Chapter 4 - The Father Who Refused to Stay Buried
Gabriel fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside Vittorio's head.
Audrey flinched upstairs.
Vittorio did not.
“You always pulled left when angry,” he said.
Gabriel descended slowly.
“I didn't miss.”
“Then you've improved.”
“Why are you alive?”
“Wrong question.”
Vittorio glanced toward the windows.
“You should ask why Carmine brought you to that grocery store.”
Gabriel's blood cooled.
Carmine had selected the meeting location.
Audrey had been there.
Coincidence suddenly felt impossible.
“Talk.”
“Your brother is alive.”
Gabriel's expression did not change.
Inside, something fractured.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect nothing from you.”
Vittorio's eyes moved upstairs.
“I came for my grandchildren.”
Gabriel stepped directly between him and the stairs.
“You'll die here first.”
Vittorio smiled faintly.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“My son.”
Gabriel hated how easily the old man could still provoke him.
Audrey came downstairs despite Gabriel's order.
Vittorio saw her.
“Mrs. Russo.”
“Don't call me that.”
“Technically accurate.”
Gabriel looked at Audrey.
She looked back.
Neither addressed it.
“Why did Julian help her?” Gabriel demanded.
Vittorio's face hardened.
“Because Julian discovered what I was building.”
“What?”
“A future.”
“You'll need to be less poetic before I shoot again.”
Vittorio reached slowly into his coat.
Gabriel aimed at his chest.
“Two fingers.”
The old man withdrew a flash drive.
He placed it on the table.
“For thirty years, the Russo organization survived because our enemies knew attacking one of us meant war with all of us. Then the world changed. Cameras. Digital banking. Federal surveillance. Informants.”
“And?”
“I built something cleaner.”
Audrey stared at him.
“Human trafficking isn't clean.”
Gabriel turned sharply.
Vittorio's eyes narrowed.
Audrey continued.
“Julian told me.”
Gabriel looked at his father.
“What is she talking about?”
Vittorio sighed.
“Your brother was sentimental.”
“Answer.”
“A transportation network. People paid for passage.”
“People?”
“Gabriel—”
“Women?”
Silence.
“Children?”
Vittorio said nothing.
Gabriel crossed the room so quickly Audrey barely saw it.
He slammed his father against the wall.
The cane fell.
“You used my ports?”
“I built those ports.”
“You moved children through my family's routes?”
“I moved commodities.”
Gabriel hit him.
Once.
Vittorio collapsed.
Audrey whispered, “Gabriel.”
He stopped himself from doing more.
Vittorio wiped blood from his mouth and laughed.
“Still pretending you have rules?”
“I do.”
“You kill men.”
“Men who chose the life.”
“You launder money.”
“Money doesn't scream.”
“You threaten families.”
“I don't touch children.”
Vittorio looked upstairs.
“Now you have some of your own, suddenly morality is convenient.”
Gabriel crouched.
“No. I always had a line. You simply hid how far beyond it you went.”
Vittorio's smile vanished.
A faint beep sounded.
Gabriel looked at the flash drive.
Then toward the window.
Red light appeared on Audrey's chest.
Laser.
Gabriel lunged.
Glass exploded.
He pulled Audrey down as a suppressed round tore through the room.
“Upstairs!”
Audrey ran.
Gabriel returned fire toward the opposite rooftop.
His security men flooded the hallway.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Gabriel raced upstairs.
Audrey already had Noah.
Emma was crying.
Gabriel lifted Emma from the crib.
She immediately grabbed his lapel.
For one absurd second, amid broken glass and shouting men, he stared at his daughter's terrified face.
“It's okay.”
He had never said those words sincerely to anyone.
“Daddy's here.”
Audrey heard him.
So did Gabriel.
There was no time to react.
They moved through a hidden rear exit into an armored SUV.
Gabriel climbed in beside Audrey.
“Vittorio?”
One guard shook his head.
“Gone.”
Gabriel swore.
Audrey hugged Noah.
Emma remained against Gabriel.
Then Gabriel noticed something.
A piece of paper had been tucked inside Emma's blanket.
He pulled it free.
Three words were printed on it.
ASK CARMINE WHY.
Beneath them was an address.
Gabriel recognized it.
St. Michael's Cemetery.
Julian's grave.
Audrey stared at him.
“What does it mean?”
May you like
Gabriel folded the note.
“We're going to find out.”
