Chapter 7 - THE ONE PERSON SHE COULD NOT RISK
Paige’s mother lived in Ohio.
For six months, Paige had believed distance kept her safe.
She had been wrong.
Matteo sent a photograph.
Her mother stood outside her small house holding Buster’s leash.
A black SUV waited across the street.
Paige could barely breathe.
Gabriel took the phone.
“If you touch her—”
Matteo laughed.
“There he is.”
“What do you want?”
“Paige.”
“No.”
“Then Mrs. Winslow dies.”
Paige grabbed Gabriel’s arm.
He looked at her.
Matteo continued.
“Midnight. Pier 19. Paige comes alone with the original drive.”
The call ended.
Gabriel immediately ordered Nico to secure Paige’s mother.
A private team reached the house twelve minutes later.
The SUV was gone.
Her mother was unharmed.
But the message was clear.
Matteo could reach anyone.
Gabriel refused to let Paige go to the pier.
Paige refused to stay behind.
They argued in his penthouse.
“No.”
“You’re not my father.”
“No.”
“You’re not even technically my boyfriend.”
Gabriel paused.
Paige paused too.
“That is not the relevant issue.”
“It became relevant when you hesitated.”
He stared at her.
Despite everything, she nearly smiled.
Then Gabriel stepped closer.
“If Matteo takes you, I may not get you back.”
The fear in his voice ended the argument.
Paige touched his face.
“You can’t protect me forever.”
“I can try.”
“That isn’t living.”
“No.”
“What?”
His hand covered hers.
“Before you, I wasn’t doing much living.”
Paige’s eyes burned.
Gabriel kissed her palm.
Then Nico interrupted with news.
They had traced Matteo’s call.
Not Pier 19.
A warehouse in Red Hook.
The pier was a trap.
So they created one of their own.
At midnight, a black sedan arrived at Pier 19.
A woman wearing Paige’s coat stepped out.
Matteo’s men moved.
Police closed in.
Meanwhile Gabriel, Paige, and Nico entered the Red Hook warehouse from the rear.
They found servers.
Documents.
Cash.
Enough evidence to destroy what remained of Enzo and Matteo’s network.
But Matteo was not there.
Paige saw a desk.
On it sat a photograph of Luca Moretti.
Beside him stood Gabriel.
And a young woman.
Paige picked it up.
“Who is she?”
Gabriel went still.
“My wife.”
Paige’s hand froze.
“Your what?”
“Late wife.”
The relief she felt immediately made her feel guilty.
Gabriel took the photograph.
“Isabella.”
He had married at twenty-six.
She died three years later.
Car accident.
Except Gabriel had never believed it was an accident.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because everyone I love becomes leverage.”
Paige looked at him.
“Luca.”
“Yes.”
“Isabella.”
“Yes.”
“And now me.”
His silence answered.
Suddenly the warehouse doors slammed shut.
Nico shouted.
Gas hissed from ceiling vents.
“Move!”
They ran.
Gabriel kicked through a side door.
Nico shattered a window.
Paige climbed through.
An explosion tore through the warehouse seconds later.
They hit the pavement.
Flames climbed behind them.
Gabriel rolled Paige beneath him.
Again.
Always his body between hers and danger.
When the ringing in her ears stopped, she touched his face.
“I’m okay.”
He closed his eyes.
Then kissed her forehead.
Nico approached.
“We have a problem.”
“What now?” Paige asked.
Nico showed them his phone.
Security footage from Gabriel’s penthouse.
Matteo had entered while they were gone.
He knew the safe combination.
He removed one thing.
The original flash drive.
Gabriel cursed.
Without it, much of their evidence could be challenged.
But Paige stared at the footage.
Then she smiled.
Gabriel noticed.
“What?”
“That isn’t the original.”
He stared.
“I swapped it.”
“When?”
“Before the gala.”
“With what?”
“A duplicate.”
“Where is the original?”
Paige reached beneath her shirt.
A small drive hung from a chain around her neck.
Nico laughed.
Gabriel simply stared.
“You carried it?”
“I figured nobody would search me while I was standing beside you.”
“That was reckless.”
“It worked.”
Gabriel pulled her against him and kissed her.
Nico looked away.
Then Paige’s phone vibrated.
A text from Matteo.
YOU THINK YOU WON?
A second message arrived.
It contained an address.
Then a photograph.
Kevin was tied to a chair.
Matteo stood behind him.
May you like
And beneath the photograph were six words.
COME ALONE OR HE DIES AGAIN.
