Chapter 5: The Night Gabriel Learned His Brother Was Murdered
The rain began shortly after sunset.
By nine o’clock, the East River was black beneath the storm clouds.
Gabriel arrived at Pier Seventeen in an unmarked sedan.
He had ignored Dominic’s instruction to come alone.
Anthony and his team remained out of sight nearby, monitoring the waterfront.
Gabriel walked into the old shipping office.
Dominic stood beside a large window overlooking the docks.
At sixty-eight, he still looked powerful.
Silver hair.
Perfectly tailored suit.
A gold ring bearing the DeLorenzo family crest.
He turned with a smile.
“Gabriel.”
“Where’s Victor Sloane?”
Dominic sighed.
“Always business.”
“Where is he?”
“Somewhere he can’t cause further trouble.”
Gabriel’s expression did not change.
“Did you order Madison Hayes killed?”
Dominic poured himself a drink.
“You always were sentimental about employees.”
“Answer me.”
Dominic set down the glass.
“She found something that didn’t belong to her.”
“Six containers?”
“Six containers carrying documents, cash, and records that would have destroyed everything your father built.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“What records?”
Dominic smiled without warmth.
“Proof that certain shipments were being used to move money through companies nobody was supposed to connect to us.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“You used my warehouses.”
“Our warehouses.”
“They belong to DeLorenzo Holdings.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“And who kept those holdings alive when your father was dying?”
Gabriel ignored the question.
“Madison filed a report. You ordered the railing sabotaged.”
“She was supposed to be frightened. Nothing more.”
“She fell sixteen feet.”
“Tyler was careless.”
“Tyler is dead.”
Dominic looked away.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“Did you kill him?”
“I had someone deal with a problem.”
For a moment, the only sound was rain striking the windows.
Then Gabriel asked the question that had haunted him for twelve years.
“What happened to Matteo?”
Dominic stopped smiling.
Gabriel moved closer.
“Tell me.”
Dominic stared at his nephew.
Then, slowly, he sat down.
“Your brother discovered the same operation.”
Gabriel felt something inside him break.
“He was investigating you?”
“He was going to tell your father.”
“And you stopped him.”
Dominic’s silence answered before his words did.
“The crane was supposed to fail after he left.”
Gabriel stared.
“You’re lying.”
“I didn’t intend for him to die.”
“YOU ORDERED IT.”
The shout echoed through the empty building.
Dominic flinched.
Gabriel stepped closer, his hands shaking.
For twelve years, he had blamed himself.
He had approved the maintenance budget.
He had signed the accident settlement.
He had stood beside his mother’s hospital bed and promised that Matteo’s death had been unavoidable.
Now the truth was standing in front of him.
Wearing his father’s ring.
Dominic spoke softly.
“Sometimes a family survives because someone is willing to make difficult decisions.”
Gabriel’s face went cold.
“Matteo was family.”
Dominic looked away.
Gabriel took out his phone.
“Anthony. You heard everything.”
Dominic’s head snapped up.
“What?”
Gabriel touched the recording device beneath his coat.
“Every word.”
Dominic suddenly smiled.
“You think you’ve won?”
He pressed a button on his desk.
A monitor flickered to life.
Gabriel saw a hospital corridor.
Two security guards lay unconscious near an elevator.
A man wearing medical scrubs pushed a wheelchair toward a private room.
Madison’s room.
Gabriel went still.
Dominic leaned forward.
“You should have listened when I told you to come alone.”
Gabriel grabbed his phone.
“Anthony, get to the hospital. Now.”
Dominic shook his head.
“Too late.”
On the screen, the man in scrubs opened Madison’s door.
The room was empty.
For one second, Gabriel felt relief.
Then the camera shifted.
A second man appeared, dragging Jenna through the corridor.
She was struggling.
Crying.
And in her hand was Madison’s small silver bracelet.
Dominic smiled.
“Your little witness has friends, Gabriel.”
Gabriel looked at the screen.
Then at his uncle.
“You’ve made your last mistake.”
Dominic laughed.
“Have I?”
Gabriel’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
A photograph.
Madison Hayes, seated in a wheelchair inside an unfamiliar room.
Her wrists were tied loosely in front of her.
Her face was pale.
Below the photograph were six words.
COME ALONE OR SHE DIES TONIGHT.