Chapter 3 - The Woman at His Right HandBy the beginning of March, everyone in Gabriel Rossi’s organization understood that the platinum ring on Nora’s hand meant something.
Nobody knew exactly what.
Gabriel had never announced an engagement.
There had been no party.
No diamond.
No photographs circulated through society pages.
No priest had been invited to bless anything.
Still, the men who worked for Gabriel noticed details because remaining alive in his world depended upon noticing details.
They noticed that Nora no longer waited in the outer office when meetings concerned serious business.
She sat inside.
They noticed that Gabriel no longer summarized decisions for her afterward.
He asked her opinion before making them.
They noticed that when she entered a room, Gabriel’s captains stood.
Not because Gabriel ordered them to.
Because gradually, without ceremony, they understood that disrespecting Nora had become indistinguishable from disrespecting him.
The change irritated some men.
It frightened others.
And it made one man extraordinarily dangerous.
His name was Victor Marconi.
Victor controlled several transportation companies west of the city, including legitimate trucking fleets, warehouses, and a collection of businesses whose books existed mostly for the benefit of government auditors.
For nearly fifteen years, he and Gabriel maintained an uneasy peace.
Neither liked the other.
Neither needed to.
Money was sometimes more useful than friendship.
Victor was older than Gabriel by approximately twenty years. His hair had turned silver, his face remained perpetually tanned, and his expensive suits concealed the fact that he had once collected debts personally with a baseball bat.
He had survived three federal investigations, two assassination attempts, and one marriage.
Gabriel respected survival.
He did not respect Victor.
Especially after Victor began asking questions about Nora.
The first warning arrived on a Thursday afternoon.
Nora was inside Gabriel’s waterfront office examining an accounting report when Leo entered carrying a small white envelope.
He placed it on the desk.
“No return address.”
Gabriel did not touch it.
“Who delivered it?”
“A courier.”
“What courier?”
Leo hesitated.
“A dead one.”
Nora looked up.
Gabriel’s eyes became cold.
Leo continued.
“We found him beside Warehouse 11. Throat cut. Envelope pinned to his jacket.”
Gabriel opened the drawer beneath his desk and removed a pair of leather gloves.
Nora watched him put them on.
“Dramatic,” she said.
Gabriel glanced at her.
“Victor likes theater.”
“You already know it is him?”
“I know his handwriting.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Nothing else.
Gabriel stared at it.
The muscles across his shoulders hardened.
Nora stood.
“What?”
He did not answer.
That was enough to make her walk around the desk.
The photograph had been taken two days earlier.
Nora recognized the location immediately.
A small bookstore in Lincoln Park.
She had gone there alone.
Or she had believed she was alone.
The picture showed her stepping from the store carrying a paper bag. Her face was turned slightly toward the street.
The platinum ring was visible on her right hand.
A black circle had been drawn around it.
Beneath the photograph, someone had written one sentence in blue ink.
What does she inherit when you die?
Nora read it twice.
Then she laughed.
Gabriel looked at her sharply.
“You find this amusing?”
“Not especially.”
“You laughed.”
“Because whoever sent it wants you angry.”
“I am angry.”
“Yes.”
Nora placed the photograph on the desk.
“That is why it worked.”
Gabriel removed the gloves.
“Leo.”
“Boss.”
“Find everyone who touched that courier during the last forty-eight hours.”
Leo nodded.
“Already doing it.”
“Double security at the penthouse.”
Nora turned.
“No.”
The room changed.
Leo became very interested in the wall.
Gabriel looked slowly toward her.
“No?”
“I am not living inside a bunker because Victor Marconi owns a camera.”
“You were followed.”
“Yes.”
“Someone could have killed you.”
“They did not.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Nora crossed her arms.
“If you double my guards every time somebody threatens me, eventually I will need permission to cross the street.”
“You will need permission to remain alive if this escalates.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Gabriel regretted the words immediately.
Not because they were untrue.
Because of how they sounded.
Permission.
Nora’s expression became still.
The platinum ring suddenly felt heavier on her finger.
Gabriel recognized the shift.
Months earlier, he might have continued.
He might have ordered guards placed around her and considered the argument finished.
Now he forced himself to stop.
He looked at Leo.
“Leave us.”
Leo disappeared immediately.
The metal door closed.
Gabriel remained behind the desk.
Nora stood near the window.
Rain moved across the harbor outside.
“You heard yourself,” she said.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And I chose the wrong words.”
