Chapter 3 - The Black Briefcase
Dominic's hand moved toward the briefcase before anyone else moved at all.
Gabriel saw it.
"Don't."
The single word stopped him.
Dominic left his hand suspended above the leather handle.
"You cannot possibly be serious."
Gabriel turned to Beatrice.
"Ma, what is in the case?"
Beatrice signed, "A copy of your signature."
Chloe translated.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"On what?"
"I do not know."
"I saw him practicing it."
Dominic laughed.
"Practicing his signature?"
"Do you hear how insane this sounds?"
Beatrice's hands moved sharply.
"You practice it badly."
Chloe almost smiled despite herself.
Dominic did not.
Gabriel held out his hand.
"Open the case."
Dominic looked at the six men around the table.
Samuel Greco stared down at his plate.
Matteo had not returned from the pier, which meant Dominic had no obvious ally in the room except Samuel.
"It contains company documents," Dominic said.
"Then opening it should be boring."
"It contains privileged documents."
"My company."
"Our family."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"Open it."
Dominic slowly unfastened the brass latches.
Inside were two folders, a tablet, a silver pen, and a small velvet box.
Gabriel reached for the top folder.
Dominic caught his wrist.
Every chair in the room shifted.
Chloe stepped backward.
Gabriel looked down at Dominic's hand.
"Let go."
Dominic did.
Gabriel opened the folder.
The first pages were invoices.
The second set looked like insurance documents.
Then Gabriel stopped.
A page near the back bore his signature.
Chloe did not know what it said, but she saw the way the men around him reacted.
One of them whispered a curse.
Gabriel read the first paragraph twice.
"Authorization to transfer ownership of Costello Maritime holdings to D.C. Strategic Group."
Dominic spread his hands.
"Draft paperwork."
Gabriel looked up.
"D.C."
"Dominic Costello."
"Strategic Group."
"A holding company for restructuring."
"And my signature?"
"You approved a preliminary version last month."
Gabriel turned the page around.
"I have never seen this document."
Dominic's voice sharpened.
"Then your memory is getting as bad as hers."
The room went silent in a different way.
Beatrice looked at her nephew.
Chloe saw hurt before anger.
Gabriel folded the document once.
Then again.
He placed it on the table.
"Leave."
Dominic stared at him.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You are throwing me out because an old woman and a waitress have decided to play detective?"
Gabriel's jaw flexed.
"I am removing you from this room because you just insulted my mother after she saved my people from a federal raid."
Dominic looked at Beatrice.
"She did not save anyone."
"Someone tipped off the government."
"Maybe she knew because she was the tip."
Beatrice's face changed.
Gabriel moved so quickly Chloe barely saw him stand.
He did not strike Dominic.
He only stepped between Dominic and Beatrice.
That was enough.
"Say one more word about her."
Dominic smiled without warmth.
"There he is."
"The loyal son."
"A little late, don't you think?"
Gabriel went still.
Dominic saw that he had found the wound.
"How many years did she wave her hands at you while you answered questions she never asked?"
"How many doctors did you let me choose?"
"How many papers did you sign because I told you she was confused?"
Gabriel's face darkened.
Chloe understood then that Dominic was not improvising.
He had been using Gabriel's guilt before Gabriel even knew he should feel it.
Beatrice suddenly reached for Chloe.
"Ask him about the chapel key."
Chloe signed back, "What key?"
"My husband's chapel."
"Behind the Saint Michael statue."
"He took it from my room."
Chloe translated.
Dominic's composure broke for less than a second.
His eyes flicked toward the briefcase.
Chloe saw it.
So did Gabriel.
Gabriel reached into the case and lifted the velvet box.
Dominic lunged.
Two men caught him before he crossed the table.
The velvet box fell open in Gabriel's hand.
Inside lay a small brass key.
Beatrice closed her eyes.
Gabriel stared at it.
"What does it open?"
Beatrice signed, "The cabinet in the chapel."
"Your father used it for documents he did not trust to the office."
Dominic twisted against the men holding him.
"Gabriel, listen to me."
Gabriel looked at him.
"I have been listening to you for fifteen years."
His eyes moved to Beatrice.
"Tonight I'm trying something different."
Beatrice's lips trembled.
Dominic stopped struggling.
His voice became quiet.
"You think the key helps you?"
Gabriel waited.
"Open that cabinet and you will wish you had left it locked."
Chloe hated the certainty in his voice.
Gabriel put the key in his pocket.
"Samuel stays."
Samuel's head jerked up.
"What?"
"Dominic leaves."
"Two men escort him home."
"No phone."
"No office."
"No contact with anyone in the company."
Dominic laughed softly.
"You think your men belong to you?"
Gabriel's gaze sharpened.
"They belong to money."
"And you have no idea whose money has been paying them."
The sentence landed harder than a threat.
Gabriel looked around the table.
No one met his eyes except Chloe and Beatrice.
Dominic let himself be escorted toward the door.
Before leaving, he stopped beside Chloe.
The men holding him tightened their grip.
He looked at her name tag.
"Chloe Bennett."
Her stomach tightened.
"I didn't introduce myself to you."
"You did not have to."
"Your brother was Leo Bennett, wasn't he?"
The room vanished around her for one horrible second.
Chloe could not breathe.
Dominic saw the answer in her face.
"Interesting family."
Gabriel stepped toward him.
"Take him out."
Dominic kept looking at Chloe as he was pulled away.
"Ask what's in the cabinet, Chloe."
"Ask why your brother's name is there."
The door closed behind him.
Chloe stood absolutely still.
Gabriel spoke first.
"You said your brother died two years ago."
She looked at him.
"He did."
"How does Dominic know his name?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."
Gabriel looked toward the key in his hand.
Beatrice reached for Chloe's wrist.
Her fingers were cold.
"I am sorry," she signed.
Chloe's throat tightened.
"For what?"
Beatrice stared at her.
Then she signed three words.
"I knew Leo."
Chloe stepped back.
"What?"
Beatrice repeated it.
"I knew your brother."
Chloe translated aloud without meaning to.
Gabriel turned sharply toward his mother.
"How?"
Beatrice looked between them.
Then she signed the sentence that made Chloe's knees feel weak.
"Leo came to my house three days before he died."
Gabriel went completely still.
Chloe's voice cracked.
"Why?"
Beatrice pointed at the key.
May you like
"Because he had seen what was hidden in the chapel."
