Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO WANTED MY CHAIR
The next evening, Gabriel wore our father’s ring.
I noticed it the second I entered the council room.
Heavy gold.
Black onyx.
The Moretti crest carved into the center.
Our father had left it to me.
I had given it to Gabriel after Isabella’s funeral because he told me he felt like he had lost his brother too.
I had forgotten that.
Grief made a man generous with the wrong people.
Gabriel touched the ring as I sat down.
“You look worse.”
“I feel worse.”
A lie.
For the first time in years, my blood was clear of the stimulant.
I had slept forty-eight minutes the previous night.
Lily told me another story from the couch in Kane’s safe apartment.
Forty-eight minutes felt like resurrection.
Uncle Salvatore sat beside Gabriel.
Frank and Anthony faced us.
A fifth man stood near the door.
Gabriel’s attorney.
That was new.
“Ready?” Gabriel asked.
“No.”
He smiled faintly.
“I appreciate your honesty.”
I wanted to put him through the table.
Instead, I slouched in my chair.
Gabriel began.
“Yesterday we delayed the vote because Uncle Salvatore requested time to consider.”
Salvatore looked at me.
Pain sat behind his eyes.
Gabriel continued.
“Unfortunately, events since then prove delay is dangerous.”
He placed photographs on the table.
Sophia’s abandoned car.
Blood on the seat.
The empty child restraint.
I made myself stare.
“What is this?”
Gabriel watched every movement of my face.
“Your former housekeeper is missing.”
“Since when?”
“Last night.”
I stood too quickly.
The chair scraped backward.
Good.
Let him see panic.
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
“You were supposed to handle her departure.”
“I did.”
“Then find her.”
Gabriel turned to the others.
“This is what I mean.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“You cannot separate emotion from command.”
“My employee and her child are missing.”
“Former employee.”
“Her daughter is three.”
“And we have more serious issues.”
Something inside me wanted to cross the room and finish everything.
Instead, I sat.
Gabriel took a breath.
“Dante, I love you.”
There were lies.
And then there were obscenities.
“You’re exhausted. Unstable. Your judgment is compromised. You fired a woman yesterday after evidence of theft, and now you’re acting as if her disappearance is a family emergency.”
“It is to me.”
He looked sad.
“That’s the problem.”
Uncle Salvatore stared at the table.
Gabriel pushed the transfer papers forward.
“Ninety days. Rest. Treatment. No shame.”
“And after ninety days?”
“If doctors clear you, we revisit.”
“You mean if Antonelli clears me?”
A flicker.
Then calm.
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
Gabriel leaned back.
“Why?”
“Because Antonelli won’t be available.”
Silence.
His expression did not move.
Only his hand did.
The one wearing our father’s ring tightened.
“What happened?”
“He had an emergency.”
“Where?”
“Police custody.”
Nobody breathed.
Gabriel looked at me.
I straightened.
The exhausted slump disappeared.
So did the tremor I had deliberately kept in my hand.
His face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
I pulled a small recorder from my pocket.
“Would you like to hear what your doctor had to say?”
Gabriel stood.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“No. I made my mistake four years ago when I trusted you.”
I pressed play.
Antonelli’s voice filled the room.
Gabriel asked me how long a man could survive without sleep.
Then another section.
He paid me to alter the reports.
Uncle Salvatore slowly turned toward Gabriel.
Frank swore under his breath.
Anthony simply stared.
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“You coerced him.”
“Keep listening.”
The recording continued.
The lake house.
The records.
The fire.
Isabella.
When my wife’s name came through the speaker, my control nearly failed.
Gabriel looked at me.
For the first time, there was no concern in his face.
No affection.
No mask.
Just resentment.
Pure and old.
“You were never supposed to find out.”
Uncle Salvatore stood.
“Gabriel.”
“Sit down.”
Salvatore looked stunned.
Gabriel laughed.
“Oh, stop looking at me like that. Every man in this room knew what Dante became after she died.”
“You poisoned your brother,” Anthony said.
“I kept him awake.”
“For three years.”
“He was already broken.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Gabriel turned toward me.
“You want the truth? You were always Father’s choice.”
I said nothing.
“You were the son he took to meetings. The son he taught. The son everyone watched when he walked into a room.”
“I protected you.”
“I never asked you to.”
“No. You only enjoyed what my protection bought.”
His face twisted.
“When Father died, you gave me companies like I was a child receiving toys.”
“I gave you a way out.”
“You gave me scraps.”
Uncle Salvatore whispered, “Madonna.”
Gabriel ignored him.
“And then Isabella died, and for the first time, everybody saw what you really were.”
“What was that?”
“Weak.”
The word settled between us.
I thought it would hurt.
It did not.
Not anymore.
Because a three-year-old girl had already seen me weaker than Gabriel ever had.
She had walked into my bedroom anyway.
Gabriel continued.
“I didn’t need to kill you. I only needed time. People lose faith slowly.”
He pointed at the papers.
“One missed meeting. One bad decision. One sleepless night at a time.”
“You planned to take the chair.”
“It should have been mine.”
“You burned the lake house.”
“I ordered records destroyed.”
“Isabella was inside.”
“I didn’t know.”
“But you knew afterward.”
His jaw clenched.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were useful broken.”
Uncle Salvatore crossed the room and slapped him.
Hard.
Gabriel staggered.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Gabriel smiled.
“You think this ends because Antonelli talked?”
I heard a click behind me.
The attorney by the door had drawn a pistol.
So had one of the guards outside.
Gabriel looked at me.
“You’ve always had one problem, Dante.”
“What’s that?”
“You think loyalty is something you can earn.”
The attorney raised his weapon.
Before he could fire, the door opened behind him.
Detective Kane entered with six officers.
“Actually,” Kane said, “his problem is that he invites too many people to family meetings.”
Weapons hit the floor.
Gabriel stared at the badges.
Then at me.
“You brought police into this house?”
“I brought witnesses.”
“You’d destroy the family name.”
“No.”
I stood.
“You did that.”
Kane moved toward him.
Gabriel suddenly grabbed Uncle Salvatore and shoved him into the officers.
Chaos exploded.
Gabriel ran through the side door.
By the time we reached the courtyard, a black SUV was disappearing through the south gate.
Kane swore.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Gabriel breathed into the line.
“You think you won?”
“You confessed in front of witnesses.”
“I’m not talking about the chair.”
My stomach tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
“You should check on your new family.”
The call disconnected.
I turned toward Kane.
He had heard enough from my expression.
We both reached for our phones.
The safe apartment did not answer.
Neither did Sophia.
Then my screen lit with a security alert.
Fire alarm.
At the building where I had hidden Lily.
For one second, three years disappeared.
I was back at Lake Geneva.
Smoke.
Flames.
Isabella.
Twelve minutes too late.
May you like
Not again.
I ran.