“They sounded like the right words.”
Gabriel walked around the desk.
He stopped several feet from her rather than approaching closer.
“I am not giving you permission to live.”
“No?”
“No.”
“Because it sounded remarkably similar.”
His jaw tightened.
“I am asking you not to make yourself easy to kill simply because you dislike being protected.”
Nora looked at him.
“That is different.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Gabriel exhaled slowly.
“Apparently I am learning.”
The anger in Nora’s face softened only slightly.
She looked toward the photograph again.
“What exactly do you think Victor wants?”
“To test whether you are leverage.”
“And am I?”
Gabriel remained silent.
Nora gave him a humorless smile.
“That was not difficult.”
“You are not leverage.”
“Gabriel.”
“You are the only leverage.”
The honesty landed harder than denial would have.
Gabriel did not look away.
“If someone put a gun against Leo’s head, I would calculate the cost.”
Nora’s expression changed.
“If someone put a gun against yours, there would be no calculation.”
“That is precisely what Victor believes.”
“Yes.”
“So perhaps the problem is not security.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What is the problem?”
“He thinks I am something attached to you.”
“You are attached to me.”
“I am beside you.”
Nora pointed toward the photograph.
“He sees a woman leaving a bookstore. He sees your weakness. He does not see someone who can hurt him.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“I do not want you hurting Victor.”
“Why?”
“Because men like Victor do not stop when challenged.”
“Neither do I.”
“I am aware.”
Nora walked toward his desk.
She picked up the photograph again.
“What businesses does he have with us?”
“Six active arrangements.”
“Which is most important?”
Gabriel studied her.
“The western trucking route.”
“How important?”
“Approximately twelve million annually.”
“To him?”
“More.”
Nora placed the photograph inside the envelope.
“Then do not threaten him.”
Gabriel’s expression became interested despite himself.
“What do you suggest?”
“Invite him to dinner.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I dislike him.”
“That is not a business reason.”
“It is sufficient.”
Nora almost smiled.
“Invite him.”
“And then?”
“Let me sit at the table.”
Understanding entered Gabriel’s face.
“No.”
“You said my place beside you was genuine.”
“It is.”
“Then let it be visible.”
“This is not one of our dockworkers, Nora.”
“I know exactly who Victor Marconi is.”
“No, you know what I told you.”
“And you think that means I will underestimate him?”
“I think he murders people to prove points.”
“So do you.”
Gabriel’s mouth hardened.
“That does not mean I want you across a table from him.”
Nora stepped closer.
“He sent a photograph because he wants me frightened enough to hide.”
“I want you protected enough to survive.”
“Those are not always the same thing.”
Gabriel stared at her for a long moment.
He hated when she was right.
Especially when being right placed her in danger.
Finally, he reached for the telephone.
“Leo.”
Nora’s eyebrow lifted.
“Arrange dinner Saturday.”
A pause.
“Yes. Marconi.”
Gabriel lowered the receiver.
“You remain beside me the entire evening.”
“I was planning to.”
“You do not leave the room alone.”
“Fine.”
“You do not accept food or drinks from anyone except our people.”
“Gabriel.”
“And you carry the pistol I bought you.”
Nora sighed.
“I carry it anyway.”
His attention dropped briefly toward her waist.
“You are carrying it now?”
“Yes.”
A strange satisfaction moved through his face.
Nora rolled her eyes.
Saturday arrived beneath a cold blue sky.
Victor chose the restaurant.
Gabriel chose everything else.
The private room was swept twice.
The staff were replaced with people Gabriel trusted.
Three armed men occupied the kitchen.
Four more waited outside.
Leo personally inspected every vehicle in the alley.
Nora wore black.
Not an evening gown.
A tailored suit.
Minimal jewelry.
No necklace.
No earrings.
Only the platinum ring.
Gabriel noticed immediately.
“You are making a point.”
Nora adjusted her cuff.
“Yes.”
He looked at the ring.
Victor would notice.
That was precisely the purpose.
When Marconi entered, he brought two men and the confidence of someone accustomed to being feared.
He embraced Gabriel as though they were relatives.
“Gabriel.”
“Victor.”
Then Victor looked at Nora.
He did not offer his hand.
“So this is the famous Nora.”
“There is nothing famous about me.”
Victor smiled.
“Depends on which rooms you enter.”
They sat.
Dinner began politely.
Business came afterward.
Victor discussed shipping delays.
Gabriel corrected numbers.
Nora listened.
