Chapter 9 - The Price of BloodGabriel had learned early that silence was often more useful than violence.
Violence announced itself. It frightened people, made them careless, and gave their enemies a reason to retaliate.
Silence allowed a man to discover what everyone else was trying to hide.
The Marchetti archive was silent.
It occupied a locked room at the end of the east corridor, behind a paneled door disguised as part of the wall. Gabriel had discovered the entrance through an old architectural plan he had obtained years earlier while investigating the family's business dealings.
The lock was newer than the door.
That worried him.
He worked quickly, listening for footsteps while his fingers moved through the mechanism. The lock clicked open.
Inside, shelves of bound ledgers stood beneath low lights. Filing cabinets lined the walls. A long table held several boxes of documents, each marked with dates and company names.
Gabriel closed the door behind him.
He had less than three minutes.
The original trust agreement was supposed to be filed under the name of Alessandro Cole. Instead, he found a folder marked Castellano–Marchetti Consolidation, Confidential.
He opened it.
The first pages contained ordinary corporate agreements. The next pages were different.
A list of transfers.
A series of payments.
Names of shell companies registered in three countries.
Then a letter bearing the signature of Vivienne's father.
Gabriel read it once.
Then again.
The letter described Renata's discovery of the port network and the decision to move her to a secure location. It mentioned Elian's trust and the possibility that the boy might expose the arrangement when he reached adulthood.
But the final paragraph was the one that made Gabriel's hands go cold.
If Renata refuses to cooperate, the children must remain separated. Julian is to be told that the boy died in the accident. Vivienne must never learn of the arrangement. Her inheritance will be sufficient compensation for her silence, should she ever discover the truth.
Gabriel stared at the words.
Her inheritance.
As though a woman's life could be settled with a balance sheet.
He photographed every page and slipped the original letter into his jacket.
Then he heard the door open.
“You were always a clever man, Gabriel.”
Julian stood in the doorway.
Two guards waited behind him.
Gabriel closed the folder.
“Your archive needs better security.”
Julian smiled.
“You've been stealing from me.”
“Borrowing. I'll return everything once I'm finished.”
“Your sense of humor has never improved.”
“Neither has your hospitality.”
Julian entered the room, leaving the guards at the door.
For a moment, the two men regarded one another.
They had known each other for nearly fifteen years. They had attended the same private dinners, negotiated over the same contracts, and occasionally found themselves on the same side of a conflict.
Gabriel had never trusted him.
Julian had always seemed to find that amusing.
“You've become very interested in Vivienne,” Julian said.
“She's an intelligent woman.”
“Intelligence has never been her problem. Obedience is.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Perhaps she has finally realized that obedience was never a virtue.”
Julian laughed softly.
“You think you can save her.”
“No.”
The answer seemed to surprise him.
Gabriel stepped away from the table.
“I think she can save herself. My mistake was assuming she needed my permission to do it.”
Julian's smile disappeared.
“Careful.”
“Why? Are you afraid I'll tell her something she doesn't already suspect?”
“I'm afraid you'll mistake your feelings for a strategy.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Julian watched him with renewed interest.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The weakness.”
Gabriel's hand tightened around the documents inside his jacket.
Julian noticed.
“Does she know about the two terminals?”
“She knows.”
“Does she know you initially agreed to help me secure the merger?”
“She knows.”
“Does she know your father was one of the original investors in the port consortium?”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“She knows enough.”
“Then you have been more honest with her than I expected.”
Julian moved toward the shelves.
“But honesty is rarely the same as truth. There are things you haven't told her.”
Gabriel's voice lowered.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
Julian turned.
“Your father didn't merely invest in the consortium. He helped design it. He was the one who introduced the shell companies to Vivienne's father. When the arrangement began to collapse, he transferred the most dangerous assets into a subsidiary controlled by the Sabbatini family.”
Gabriel felt something inside him go still.
“My father died before I took control of the company.”
“Yes. But the contracts survived him.”
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
Julian opened a drawer and removed a document.
He placed it on the table.
Gabriel recognized the signature immediately.
His father's.
