Chapter 4
Gabriel Rourke was alive.
Barely.
We found him beneath the old carriage house.
Not in the main building.
Under it.
A stone maintenance room my grandfather used to store heating oil.
Gabriel sat against the wall with one ankle chained to a pipe.
Gray hair.
Split lip.
One eye swollen.
Twelve years older than the last photograph I remembered.
Still recognizable.
When he saw me, he laughed.
It hurt him.
“Massimo.”
I stopped.
My men raised their weapons.
Gabriel raised both hands.
“If you're here to finish what your father started, let me drink first.”
I looked at the chain.
“Who did that?”
“You know.”
“Say it.”
“Adrian.”
He looked behind me.
“His mother too.”
I crouched.
“Why?”
Gabriel stared at me.
“Because I came to warn you.”
“After twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“You had time.”
“I had reasons.”
“So did Judas.”
He smiled.
“Your father used that one too.”
I nearly stood.
Then I remembered Sofia.
Noah.
The black pin.
St. Michael.
“Talk.”
One of my men handed Gabriel water.
He drank too quickly.
Coughed.
Then drank again.
“Your father believed I sold the Richmond convoy.”
“You disappeared.”
“I was supposed to.”
“Convenient.”
“Evelyn made it necessary.”
My jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
Gabriel leaned his head against the wall.
“Twelve years ago, Evelyn's husband owed money to men your father would have killed him for dealing with.”
“Evelyn's husband died fourteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“She spent two years cleaning up what he left behind.”
“What does that have to do with the convoy?”
“She traded the Richmond route to save his remaining crews.”
I stared.
Gabriel continued.
“I found out.”
“You told my father?”
“I tried.”
“Then why did he think you did it?”
“Because Evelyn got there first.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Told him I was angry about being passed over for capo.”
I remembered.
Gabriel had been ambitious.
Loud.
Exactly believable enough.
“She framed you.”
“Yes.”
“Why not come back later?”
“Because men followed me for three years.”
“Whose?”
“Some hers.”
He looked at me.
“Some your father's.”
I stood.
“Why return now?”
His face changed.
“Because she started again.”
“With Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“What are they doing?”
Gabriel looked toward my men.
I dismissed everyone except two.
He continued.
“Recruiting quietly.”
“For Adrian?”
“Not exactly.”
I frowned.
“Then who?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Adrian thinks this ends with him controlling the southern businesses.”
“That sounds like Adrian.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Evelyn promised him that.”
“But?”
“She promised someone else the same thing.”
There.
Bigger.
“Who?”
“Marcus Varga.”
I knew him.
North side boss.
Older than me.
Patient.
Dangerous.
Not stupid enough to attack the Caradonnas openly.
Apparently smart enough to rent my relatives.
“What does Varga get?”
“St. Michael.”
I stared.
“The passage?”
“The estate.”
Of course.
The passage didn't matter by itself.
It bypassed the eastern gate.
Opened beneath the old chapel.
During a family gathering, men could enter without cameras ever seeing them.
“How many?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
I looked around the carriage house.
“Why abuse Sofia?”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“Because she wouldn't tell Adrian where the interior release was.”
My hands closed.
“He hit her for that?”
“Not once.”
Silence.
Gabriel looked at me carefully.
“He'd ask.”
Pause.
“She'd refuse.”
Another.
“He'd hurt her.”
My jaw locked.
“Evelyn?”
“Usually watched.”
That somehow made it worse.
Gabriel continued.
“She'd tell Sofia she was embarrassing Adrian. That if she were a better wife, he wouldn't have to punish her.”
Exactly.
Not madness.
A system.
Pain justified by obedience.
“What happened when you returned?”
“I went to Sofia.”
“Why her?”
“You have too many men around you.”
“Reasonable.”
“She was alone sometimes.”
“Not reasonable.”
“I know.”
He sighed.
“I tried to give her a message.”
“Adrian found you.”
“Yes.”
“Then locked Sofia with you.”
“He thought fear would make her talk.”
Gabriel looked away.
“He told her Noah could join us permanently if she kept refusing.”
I felt something shift inside me.
“What?”
“He said the boy already cried too much.”
Gabriel imitated Adrian's voice badly.
“Maybe one night in the dark would cure him.”
I stood.
Gabriel grabbed my sleeve.
“Massimo.”
I looked down.
“Don't kill him yet.”
I almost laughed.
“That's your advice?”
“He doesn't know he's being used.”
I stared.
“Explain.”
“Varga doesn't want Adrian running anything.”
“Then why promise?”
“Because arrogant men open doors faster when you tell them they'll own what's behind them.”
Fair.
“What does Varga plan to do after he gets inside?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Kill you.”
Not surprising.
“Then?”
“Sofia.”
My expression changed.
“Why?”
“Because she's the only Caradonna adult left who can rally the old crews.”
My daughter.
Eight months pregnant.
I said nothing.
Gabriel continued.
“Noah stays alive.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Leverage.”
Of course.
Always the child.
“And the baby?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
I leaned closer.
“What about Sofia's unborn baby?”
His eyes shifted away.
That was enough.
“What?”
“Varga told Adrian the child would be useful.”
My voice dropped.
“How?”
“I don't know.”
I believed him.
Then he said:
“But there's something worse.”
I waited.
Gabriel looked at the black pin in my hand.
“Adrian didn't find St. Michael's outer entrance.”
I frowned.
“Sofia never told him.”
“I know.”
“Then?”
May you like
Gabriel swallowed.
“Somebody inside your own house already opened it for them.”