For forty minutes, Victor ignored her so deliberately that the insult became theatrical.
Finally, Nora interrupted.
“The western route is losing seventeen percent through subcontractor inefficiency.”
Victor stopped speaking.
He looked at her.
“I am sorry?”
Nora opened the folder beside her plate.
“Your cost reports.”
Victor looked toward Gabriel.
“Your woman reads my accounts?”
Gabriel lifted his wine.
“Nora reads anything placed inside my office.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It is,” Nora said.
Victor turned back toward her.
His smile became thinner.
“What did you say?”
“You are losing seventeen percent because three subcontractors are charging duplicate fuel surcharges.”
“That is impossible.”
Nora slid three papers across the table.
“It is happening.”
Victor did not touch them.
“You believe you understand transportation because Gabriel allows you inside meetings?”
“I understand arithmetic.”
Victor laughed.
His men laughed with him.
Gabriel did not.
Nora continued.
“Benedetti Transport billed you $280,000 for fuel adjustments in January.”
Victor’s amusement faded.
“They did.”
“The same invoices were submitted through Delmar Freight under a secondary contract.”
Silence.
“Someone is stealing from you.”
Victor’s eyes moved toward the documents.
This time, he picked them up.
Gabriel watched.
Victor read the first page.
Then the second.
His face changed almost imperceptibly.
Nora had been correct.
Gabriel knew because he had verified the numbers before dinner.
Victor looked at her.
“Who found this?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because your inefficiency affects our profit.”
Victor leaned back.
For the first time, he examined Nora differently.
Not as Gabriel’s possession.
As a participant.
Then his attention fell to the platinum ring.
“There it is.”
Nora did not hide her hand.
“The famous ring.”
Gabriel’s body became still.
Victor smiled.
“I wondered whether you would wear it tonight.”
Nora looked at him.
“You sent the photograph.”
Victor took a sip of wine.
“I send many photographs.”
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“You will not send another.”
Victor ignored him.
“What does it mean?”
Nora looked at her hand.
“This?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing you need to understand.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“The trouble with symbols is everyone eventually decides what they mean.”
Nora met his eyes.
“Then decide carefully.”
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Victor’s men looked toward Gabriel.
Leo shifted near the door.
Gabriel said nothing.
This belonged to Nora.
Victor laughed quietly.
“There you are.”
Nora frowned.
“I was beginning to wonder whether Rossi kept you because you were beautiful or because you were interesting.”
Gabriel’s voice became lethal.
“Choose your next sentence carefully.”
Victor raised both hands.
“A compliment.”
“It was not.”
Victor returned his attention to Nora.
“You found $2 million disappearing from my routes.”
“Approximately.”
“And you showed me.”
“Because your theft becomes our loss.”
He nodded slowly.
“Perhaps Gabriel is right to keep you near.”
Nora’s expression chilled.
“He does not keep me anywhere.”
Victor smiled.
“Yes.”
He looked at Gabriel.
“I suppose that is what makes her dangerous.”
Dinner ended twenty minutes later.
No one died.
In their world, that qualified as success.
The following morning, Benedetti Transport’s owner disappeared.
Delmar Freight transferred $1.7 million back into Victor’s accounts.
And Victor Marconi sent Nora flowers.
White roses.
No note.
Gabriel stared at them in the penthouse foyer.
“I am burning those.”
Nora removed her coat.
“No.”
His eyes moved toward her.
“No?”
She walked to the arrangement.
Pulled one rose free.
Smelled it.
Then handed the flower to Gabriel.
“Send them to the hospital.”
“Which hospital?”
“All of them.”
Gabriel stared.
Nora walked toward the bedroom.
Behind her, Gabriel looked again at the white rose.
For the first time in his life, he understood that watching someone exercise power beside him could be more satisfying than exercising it himself.
The realization should have frightened him.
Instead, it felt like pride.
Then his telephone rang.
Gabriel answered.
Leo’s voice came through immediately.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The photograph wasn’t Victor.”
Gabriel looked toward the hallway where Nora had disappeared.
His expression hardened.
“Explain.”
“We found the courier’s route.”
Leo paused.
“Marconi never touched it.”
Gabriel’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Then who sent it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Gabriel looked at the white roses.
Victor had been a test.
A distraction.
Someone else had watched Nora leave that bookstore.
May you like
Someone else knew about the ring.
And while Gabriel had been looking west toward an old enemy, another enemy had already moved inside his city.
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