Chapter 4 - The Warning at Chloe's Door
Chloe stared at the photograph.
“That was taken tonight.”
Gabriel looked into the rearview mirror.
The street behind them appeared empty.
“Stay in the car.”
“What are you doing?”
“Checking your building.”
“You think somebody is inside?”
“I think someone followed us.”
He reached beneath his jacket.
Chloe saw the grip of a handgun.
Her stomach tightened.
“Gabriel.”
“Stay here.”
He stepped out.
Chloe immediately stepped out too.
Gabriel turned.
“I said stay in the car.”
“And I ignored you.”
“This isn't Table 7.”
“Good.”
She shut the door.
“Because your service tonight is terrible.”
Gabriel stared at her in disbelief.
Then he moved toward the entrance.
Chloe followed.
The lobby smelled like old carpet and somebody's burnt dinner.
Nothing looked disturbed.
Gabriel checked the stairwell.
Empty.
They climbed four flights.
Chloe's apartment door came into view.
She stopped.
Gabriel almost walked into her.
“What?”
Chloe pointed.
A white envelope had been taped to the door.
No name.
No stamp.
Gabriel moved in front of her.
“Don't touch it.”
“Wasn't planning to.”
He removed the envelope with a handkerchief.
Inside was a photograph.
Beatrice sat outside a church.
A red circle had been drawn around her head.
On the back were four words.
SHE SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
Chloe felt sick.
Gabriel's face became completely expressionless.
That frightened her more than anger would have.
He pulled out his phone.
“Nico.”
Chloe's head snapped toward him.
Gabriel continued before she could stop him.
“Send four men to Chloe Bennett's building.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
Gabriel looked down at her hand.
“Nico can't know.”
He went still.
“What?”
Chloe realized the secret was over.
Beatrice had wanted tomorrow.
Tomorrow no longer existed.
“Your mother thinks Nico is working with Victor.”
Gabriel lowered the phone.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then he ended the call without speaking.
“Explain.”
Chloe unlocked her apartment.
“Inside.”
Gabriel hesitated.
She gave him a tired look.
“If there’s someone waiting to kill me, I would prefer not to explain family betrayal in the hallway.”
He entered first.
The apartment was small.
One bedroom.
One bathroom.
A narrow kitchen.
Stacks of library books beside the couch.
Gabriel checked every room.
Chloe waited.
When he returned, she sat at the kitchen table.
“Your mother saw Nico and Victor together in your study.”
Gabriel remained standing.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Doing what?”
“She read their lips.”
Chloe told him everything.
The transfer.
The competency documents.
Beatrice's shares.
Victor's plan to gain control.
Gabriel did not interrupt.
When Chloe finished, his face was unreadable.
“You believed her.”
“Yes.”
“Immediately.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Chloe stared at him.
“Because she gave details.”
“That isn't what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean?”
Gabriel leaned against the counter.
“You met her tonight.”
“Yes.”
“You don't know my family.”
“No.”
“You don't know what she's like.”
Chloe's expression hardened.
“I know what it's like when people assume a deaf person misunderstood something.”
Gabriel looked away.
“That’s not what I'm doing.”
“It sounds remarkably similar.”
“My mother has been under stress.”
“Then learn enough ASL to ask her yourself.”
The sentence hit harder than Chloe intended.
Gabriel's eyes lifted.
She immediately regretted the cruelty.
But she did not take it back.
Gabriel walked toward the window.
“Nico has been beside me for eighteen years.”
Chloe said nothing.
“He took a bullet for me when I was twenty-six.”
Still she said nothing.
“He stood beside me when my father died.”
Gabriel's voice lowered.
“He knows everything.”
“That may be the problem.”
He turned.
Chloe expected anger.
Instead, she saw something worse.
Fear.
Not fear of Nico.
Fear that Beatrice might be right.
Gabriel sat across from her.
“What exactly did she see?”
Chloe repeated every sign she remembered.
Every phrase.
Every date.
Gabriel took out his phone.
He opened a banking application Chloe could not see.
Then another.
His expression slowly changed.
“What?”
Gabriel typed again.
“Three holding companies.”
“Missing?”
“No.”
He stared at the screen.
“They exist.”
“Is that bad?”
“I didn't create them.”
Chloe's stomach tightened.
Gabriel made another call.
This time he dialed manually.
A man answered.
“Mr. Costello?”
“Elias.”
Gabriel kept his voice calm.
“I need you to check three companies.”
He read the names.
Silence.
Then Gabriel asked.
“Who authorized them?”
Another pause.
Gabriel's eyes went cold.
“Send me everything.”
He ended the call.
“Victor?”
Gabriel nodded.
“And Nico?”
“His signature appears as witness.”
Chloe leaned back.
The room seemed suddenly too small.
Gabriel looked at the warning photograph again.
“Pack a bag.”
“No.”
“You cannot stay here.”
“I have work tomorrow.”
“You're not going to work.”
“My landlord doesn't accept mafia emergencies as rent.”
“I'll cover it.”
“No.”
Gabriel's patience disappeared.
“Someone taped a photograph of my mother to your door because you spoke to her.”
“And?”
“And that means you are involved now.”
“I was involved when your mother asked for help.”
“You don't understand what you're standing in.”
Chloe stood.
“Then explain it.”
Gabriel stood too.
They faced each other across the tiny kitchen.
“If Victor believes my mother can expose what he's doing, he will isolate her.”
“He already tried.”
“If he believes you can translate her, he will isolate you.”
Chloe's heartbeat accelerated.
Gabriel continued.
“And if Nico is truly with him, then I don't know which people around me are mine.”
For the first time, his authority sounded less like power and more like loneliness.
Chloe looked away.
“Where would I go?”
“My house.”
She laughed once.
“No.”
“My mother lives there.”
“That somehow makes it worse.”
“You’ll have security.”
“Security you just said you can't trust.”
Gabriel paused.
Chloe pointed at him.
“Exactly.”
He ran a hand over his face.
“I have three men I trust outside the family.”
“Three?”
“Yes.”
“That’s depressing.”
“I don't recommend my profession.”
She looked at the photograph.
“Beatrice wanted me to come tomorrow anyway.”
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“She invited you?”
“She ordered me.”
“That sounds more like her.”
Chloe packed one small bag.
Twenty minutes later, they left the apartment.
Gabriel changed cars twice.
He made no calls to Nico.
They reached the Costello estate shortly after two in the morning.
The mansion stood behind iron gates outside Lake Forest.
It looked less like a home than a government building designed by someone with trust issues.
Beatrice was awake.
She stood at the top of the staircase wearing a silk robe.
When she saw Chloe, relief flooded her face.
Then she saw Gabriel.
Her expression hardened.
Gabriel walked toward her slowly.
He raised his hands awkwardly.
Chloe stopped breathing.
Gabriel signed two clumsy words.
I am sorry.
Beatrice stared.
Gabriel tried again.
I should have listened.
His grammar was terrible.
His hands were stiff.
But Beatrice understood.
Her eyes filled.
Then she crossed the distance between them and slapped the back of his head.
Chloe covered her mouth.
Gabriel almost smiled.
Beatrice pulled him into an embrace.
For one brief moment, the danger outside disappeared.
Then every light in the mansion went black.
Chloe heard the security system die.
Gabriel grabbed her arm.
May you like
“Down.”
A gunshot shattered the front window.
