Chapter 8 - The Traitor at the Table
Russo had been loyal for twenty-three years.
That was the first thing Gabriel said after Bellini drove them away from the burning cabin.
Twenty-three years.
Longer than Chloe had been an adult.
Longer than Gabriel had controlled the organization.
Russo had stood beside Antonio Rossi.
He had attended Elena's funeral.
He had carried Gabriel's father’s coffin.
And he had betrayed all of them.
Bellini drove south through the snow.
"Russo wasn't always Vale's."
Gabriel sat in the passenger seat.
Chloe occupied the rear.
Her hands were stained with Mateo's blood.
She had not spoken about him.
Not yet.
If she did, she feared something inside her would collapse.
"When?" Gabriel asked.
"About twelve years ago."
"Why?"
"Money first."
Bellini glanced at him.
"Then survival."
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
"Always survival."
"Don't pretend you're different."
Bellini's voice hardened.
"You've killed men because they threatened your empire."
"I don't sell my family."
"Neither did Russo at first."
Chloe looked up.
"What changed?"
Bellini met her eyes through the mirror.
"Vale found his son."
Gabriel frowned.
"Russo doesn't have a son."
"Exactly."
Bellini explained.
At nineteen, Russo had gotten a woman pregnant.
The child had been adopted.
Russo never met him.
Vale found him decades later.
Built a life around him.
Paid for college.
Career.
House.
Then showed Russo photographs.
The message was simple.
Cooperate.
Or lose the son he had never known.
Chloe closed her eyes.
Weakness.
Everyone had one.
Gabriel had told her that.
"Where is Russo now?"
"Manhattan."
"Sarah?"
"Probably with Vale."
"Probably isn't useful."
Bellini tightened his grip on the wheel.
"I know where Russo communicates with him."
They reached an abandoned church outside Albany at four in the morning.
Bellini had men waiting.
Gabriel did not like it.
Chloe could tell by the way his hand remained close to his gun.
Bellini brought them into the basement.
Computers.
Radios.
Maps.
A small independent operation.
"You've been preparing for this," Chloe said.
Bellini removed his coat.
"For twenty years."
Gabriel stared.
"You knew Vale was alive."
"I suspected."
"And said nothing."
"I wanted proof."
"You had proof."
"I had fear."
Bellini looked at Gabriel.
"Your father died because he underestimated Vale."
Gabriel became still.
"My father died of a heart attack."
Bellini said nothing.
Chloe understood.
"Oh God."
Gabriel stepped toward him.
"What did you say?"
"Antonio was poisoned."
Gabriel hit Bellini.
One punch.
Hard.
Bellini fell against the table.
His men moved.
Chloe raised Gabriel's spare pistol.
"Don't."
They stopped.
Gabriel grabbed Bellini by the collar.
"You knew?"
"I found out afterward."
"Who?"
"Vale."
"How?"
"Digitalis."
Bellini coughed.
"Made it look cardiac."
Gabriel's fist tightened.
Chloe touched his shoulder.
"Not now."
He looked at her.
The grief in his face was almost unbearable.
Mother.
Father.
Mateo.
Twenty years of bodies.
All leading to one man.
Gabriel released Bellini.
"Find Russo."
They intercepted him at dawn.
Russo entered a parking garage beneath a hotel.
Alone.
He carried a burner phone.
Gabriel stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Russo froze.
Chloe stood behind Gabriel.
Bellini covered the exit.
Russo looked at them.
Then closed his eyes.
"You're alive."
Gabriel's voice was empty.
"Disappointed?"
"No."
Russo looked genuinely relieved.
That made it worse.
Gabriel approached.
"Mateo is dead."
Russo flinched.
"I didn't know they would—"
Gabriel hit him.
Russo fell.
Gabriel kicked him.
Again.
Chloe watched.
She wanted to stop him.
She did not.
Finally Russo curled against the concrete.
"Where is Sarah?" Chloe asked.
He looked up.
Blood covered his mouth.
"I don't know."
She crouched.
"Russo."
"I swear."
His fear was real.
Chloe could read him.
"How do you contact Vale?"
"He contacts me."
"When?"
"Every morning."
"What time?"
"Seven."
Chloe checked her watch.
6:42.
"Give me the phone."
Russo handed it over.
Gabriel aimed his gun at his head.
Russo closed his eyes.
"Wait," Chloe said.
Gabriel looked at her.
"We need him."
"No."
"We need his voice."
Gabriel understood.
At 7:03, the phone rang.
Chloe activated speaker but motioned Russo to answer.
"Yeah?"
Vale.
"Report."
Russo looked at Chloe.
She held up a written sentence.
"Rossi is dead."
Russo swallowed.
"Rossi is dead."
Silence.
Then:
"Confirmed?"
"I saw the body."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"Chloe?"
Russo looked at her.
Another note.
"Missing."
"Missing."
Vale paused.
"Bellini?"
"Dead."
Long silence.
"Good."
Vale sounded satisfied.
"Bring the woman to Pier 19 tonight."
Chloe's heart jumped.
"What woman?" Russo asked.
"Sarah Bennett."
