Chapter 5
Crystal glasses reflected the warm amber light of the dining-room chandelier.
The table had been set for 7 beneath heavy white linen, with silver cutlery that had belonged to the Falcone family for 3 generations.
Sadi stood near the velvet drapes in the corner.
Gabriel had offered to let her remain upstairs, away from the confrontation.
She refused.
She had removed the poison from his body.
She wanted to see the man who had put it there.
Sadi wore a simple black dress.
Once again, she blended into the background.
The captains arrived carrying the smell of expensive cologne, tailored wool, and guarded conversation.
They were veterans of years of organized violence.
Even they quieted when they entered Gabriel’s dining room.
Gabriel sat at the head of the table.
He wore a charcoal suit.
His injured arm rested discreetly beneath the table, keeping the sling out of view.
Before the dinner, Gabriel had spent 1 hour with a makeup artist employed by the family’s legitimate funeral business.
The artist made his skin look paler than it was.
More exhausted.
Sicker.
Gabriel appeared to be a man nearing the end of his life.
Leo Rossi arrived last.
He was 60, with thick silver hair brushed back from a weathered, handsome face. A cashmere coat covered his shoulders, and he entered with the easy warmth of an older relative.
He walked directly to Gabriel.
A heavy hand settled affectionately on Gabriel’s uninjured shoulder.
“Gabriel.”
Leo’s voice carried carefully manufactured grief.
“Look at you. You shouldn’t be out of bed. The doctors said you need rest.”
“The doctors are gone, Leo.”
Gabriel gave him a weak smile.
“I sent them away. I wanted to be with my family tonight.”
Something changed briefly in Leo’s eyes.
Then the concern returned.
“Of course, son. We’re here for you.”
He took the seat beside Gabriel.
The remaining captains settled around the table.
Carmine remained beside the doors with his arms folded, watching Leo.
Dinner began in a suffocating silence.
Roasted lamb.
Garlic potatoes.
Heavy red wine.
Gabriel barely ate.
When he lifted his wineglass, he deliberately allowed his hand to tremble.
Sadi watched from the shadows.
Leo ate comfortably.
He spoke quietly with the captain opposite him and seemed entirely relaxed.
He looked like a man who believed he would inherit Gabriel’s throne within days.
Finally, Gabriel spoke.
“I brought you here because we need to discuss transitions.”
The silverware stopped.
“My health is failing.”
Gabriel looked down at his plate.
“The infection isn’t responding to treatment. The doctors told me I might not make it through the month.”
Shock moved around the table.
Leo immediately leaned toward him.
“Don’t talk like that. We’ll fly specialists in from Europe. We’ll find another way.”
“There isn’t another way.”
Gabriel’s voice remained weak.
“But before I step down, I need to close a few loose ends. Specifically, the drive-by shooting that put me here.”
Leo took a slow drink.
“We’re tearing the city apart looking for the crew that did it. We’ll bring you their heads.”
“Don’t bother.”
Gabriel reached inside his jacket with his right hand.
“The bullet didn’t kill me.”
He placed a small clear evidence bag on the white tablecloth.
“The medicine did.”
Inside the bag were the 6 pieces of black braided thread Sadi had removed from his shoulder.
Dried blood and chemical residue darkened the fibers.
The captains stared without understanding.
Leo Rossi stopped breathing.
“Philip Croft was paid $5 million to close my muscle with industrial maritime nylon.”
Gabriel allowed the weak performance to disappear.
His voice became cold and clear.
“The thread was saturated with a heavy-metal necrotoxin. Every time I breathed, the sutures released more poison into my bloodstream. Slow enough to look like an infection.”
The room changed.
Hands moved subtly beneath the table toward hidden weapons.
1 of the captains spoke.
“Gabriel, what are you saying? Croft did this?”
“Croft was the needle.”
Gabriel never looked away from Leo.
“Somebody else held the thread.”
He leaned back.
“Somebody purchased the nylon from a black-market supplier at the docks. Somebody paid cash because they wanted the boss of this family to die quietly in his own bed.”
Gabriel paused.
“Leaving the chair open for an elder statesman.”
The warmth vanished from Leo’s face.
He stared at the black threads.
“Miller is a rat.”
Leo’s voice had become cold.
“You’re going to take the word of a dockyard thief over your own family?”
Gabriel’s expression barely changed.
“I didn’t say Miller gave me your name, Leo.”
Silence.
“You just gave it to me yourself.”
The trap closed.
Every captain turned toward Leo.
Gabriel had not accused him by name.
Leo had defended himself against an accusation that had not yet been spoken.
Leo realized what he had done.
His jaw hardened.
The paternal facade disappeared.
“You always were too smart for your own good, kid.”
He pushed back his chair.
His hand moved toward the inside of his cashmere coat.
From the corner of the room, Sadi spoke.
“He’s reaching for his left pocket.”
Carmine reacted immediately.
Before Leo’s hand could clear the coat, Carmine drew his pistol and fired once.
May you like
The gunshot tore through the dining room.
A bay window shattered.
