Chapter 4 - The Woman Behind the BountyGabriel hated recovering.
He hated weakness.
He hated doctors.
Most of all, he hated being ordered to remain in bed.
Norah discovered this within twenty-four hours.
“You cannot hold a syndicate meeting twelve hours after being shot.”
“I can hold it lying down.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
“No.”
“Dominic and Carmine are waiting.”
“They can continue waiting.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Norah stared back.
Leo stood in the doorway, wisely silent.
Eventually Gabriel looked at him.
“Why are you still standing there?”
Leo shrugged.
“I wanted to see who won.”
“Get out.”
Leo disappeared.
Norah changed Gabriel’s dressing.
The intimacy of the act disturbed her more than the blood.
His body was mapped with scars.
Bullet wounds.
Knife wounds.
A pale line across his shoulder.
Another along his ribs.
“What happened here?”
“Knife.”
“And this?”
“Bullet.”
“This?”
“Broken bottle.”
Norah stopped.
“You've lived a ridiculous life.”
“I've lived.”
“Barely.”
She taped fresh gauze over the wound.
Gabriel watched her.
“You're angry.”
“You got shot.”
“That tends to happen in my profession.”
“Your profession.”
Norah laughed bitterly.
“You say that like you're an accountant.”
“I have accountants.”
“You have criminals.”
“Yes.”
“And apparently snipers.”
“Occupational hazard.”
Norah stepped away.
“You almost died.”
The humor vanished.
Gabriel understood what she was actually saying.
He sat upright despite the pain.
“Come here.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
She hated the softness in his voice.
She approached.
Gabriel took her hand.
“I didn't die.”
“This time.”
“No.”
“This time.”
Her eyes burned.
“I spent years watching my mother destroy herself working hospital shifts. I decided I wanted to become a nurse because I thought maybe if I learned enough, if I worked hard enough, I could make death feel less random.”
Gabriel listened.
“But you live like death is a business appointment.”
“In my world, sometimes it is.”
“I hate your world.”
“I know.”
“I hate what it makes you.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Then why am I still here?”
Gabriel's answer was immediate.
“Because you care.”
Norah pulled her hand away.
“That isn't enough.”
“No.”
He leaned back.
“But it's a beginning.”
The next morning, Gabriel finally revealed his plan.
Vincent Moretti had made one mistake.
He had placed a bounty on Norah through intermediaries.
Money moved.
People talked.
And Leo had found one of the brokers.
A woman named Elena Russo.
Norah recognized the surname.
“Moretti's sister?”
“His former sister-in-law.”
Gabriel slid a photograph across the table.
Elena was perhaps forty-five.
Elegant.
Dark hair.
Expensive coat.
“She handles Vincent's legitimate businesses.”
“And his illegitimate ones?”
“Sometimes.”
Norah studied the photograph.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“She wants to meet you.”
“No.”
Gabriel blinked.
“I haven't explained why.”
“You don't need to. The answer is no.”
“She contacted us.”
“Still no.”
“She says Vincent has lost control.”
Norah paused.
Gabriel continued.
“Moretti started this war because he believed I was weak. Now his own captains are dying. His businesses are bleeding money. He refuses to stop because backing down would make him look weak.”
“So Elena wants peace.”
“She wants her brother alive.”
“And you?”
Gabriel's expression became unreadable.
“I want this finished.”
Norah understood what that meant.
“You were going to kill him.”
“I still might.”
“Then why meet Elena?”
“Because wars are expensive.”
The meeting happened in a church.
Neutral ground.
No weapons inside.
Gabriel protested.
Norah insisted.
“If she asked for me, I go.”
“You aren't bait.”
“Then stop treating me like something everyone else gets to make decisions about.”
That silenced him.
Elena waited in the third pew.
Norah entered alone.
Gabriel and Leo remained outside.
Elena looked older than the photograph.
Tired.
She gestured toward the seat beside her.
“You're younger than I expected.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
“My brother thinks you bewitched Gabriel Hayes.”
Norah nearly laughed.
“I made him stew.”
“In our world, apparently that's more powerful.”
Elena looked toward the altar.
“My brother will not stop.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because Gabriel might.”
Norah's expression hardened.
“You put a bounty on my head.”
“I didn't.”
“Your family did.”
“My brother did.”
“Convenient distinction.”
Elena accepted the accusation.
“He believes you made Gabriel vulnerable.”
“Did I?”
“Yes.”
Norah felt cold.
Elena continued.
“But not in the way Vincent believes.”
She turned toward her.
“Gabriel Hayes was terrifying because he had nothing he cared about losing.”
Norah said nothing.
“Now he has you.”
“That makes him weaker.”
“No.”
Elena smiled sadly.
“It makes him unpredictable.”
Outside, bells rang.
Elena reached into her handbag.
Norah stiffened.
The woman removed an envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Norah looked through them.
“What is this?”
“The man who ordered Paulie's poisoning wasn't Vincent.”
Norah froze.
“Arthur said Chicago made him do it.”
“Arthur lied.”
Elena tapped one photograph.
A familiar face.
Carmine.
Gabriel's silver-haired captain.
Norah remembered him cutting lamb into precise squares.
Watching.
Waiting.
“The betrayal came from inside Gabriel's family,” Elena said.
“Carmine?”
“He approached Vincent months ago. He wanted Gabriel weakened. Vincent funded Arthur, but Carmine designed everything.”
Norah stared at the evidence.
“Why tell me?”
“Because Carmine wants both men dead.”
Elena stood.
“If Gabriel kills Vincent, Carmine inherits the war. If Vincent kills Gabriel, Carmine takes the docks.”
Norah felt sick.
“You're asking me to trust you.”
“No.”
Elena looked toward the church doors.
“I'm asking you to understand that sometimes the person screaming that he's your enemy isn't the person holding the knife.”
When Norah returned outside, Gabriel immediately knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
She handed him the envelope.
He read.
His face became stone.
“Carmine.”
Leo whispered a curse.
Gabriel looked toward the city.
Norah saw the familiar darkness entering his eyes.
The violence.
The king.
She touched his arm.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
“Don't what?”
“Become exactly what Carmine expects.”
Gabriel stared at her for a long time.
Then he closed the envelope.
“What do you suggest?”
Norah looked back toward the church.
“Feed the rat.”
Gabriel's eyebrows rose.
“With what?”
May you like
“A lie.”
And for the first time, Gabriel Hayes allowed someone else to design the trap.
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