Chloe closed her eyes.
Vale continued.
"We no longer need her."
Gabriel raised his weapon.
Chloe shook her head violently.
Russo asked:
"What do you want done?"
"Kill her."
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Then Chloe took the phone.
"Pier 19."
Bellini shook his head.
"Trap."
"Obviously."
Gabriel looked at Russo.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Chloe studied him.
He was telling the truth.
But something else.
"You know who does."
Russo looked away.
"Who?"
Chloe grabbed his face.
"WHO?"
Russo whispered:
"Tommy."
The accounts man.
The nervous capo.
The one Chloe had ordered to move Gabriel's money during the Maroni attack.
Another layer.
Another betrayal.
Gabriel laughed.
There was no humor in it.
"How many?"
Russo looked at him.
"How many of my people belong to Vale?"
"Enough."
That answer changed Gabriel.
Chloe saw it happen.
The last remaining belief in his organization died.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Something colder.
"Call Tommy," Gabriel said.
Tommy answered immediately.
Russo told him Gabriel was dead.
Told him Bellini was dead.
Told him Vale wanted Sarah moved to Pier 19.
Tommy hesitated.
Then:
"I'll handle it."
They had him.
Pier 19 was an abandoned freight terminal.
Chloe arrived hidden inside a delivery van.
Gabriel wanted her elsewhere.
She refused.
Bellini positioned shooters on surrounding rooftops.
Russo sat handcuffed in another vehicle.
At 10:17 p.m., Tommy arrived.
Two SUVs.
Six men.
Sarah in the second vehicle.
Alive.
Chloe nearly cried when she saw her.
Gabriel touched her hand.
"Wait."
Tommy stepped out.
He looked around.
"Russo?"
No answer.
Sarah was pulled from the vehicle.
She could barely stand.
Chloe's entire body screamed to move.
Gabriel held her.
Then another car arrived.
A black sedan.
The rear door opened.
An older man stepped out.
Tall.
Gray hair.
Black overcoat.
Sebastian Vale.
Chloe knew instantly.
He moved like someone who had never needed to hurry.
Tommy approached him.
"The girl."
Vale looked at Sarah.
"Where is Russo?"
"On his way."
Vale's expression changed.
Very slightly.
He knew.
"Get down," Gabriel whispered.
Vale turned toward the darkness.
"Gabriel."
His voice carried across the terminal.
"I know you're here."
Gabriel's hand tightened around his gun.
Vale smiled.
"Your mother used to hide behind better lies."
Gabriel stepped from cover.
Chloe wanted to stop him.
Too late.
Vale looked almost pleased.
"There he is."
"Release Sarah."
"Bring me the archive."
"Burned."
Vale's smile disappeared.
"Then Sarah dies."
Gabriel raised his gun.
Every shooter in the terminal raised theirs.
A standoff.
Chloe watched hands.
Tommy.
Vale.
Guards.
Sarah.
Then she saw it.
Sarah's right hand.
Two fingers extended.
Pointing downward.
At the fuel puddle beneath Vale's car.
Chloe smelled gasoline.
Sarah had done something.
She looked at Chloe.
Then at the emergency flare mounted on the terminal wall.
Chloe understood.
She moved.
Grabbed the flare.
Struck it.
Red fire exploded.
Vale shouted.
Chloe threw.
The flare hit gasoline.
Fire raced across the concrete.
Chaos.
Gunfire.
Sarah dropped.
Gabriel fired.
Bellini's shooters opened from above.
Chloe ran through smoke.
She reached Sarah.
Pulled her behind a barrier.
"Chloe!"
Sarah clung to her.
"I'm here."
An explosion shook the terminal.
Vale's sedan erupted.
Tommy ran.
Gabriel chased him.
Vale disappeared through smoke.
Chloe saw him enter a maintenance corridor.
She raised her gun.
Could shoot.
Maybe.
But Sarah was in her arms.
Choice.
Chloe stayed.
Vale escaped.
Tommy did not.
Gabriel returned ten minutes later.
Blood on his knuckles.
No Tommy.
Chloe did not ask.
Sarah was safe.
That was enough.
For that night.
Back at the penthouse, Sarah slept under medical supervision.
Gabriel stood in the dressing room.
Chloe entered.
He looked at her through the mirror.
"We lost Vale."
"We got Sarah."
"He'll come again."
"I know."
Gabriel turned.
"Mateo is dead."
Chloe's composure finally broke.
She covered her mouth.
Gabriel crossed the room.
Caught her.
Chloe cried against his chest.
Not quietly.
Not elegantly.
Everything came out.
The alley.
The bunker.
Sarah.
Mateo's last words.
Watch the hands.
Gabriel held her.
"I'm tired," she whispered.
"I know."
"I'm so tired of surviving."
He closed his eyes.
"So am I."
She looked up.
"Then let's stop surviving."
"What does that mean?"
"It means we finish it."
Gabriel studied her.
Chloe wiped her face.
"No more waiting for Vale to attack."
Her voice hardened.
"No more defending the throne."
May you like
She looked toward the city.
"We hunt him."
