Chapter 9 - THE MAN AT ALESSIO’S RIGHT HAND
Alessio did not confront Damian.
That surprised Claudia.
It surprised Alessio more.
Twenty years earlier, he would have put Damian in a chair before sunset.
He would have demanded answers.
He would have treated hesitation as guilt.
Serena had died trying to teach him the cost of predictable violence.
This time he watched.
At dinner, Damian stood in his usual position near Alessio’s right shoulder.
Ruby ate pasta at the table.
Evelyn sat beside her.
Claudia barely touched her food.
Damian seemed normal.
He joked with Ruby.
She offered him half a piece of bread.
He accepted.
Alessio watched.
Someone who knew where Ruby slept.
Someone who walked through the estate.
Someone Serena trusted enough to stand near the greenhouse.
Damian fit every warning.
That did not make him guilty.
After dinner, Alessio called him into the library.
“I found Gabriel.”
Damian stared.
“Where?”
A lie.
Alessio answered:
“Old Ventresca winery.”
Damian stepped closer.
“When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“You’re going?”
“Yes.”
“How many men?”
“Six.”
“Let me organize them.”
“No.”
That was unusual.
Damian noticed.
Alessio poured whiskey.
“I’m taking men from the south crew.”
“Why?”
“Gabriel knows us.”
Damian nodded slowly.
“Makes sense.”
No objection.
No curiosity beyond what was reasonable.
Damian left.
Alessio waited.
The old Ventresca winery had been empty for twelve years.
At midnight, men arrived there.
Not Alessio’s.
Three vehicles.
Masked attackers.
They entered through the rear.
Found nobody.
Alessio watched through binoculars from a hill half a mile away.
Claudia stood beside him.
“You told Damian.”
“Yes.”
“So he’s the leak.”
“Maybe.”
She frowned.
“What else could it be?”
“I told three other people different locations.”
Claudia understood.
Each person received a separate false destination.
Only the winery was attacked.
Damian had the poisoned information.
Alessio’s face became cold.
Then his phone rang.
Damian.
Alessio answered.
“They’re at the winery,” Damian said.
“I know.”
A pause.
“You’re not there.”
“No.”
Another pause.
Damian exhaled.
“You tested me.”
“Yes.”
“And I failed.”
“Looks that way.”
Damian laughed once.
Not nervously.
Sadly.
“Come alone.”
“Where?”
“Serena’s garden.”
The call ended.
Alessio returned to the estate.
No visible guards stood in the eastern garden.
They were there.
Hidden.
Damian waited beside the fountain.
He had removed his jacket.
His weapon lay on the stone ledge.
Alessio approached.
“Explain.”
Damian looked toward the flowers.
“I sent them.”
The admission hit differently than denial would have.
“Why?”
“Because I knew you were testing me.”
“How?”
“You stopped trusting everyone three days ago.”
“That doesn’t answer.”
“You gave me a location too easily.”
Damian looked at him.
“I sent men I control to see what you were doing.”
“You could have called.”
“And if you already believed I betrayed Serena?”
Alessio said nothing.
Damian lifted his right hand.
The signet ring.
“Claudia told you about this.”
“You know Thomas’s ring?”
“Yes.”
“Why did his have your mark?”
“It didn’t.”
“Claudia saw the D.”
Damian removed his ring.
He pressed beneath the setting.
A tiny compartment opened.
Inside was a small silver thorn.
Alessio’s expression changed.
Damian dropped it into his palm.
“I worked for Gabriel.”
Silence.
“Before you?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Two years.”
“After the warehouse fire?”
“No.”
Damian looked at him.
“Before.”
Alessio’s hand tightened.
“You knew he survived.”
“No.”
“I thought he died like everyone else.”
“Then why the thorn?”
“Gabriel gave them to five men he trusted.”
“Thomas?”
“One.”
“Who else?”
“Me. Benedict Price. Frank Mercer.”
“And fifth?”
Damian hesitated.
“I never knew.”
Alessio stepped closer.
“Serena?”
“No.”
“Did you betray her?”
Damian’s face hardened.
“I loved Serena like family.”
“Men have killed family for less.”
“Yes.”
Damian did not look away.
“But not me.”
Alessio pointed toward the winery.
“Someone knew.”
“I knew because you told me.”
“You sent attackers.”
“I sent men to watch.”
“They entered armed.”
“They were told to protect you if Gabriel appeared.”
Alessio considered it.
Possible.
Not comforting.
Damian continued.
“Thomas’s ring had a D because Gabriel used letters for roles.”
“What role?”
“Door.”
Alessio frowned.
“Thomas controlled access.”
“To what?”
“Gabriel’s hidden routes.”
The tunnels.
The garden.
Damian looked toward the black dahlias.
“If Thomas was the Door, someone else was the Gardener.”
Alessio stared.
“So the D does not mean Damian.”
“No.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
Damian almost smiled.
“That is why I expect you not to believe me.”
Alessio’s phone vibrated.
A message from Claudia.
One sentence:
EVELYN IS GONE.
Alessio looked toward the house.
Damian saw his face.
“What?”
“Evelyn.”
They ran.
Claudia stood in the upstairs hallway beside an open bedroom window.
No broken glass.
No struggle.
Evelyn’s shoes were gone.
So was her coat.
On the bed lay a black rose.
But beneath it was something else.
A piece of paper.
The first paper the Gardener had ever left.
May you like
Only four words:
BRING THE DOOR HOME.
