Chương 4 - THE MAN BESIDE HIM
For three seconds, neither Paige nor Gabriel moved.
The voice from the speaker hung in the dark storage unit like a hand around the throat.
“You should have left the girl downstairs.”
Then static.
Then silence.
Paige whispered, “That was Luca.”
Gabriel did not answer.
She could barely see him now that the door had closed. A thin line of light showed beneath the metal shutter. Somewhere outside, tires moved slowly across wet pavement.
“Gabriel.”
“Yes.”
“That was him.”
“Yes.”
His calm frightened her more than shouting would have.
Paige reached for her phone.
No signal.
“Of course.”
Gabriel tested the storage door.
Locked from the outside.
He crouched near the bottom seam, examined it, then stood.
“Move away from the door.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to try something.”
“What?”
“Something loud.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“No.”
“That is becoming a pattern with you.”
Even in the dark, she felt him look at her.
Then a small mechanical click sounded near the ceiling.
Paige froze.
A red emergency light blinked to life.
A sprinkler head above them released a sudden sheet of cold water.
Paige yelped.
Gabriel grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the center of the unit.
“What is this?”
“Alarm system.”
“Did Luca trigger it?”
“Probably.”
“Why?”
The answer came when a siren began screaming outside.
Fire alarm.
The storage facility doors along the corridor started unlocking automatically.
Gabriel lifted theirs.
This time it moved.
They stepped into flashing red light and water spilling beneath multiple doors.
No fire.
No smoke.
Just confusion.
Customers and employees emerged from the office building at the front of the property.
Somebody had triggered the entire system remotely.
A distraction.
Gabriel took Paige’s hand.
“Car.”
She followed him through the rain.
Only when they reached the sedan did he release her.
The rear driver-side tire was flat.
So was the front passenger tire.
Paige stared.
“He didn’t want to trap us.”
“No.”
“He wanted to delay us.”
“Yes.”
“From what?”
Gabriel looked toward the city.
His phone regained signal.
It immediately filled with notifications.
He opened the first one.
His expression changed.
Paige’s pulse rose.
“What?”
“Moretti Logistics.”
“What happened?”
“Someone accessed the executive archive while the building was locked down.”
“What did they take?”
“Copies of my father’s records.”
The dead man again.
Paige wrapped her wet coat around herself.
“Luca wanted you here.”
“He wanted both of us here.”
“Why me?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Maybe because you’re the only person who can recognize what he’s building.”
That sentence followed Paige all the way back to the city.
Nico arrived with another vehicle twenty minutes later.
He was furious.
Not theatrically angry.
Truly angry.
The kind of anger that made his scarred jaw look carved from stone.
“You left without telling me.”
Gabriel opened the rear door for Paige.
“Yes.”
“You turned off your tracker.”
“Yes.”
“You took her with you.”
“Yes.”
Nico stared at him.
Paige stepped between them before she could reconsider the wisdom of doing so.
“Kevin warned me not to trust the man beside Gabriel.”
Nico’s eyes shifted to her.
“I see.”
“I thought he meant you.”
“And now?”
“We found Luca’s photograph.”
Nico’s expression changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Gabriel saw it.
“You knew.”
Nico said nothing.
Gabriel closed the car door slowly.
“Nico.”
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Four months.”
The parking lot became very quiet.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“You suspected my cousin was stealing from me for four months and said nothing?”
“I suspected he was moving money.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I didn’t have proof.”
“You had enough to investigate.”
“I did investigate.”
Paige looked between them.
“That ledger.”
Nico’s jaw tightened.
She understood.
“Your name is in it because you were inside their system.”
Nico nodded once.
Gabriel did not.
He looked betrayed.
Not by criminality.
By secrecy.
“What did you do?”
Nico faced him.
“I let one of Luca’s people think I could be bought.”
Gabriel’s eyes went flat.
“For what?”
“Information.”
“You accepted money.”
“I documented every payment.”
“And didn’t tell me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Nico’s answer took too long.
Paige felt the danger in that pause.
