Chapter 13 - Gabriel Moretti Meets His SisterGabriel did not go alone.
He brought Sheree.
Technically, Sheree brought herself.
“You have a fascinating interpretation of instructions,” Gabriel said.
They sat inside her old Honda two blocks from the address.
“You married me knowing this.”
“The note specifically said alone.”
“The note was written by someone connected to people photographing our child.”
“Exactly.”
“So taking my wife improves the situation?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Moral support.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Sheree smiled.
“And I have pepper spray.”
He closed his eyes.
“I used to command hundreds of armed men.”
“And now you’re scared of your wife’s purse.”
“Deeply.”
The address belonged to a small bookstore in Lincoln Park.
They entered.
A bell rang.
Nobody appeared.
Then a woman stepped from behind a shelf.
Gabriel froze.
She looked like him.
Not exactly.
But enough.
Same dark eyes.
Same stubborn mouth.
Same irritating ability to stare at another human being without blinking.
“You’re Gabriel,” she said.
“You’re Sofia.”
She looked at Sheree.
“And you ignored the alone part.”
Sheree shrugged.
“It’s kind of our thing.”
Sofia almost smiled.
Then she locked the front door.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Where is Elena?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
“No.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
Sofia did not move.
Sheree watched two Morettis attempt to intimidate each other through eye contact.
It was exhausting.
Finally Sheree said, “Could everyone stop genetically glaring for thirty seconds?”
Both looked at her.
“Thank you.”
Sofia exhaled.
“Our mother has been hiding for twenty-one years.”
“From whom?” Gabriel asked.
“Not Vittorio. Not Salvatore.”
“Then who?”
“People your father worked for.”
Gabriel stiffened.
“We dismantled that network.”
“No. You dismantled Richard Vale’s network.”
Sofia shook her head.
“He was another layer.”
Sheree hated conspiracies with layers.
They always meant more running.
Sofia opened a laptop.
Photographs appeared.
Corporate executives.
Private military contractors.
Foreign accounts.
Then a familiar logo.
Moretti International Shipping.
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“My legitimate company.”
“Was never completely legitimate.”
Sofia showed him shipping manifests.
Containers had been moved through Moretti ports for decades.
Weapons.
Cash.
People.
Gabriel stared.
“I shut those routes down.”
“You shut down the routes you knew existed.”
Sofia changed the screen.
One active route remained.
Managed under a shell corporation.
Its director:
MATTEO MORETTI.
Gabriel stood.
“No.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“My brother wouldn’t—”
“Your father lied to you about your mother for years.”
“Matteo isn’t my father.”
“No.”
Sofia looked sad.
“He’s mine too.”
Gabriel’s phone rang.
Matteo.
Sofia whispered, “Don’t answer.”
Gabriel answered.
“What?”
Matteo’s voice was frantic.
“Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Anthony disappeared.”
Gabriel looked at Sheree.
“When?”
“Forty minutes ago.”
Then Matteo said something else.
“And somebody took Amelia.”
The world stopped.
Sheree grabbed the phone.
“What?”
“Mrs. Alvarez is alive. Two men came in wearing federal uniforms. They knew the security codes.”
Sheree could barely breathe.
Gabriel became utterly motionless.
That old darkness returned.
Sofia saw it.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“If your people touched my daughter—”
“They didn’t.”
“You have five seconds.”
Sofia grabbed her phone.
She dialed.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Her face changed.
“Damn it.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Sheree stared.
“Elena has Amelia?”
“No.”
Sofia looked terrified.
“But whoever took Amelia just took Elena too.”
Gabriel drew his gun.
Sofia raised her hands.
“You want your daughter back?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop thinking like Gabriel Moretti.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever did this knows exactly how you react when someone touches your family.”
She looked at Sheree.
“They want him angry.”
Sheree understood.
“Predictable.”
Sofia nodded.
Gabriel’s phone vibrated.
A video.
Amelia sat in a brightly lit room.
Unhurt.
Terrified.
Beside her sat an older woman with dark-gray hair.
Elena Moretti.
Gabriel’s mother.
Alive.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Two generations of Morettis.”
The camera moved closer.
“One debt.”
Then Amelia looked directly into the lens.
And said something that chilled Sheree.
“Daddy, Grandma says don’t give them the book.”
The video ended.
Gabriel stared.
“What book?”
Sofia went pale.
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one your mother stole from Vittorio the night she escaped.”
Gabriel looked at her.
May you like
Sofia whispered:
“The book containing the names of every family that secretly financed the Moretti empire.”
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