Beneath it was the name of the subsidiary that had acquired the disputed shipping rights.
His own company.
For several seconds, Gabriel could not speak.
Julian watched him absorb the information.
“Now you understand why I wanted the merger. The Castellano assets would have made the entire network legal. The Marchettis would gain political protection, the Sabbatinis would retain their terminals, and everyone would have profited.”
“Except the people whose lives you destroyed.”
Julian shrugged.
“Business is rarely sentimental.”
Gabriel stepped toward him.
“Where is Raines?”
“Why?”
“He approached Vivienne tonight.”
Julian's eyes narrowed.
“Did he?”
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing he didn't already know.”
Gabriel studied his face.
“You're losing control of this.”
For the first time, anger broke through Julian's composure.
“Control is not lost until someone is willing to pay the price to take it.”
“And what price are you prepared to pay?”
Julian leaned closer.
“Whatever is necessary.”
A sound came from the corridor.
One of the guards appeared at the door.
“Sir. We have a problem.”
Julian did not look away from Gabriel.
“What kind of problem?”
“Miss Castellano is missing.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
Gabriel felt every instinct in his body sharpen.
“What do you mean, missing?”
“She was last seen near the south terrace. Her security detail found her phone beside the garden wall.”
Julian turned toward the guard.
“Lock down the grounds.”
Gabriel was already moving.
Julian caught his arm.
“If this is your doing—”
Gabriel tore free.
“If it were my doing, you wouldn't be asking.”
He reached the ballroom in seconds.
Guests were gathering near the doors. Security personnel moved through the corridors, speaking into their earpieces. The reception had become a carefully concealed emergency.
Gabriel found Vivienne's abandoned glass beside a table.
Her phone was gone.
So was her coat.
He took out his own phone and called her.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then a message appeared from an unknown number.
If you want her alive, come alone. Old ferry terminal. Twenty minutes.
Beneath it was a photograph.
Vivienne sat in the back of a car, her hands bound in front of her. Her face was pale, but her eyes were open.
Alive.
For now.
Gabriel's world narrowed to a single point.
Julian appeared beside him.
“What is it?”
Gabriel turned the phone so he could see.
Julian's expression changed.
“Raines,” he said.
“You know where he is?”
“I know where he operates.”
“Then tell me.”
Julian looked at him carefully.
“You'll go alone?”
“Yes.”
“That's foolish.”
“Then it's fortunate I don't need your approval.”
Julian grabbed his arm.
“Listen to me. If Raines has her, this is no longer about the trust. He's trying to force a transfer of the original port shares. He'll kill her if he thinks she can identify him.”
Gabriel's eyes turned cold.
“Then I suggest you start talking.”
Julian hesitated.
That hesitation told Gabriel more than any confession could.
“You knew he might do this.”
“I knew he was becoming unstable.”
“And you still invited him.”
“He has information that could destroy all of us.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“All of us?”
Julian's face hardened.
“Your father signed those contracts, Gabriel. Your company benefited from them. If the documents become public, your family will be dragged into the investigation alongside mine.”
Gabriel looked down at the photograph of Vivienne.
Then he looked back at Julian.
“Let them investigate.”
“You would destroy your own family for her?”
“No.”
Gabriel put the phone away.
“I would destroy the part of my family that believes people are expendable.”
He walked toward the exit.
Julian followed him.
“Gabriel, if you go there, you may not come back.”
Gabriel stopped at the doorway.
For a moment, he thought of Vivienne in his apartment, standing in a midnight-blue gown and pretending not to notice how he looked at her.
He thought of the way she had demanded honesty from him, even when the truth might hurt her.
He thought of how easily he could have lied.
Then he turned.
“Tell Renata that Elian needs to stay with her. And tell Vivienne's lawyers to release every document we found if I don't return within an hour.”
Julian stared at him.
“You've already copied the files.”
“Every page.”
A muscle moved in Julian's jaw.
Gabriel stepped outside into the rain.
Behind him, the doors closed.
May you like
Ahead of him, the city waited.
And somewhere near the river, a woman he had never been able to control was fighting to remain alive.