Finally he said, “Because Luca isn’t the top.”
Gabriel became still.
“Who is?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why keep me out?”
“Because every path I followed ended near family.”
The word struck harder than a name.
Gabriel looked away.
Paige watched his hand close once at his side.
Family.
The most ordinary word in the English language.
In Gabriel’s world, it sounded like a crime scene.
Back at the tower, the executive archive had been opened using a valid credential.
No forced entry.
No broken lock.
No missing cash.
The only files copied were old corporate authorizations bearing Nicholas Moretti’s signature.
Paige sat at a conference table at two in the morning comparing scans.
Coffee had stopped helping three cups earlier.
Gabriel had changed into a dry shirt.
Nico stood near the windows, giving them both the kind of space that was not really distance.
Paige zoomed in on two signatures.
One legitimate.
One forged.
“They aren’t identical.”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“You said the forged one was vectorized.”
“It is. But whoever built it didn’t trace one signature.”
She overlaid several examples.
“They created a composite.”
“What does that mean?”
“They took pieces from different authentic signatures. Look.”
She pointed.
“The G-shaped curve in the N comes from this 2009 contract. The pressure line in the M comes from this one. The final tail comes from a letter.”
Nico approached.
“So someone had access to multiple originals.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Paige looked at Gabriel.
“Who kept your father’s personal papers after he died?”
“My mother kept family documents.”
“Business?”
“Legal archive.”
“And family executives?”
“Could request them.”
“Luca?”
“Yes.”
Nico spoke.
“Also Cesare.”
Paige looked at him.
“Who’s Cesare?”
Gabriel’s face closed.
“My uncle.”
“Nicholas’s brother?”
“Yes.”
“What does he do?”
“Officially? Nothing.”
Nico gave a dry sound.
Gabriel ignored it.
“He retired from daily operations five years ago. He remains chairman emeritus.”
“Does he still have access?”
“To some things.”
Paige stared at the signatures.
“Would he have access to enough originals to build this?”
Gabriel did not answer.
That was answer enough.
At 3:20 a.m., Nico left to coordinate security.
Paige remained.
She had reached the point of exhaustion where her hands felt detached from her body.
Gabriel placed a fresh cup of coffee beside her.
“I thought you disapproved of my sleep habits.”
“I do.”
“So this is hypocritical.”
“Extremely.”
She took the cup anyway.
They sat in silence for a moment.
The city lights beyond the windows looked unreal.
Paige finally said, “You should have told me the debt collectors were connected to this company the moment you knew.”
“They’re not part of Moretti Logistics.”
“They’re part of your world.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
“That distinction matters to you.”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
He absorbed that.
Paige put the cup down.
“And you cannot freeze my debt, move my job, place guards outside my hotel, or decide which parts of my life are inconvenient without asking me.”
“I already admitted I was wrong about the gym.”
“This is bigger than the gym.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
His eyes held hers.
Paige expected argument.
Instead, Gabriel nodded.
“Give me rules.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“If we’re working together, give me rules.”
“You’re asking me to establish boundaries with a mafia boss.”
“I’m asking you to establish them with me.”
The sentence settled between them.
Paige sat back.
“Fine.”
Gabriel waited.
“No using the debt to control me.”
“Agreed.”
“No ordering people into my apartment without telling me unless someone is actively dying.”
“Define actively.”
“Gabriel.”
“Agreed.”
“No changing my job without my consent.”
“You accepted the temporary position.”
“I did. That does not become permanent because you announce it.”
“Agreed.”
“No lying.”
He was silent.
Paige narrowed her eyes.
“That one took too long.”
“There are things I cannot tell you.”
“Then say you can’t tell me. Don’t lie.”
Gabriel considered.
“Agreed.”
“And no threatening Kevin on my behalf.”
His expression hardened.
“He forged your name and left you with predatory debt.”
“He did.”
“He helped someone target my company.”
“Yes.”
“He put you in danger.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re asking me not to threaten him.”
“I’m asking you not to make my choices for me.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Finally, “Agreed.”
Paige exhaled.
