You’re learning.”
He looked at her hands.
“I should have learned twenty-six years ago.”
Chloe did not soften the truth.
“Yes.”
“I thought lip-reading was enough.”
“It isn’t.”
“I thought writing notes was enough.”
“It isn’t.”
“I thought she was adapting.”
“She was.”
Chloe’s voice became quieter.
“That’s what people do when everyone around them refuses to meet them halfway.”
Gabriel looked toward his mother.
Beatrice pretended not to notice.
Chloe continued.
“My brother did the same thing.”
Gabriel looked back at her.
“You haven’t talked much about him.”
“Leo.”
“How old was he?”
“Twenty-two when he died.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
Chloe stared at her hands.
“He hated when people called him inspiring.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he’d do something normal, like graduate college, and someone would say it was inspiring because he was deaf.”
She smiled faintly.
“He used to sign, ‘I passed economics, I didn’t climb Everest.’”
Gabriel laughed.
Beatrice asked what was said.
Chloe translated.
Beatrice laughed too.
Then Chloe’s smile faded.
“I stopped signing after he died.”
“Why?”
“Because it felt like talking to someone who wasn’t there.”
Gabriel was quiet.
“And last night?”
“Your mother signed bread.”
Chloe laughed softly.
“That was all it took.”
Beatrice reached across and squeezed her hand.
The moment was interrupted by Dante entering.
“We found Bishop.”
Gabriel stood.
“Where?”
“Union Station.”
“Train?”
“Private car arranged under another name.”
“He leaving the state?”
Dante nodded.
“Federal officers are moving in now.”
Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
A live feed appeared.
Bishop walked across the station concourse.
Two agents approached.
He turned.
Saw them.
Ran.
The chase lasted three minutes.
Bishop made it outside.
A car waited.
He reached the door.
Then another federal vehicle blocked him.
Agents surrounded him.
Councilman Richard Bishop was arrested at 11:42 p.m.
By midnight, news stations carried the story.
Corruption.
Attempted murder.
Conspiracy.
Financial crimes.
The murder of Antonio Costello was reopened.
Vincent Moretti began talking after learning Bishop had been arrested.
So did Carlo.
So did Captain Harlan.
An empire of secrets started collapsing.
Three days later, Chloe finally returned to Il Canto.
Marco saw her enter the kitchen.
He dropped a plate.
“You’re alive.”
“Apparently.”
He hugged her.
Then immediately pushed her away.
“You are never serving Table 7 again.”
“Fair.”
The kitchen staff applauded.
Anthony the dishwasher handed Chloe twenty dollars.
“What’s this?”
“I bet you’d survive.”
Chloe stared.
“You people were betting on my life?”
“Mostly Marco.”
Marco shouted from across the kitchen.
“I had confidence.”
Before Chloe could answer, the kitchen went silent.
Again.
Marco looked toward the doors.
“No.”
Chloe turned.
Gabriel stood there.
No bodyguards.
No suit jacket.
Just a dark shirt and a tired expression.
Beatrice stood beside him.
She waved at Chloe.
Marco whispered, “Absolutely not.”
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“My mother wants dinner.”
Chloe smiled.
“She knows where the restaurant is now.”
Beatrice signed.
And my son wants to ask you something.
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
“What?”
He lifted his hands.
Slowly.
Awkwardly.
He signed.
Dinner.
Then.
You.
Then.
Me.
The grammar was terrible.
Chloe stared.
Gabriel said aloud, “I’m trying.”
Beatrice shook her head in embarrassment.
Chloe laughed.
“Are you asking me to dinner?”
“Yes.”
“This is a restaurant.”
“I noticed.”
“You could just sit down.”
“With you.”
Chloe glanced at Marco.
He had both hands over his face.
She looked back at Gabriel.
“Is this a threat?”
“No.”
“Order?”
“No.”
“Actual question?”
Gabriel nodded.
Chloe smiled.
May you like
“That really is progress.”
Then she took off her apron.
