Chapter 8 - The Night Gabriel Chose Me Over His EmpireVittorio talked because arrogant men love audiences.
Especially when they believe the audience cannot hurt them.
He confessed to ordering my father's death.
Not directly.
Men like Vittorio rarely used direct verbs.
Arthur had become “a problem.”
His accident had been “necessary.”
The fire at Rossi Gallery had been “unfortunate.”
But every word went through the microphone.
Gabriel heard everything.
So did federal agents waiting three blocks away.
Then Vittorio ruined the plan.
He took out a gun.
“You look like your mother.”
I kept my face still.
“You killed the man who raised me.”
“He stole you.”
“He saved me.”
Anger flashed across Vittorio's face.
“He poisoned you against your blood.”
“My blood didn't teach me to ride a bicycle.”
I stepped closer.
“My blood didn't stay up all night when I had a fever.”
Another step.
“My blood didn't die protecting me.”
His hand tightened around the gun.
“Arthur Bennett was my father.”
That did it.
Vittorio struck me.
The microphone flew from my purse.
It hit the concrete.
His eyes dropped.
Everything stopped.
“You little—”
The warehouse doors exploded inward.
Gabriel came through first.
Gunfire erupted.
I dropped behind a crate.
Marco threw himself sideways, knocking his chair over.
Gabriel moved toward me.
Vittorio fired.
Gabriel jerked.
My scream ripped through the warehouse.
He fell.
Something inside me broke.
I crawled toward him.
Vittorio grabbed my hair and dragged me backward.
“Sign the transfer!”
“No!”
He shoved papers toward me.
“Sign!”
I looked at Gabriel.
Blood spread across his shirt.
His eyes were open.
Watching me.
Then I saw his fingers move.
A tiny gesture.
Wait.
So I did.
I grabbed the pen.
Vittorio smiled.
I signed.
Not my name.
I wrote:
GO TO HELL.
Gabriel fired from the floor.
The bullet struck Vittorio's shoulder.
Federal agents flooded the warehouse.
Within seconds, it was over.
I ran to Gabriel.
“You idiot!”
He groaned.
“Hello to you too.”
“You got shot!”
“Vest.”
I stared.
He pulled open his shirt enough to reveal body armor.
I hit him.
Hard.
“Ow.”
“You let me think you were dying!”
“It was tactical.”
I hit him again.
“Nora.”
Again.
“Nora.”
Then he caught my wrist.
And kissed me.
Everything stopped.
The sirens.
The shouting.
The fear.
His mouth was warm and careful, completely unlike the dangerous man everyone else knew.
When he pulled away, his forehead rested against mine.
“I have wanted to do that since you threw my money on the floor.”
“You have terrible taste in women.”
“Apparently.”
Behind us, Marco groaned.
“If you two are finished, I'm still tied to a chair.”
I started laughing.
Gabriel did too.
And standing inside a warehouse where my father had once risked everything to protect me, I realized something terrifying.
I loved Gabriel Rossi.
May you like
Which was deeply inconvenient.
Because the next morning, he disappeared.