“Your turn.”
“My turn?”
“You get rules too.”
Something nearly amused appeared in his face.
“You’re not allowed to leave secure locations alone.”
“No.”
“Then this exercise is pointless.”
“Reasonable rules.”
“That is reasonable.”
“It is paternal.”
His jaw tightened.
Paige raised a hand.
“What if I agree to tell security where I’m going and take protection when there’s a specific threat?”
“Two people.”
“One.”
“Two.”
“Fine. Two when the threat is active. One otherwise.”
“Agreed.”
“No speaking to Kevin alone.”
She hesitated.
Gabriel saw it.
“That should not be difficult.”
“It is if he calls me.”
“Then you keep him talking and notify us.”
“Agreed.”
“No opening unknown packages.”
“Agreed.”
“And if you see Luca, you do not confront him.”
Paige’s eyebrows rose.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You confronted me.”
“You had my folder.”
“You called me honey.”
“We are never going to stop talking about that, are we?”
“No.”
For the first time, Gabriel smiled.
It was small.
Brief.
But real.
Paige forgot what she had been about to say.
The expression changed his entire face.
Not softer exactly.
More human.
Then it disappeared.
Paige looked down at the documents.
“Why did you notice the calls?”
“What?”
“Fourteen calls from a burner. Why were you looking at fifth-floor telephone logs?”
Gabriel was quiet.
“After you handed me the folder, I asked who you were.”
“That fast?”
“Yes.”
“Because I called you honey?”
“Because the entire floor looked like it expected me to kill you.”
Paige almost laughed.
“That bothered you?”
“It interested me.”
“You reviewed my file because people were scared for me.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s when you saw the calls.”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“Then this whole thing started because I was tired.”
“No.”
He looked at the forged signature on the screen.
“This started long before you were hired.”
The elevator chimed.
Both turned.
It was nearly four in the morning.
Only three people were supposed to have access to the floor.
Gabriel stood.
The doors opened.
Luca Bianchi stepped out.
Silver tie.
Perfect suit.
Umbrella folded beneath one arm.
He looked from Gabriel to Paige and smiled.
“Good,” Luca said.
His eyes settled on the documents spread across the table.
“You’re both still awake.”
Paige felt every muscle in Gabriel’s body change.
Luca walked closer as if entering a family breakfast.
“I heard there was trouble at a storage facility.”
Gabriel’s voice was flat.
“Did you?”
“Security travels quickly in this company.”
Luca’s smile widened.
Then he looked directly at Paige.
“Miss Winslow.”
“Mr. Bianchi.”
“I understand congratulations are in order.”
“For what?”
“Your promotion.”
Paige did not look at Gabriel.
“Temporary appointment.”
“Of course.”
Luca reached into his coat.
Gabriel moved half a step.
Luca stopped.
Slowly, he removed only a cream envelope.
He placed it on the table.
“For you, Paige.”
She did not touch it.
“What is it?”
“Something your boyfriend left behind.”
“My ex-boyfriend.”
Luca’s eyes glittered.
“Then perhaps you won’t mind what’s inside.”
Gabriel took the envelope first.
He opened it.
One photograph.
Kevin again.
This time he was not outside a coffee shop.
He was sitting at a table.
Alive.
Terrified.
Beside him sat an older man with silver hair and a black cane.
Gabriel stared.
Paige saw recognition strike.
“Who is that?” she whispered.
Luca buttoned his coat.
“Gabriel can tell you.”
Then he walked back toward the elevator.
Gabriel did not stop him.
The doors closed.
Paige looked down at the photograph.
The older man’s hand rested calmly on Kevin’s shoulder.
Gabriel’s voice came quietly beside her.
“My uncle.”
Paige looked at him.
“Cesare?”
“Yes.”
The photograph had been taken that night.
A digital clock behind them read 2:41 a.m.
Paige’s heart began to race.
Kevin had called her less than two hours earlier.
Which meant he had not escaped.
May you like
He had been moved.
And the man at the center of Moretti family history had just stepped onto the board.
