Chapter 4 - The Man Inside Gabriel’s Empire
Rinaldi held the gun like a man who had carried one for decades.
No shaking.
No wasted movement.
His attention remained on Gabriel.
“You disappoint me.”
Gabriel stepped slightly in front of Frankie.
Rinaldi smiled.
“Still pretending to protect people?”
Gabriel’s voice was quiet.
“You killed Salvatore.”
“That is a dramatic accusation.”
“You forged Bellomo’s debt.”
“I improved an opportunity.”
“You used my name.”
“I built your name.”
Something shifted in Gabriel’s face.
Rinaldi continued.
“Your father left you a collection of frightened men and half-functioning businesses. I turned it into an empire.”
“You stole from it.”
“I took what I was owed.”
Frankie held the red ledger behind her back.
“You also murdered my father.”
Rinaldi finally looked at her.
“You sound exactly like him.”
“Good.”
“It isn’t a compliment.”
“I didn’t think a man who hides behind forged signatures had many compliments to give.”
Gabriel’s mouth almost moved.
Rinaldi noticed.
“That’s what fascinates you?”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
“What?”
“This little mechanic.”
Frankie glared.
“Little?”
Rinaldi ignored her.
“She insults you. Challenges you. Reminds you of all the things you spent fifteen years removing from yourself.”
Gabriel took one step forward.
“Careful.”
“Or what?”
Rinaldi’s gun shifted toward Frankie.
Gabriel stopped.
There it was.
The answer.
Rinaldi smiled.
“You see? Already predictable.”
Frankie studied the warehouse.
Old shelves.
Metal parts.
Hydraulic equipment.
A fire extinguisher on the wall.
Loose battery cables.
She repaired broken machines.
This was a system.
Systems had weaknesses.
“Put the ledger down,” Rinaldi said.
Frankie complied.
Almost.
She dropped it beside the workbench.
Rinaldi’s eyes followed.
For one second.
That was enough.
Frankie grabbed the fire extinguisher and slammed the release.
White chemical powder exploded across the room.
Rinaldi fired.
The gunshot deafened her.
Gabriel tackled him.
Frankie dropped behind the bench.
Metal crashed.
Men grunted.
Another shot struck the ceiling.
Then silence.
When the powder cleared, Gabriel had Rinaldi against the floor with one forearm across his throat.
The gun lay three feet away.
Frankie kicked it farther.
Gabriel’s voice became deadly calm.
“Tell me who else is involved.”
Rinaldi laughed.
“You still think this ends with me?”
Gabriel pressed harder.
“Names.”
“Kill me.”
“Names.”
“You can’t expose us without destroying yourself.”
Frankie picked up the red ledger.
Gabriel glanced toward it.
Rinaldi saw.
His smile widened.
“Read it.”
Frankie opened the first pages.
Names.
Dozens.
Police commanders.
A state senator.
Port inspectors.
Costa employees.
Then a name stopped her.
Leonardo Bellomo.
Her stomach dropped.
“No.”
Gabriel released enough pressure to look.
Frankie showed him.
Rinaldi began laughing.
“Ask your brother.”
Frankie’s hands went cold.
“Leo isn’t part of this.”
“He borrowed money, didn’t he?”
“You set him up.”
“Did I?”
Gabriel dragged Rinaldi upright.
“What did Leo do?”
Rinaldi looked at Frankie.
“Your brother has been selling information for eighteen months.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Delivery schedules. Vehicle manifests. Storage locations.”
“You’re lying.”
“Page forty-seven.”
Frankie turned pages.
There it was.
Payments.
Small at first.
Two thousand.
Five.
Ten.
Every one connected to Leo.
She felt physically ill.
Gabriel read over her shoulder.
“Why?”
“Because gambling was never Leo’s real problem,” Rinaldi said. “Debt was.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He owed other people before he ever sat at my table. I offered a solution.”
“You used him.”
“Adults make choices.”
Frankie almost laughed at the cruelty of hearing Gabriel’s own earlier words repeated.
Gabriel heard it too.
His face changed.
Rinaldi smiled.
“See? We are not so different.”
Gabriel hit him.
One punch.
Controlled.
Rinaldi fell.
Frankie stared.
Gabriel looked at his own hand.
For a second, shame crossed his face.
Then headlights swept through broken warehouse windows.
Several vehicles.
Gabriel went alert.
“My people don’t know we’re here.”
Rinaldi smiled through blood.
“Mine do.”
Gabriel grabbed Frankie.
“Back exit.”
They ran.
Shots struck metal behind them.
They crossed the yard and reached Gabriel’s car.
The rear tire exploded.
“Move!”
Gabriel pulled Frankie behind a stack of crushed vehicles.
Gunfire echoed.
Frankie clutched the ledger.
“You have a plan?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“We survive.”
“That’s not a plan.”
“It is where I come from.”
He called one number.
“Matteo. South Branch. Marino salvage. Now.”
They waited.
Frankie’s breathing came hard.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You okay?”
“My brother betrayed me.”
“I know.”
“My father was murdered.”
“I know.”
“And someone is shooting at us.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“I’m having a terrible Tuesday.”
A surprised laugh escaped him.
Gunfire cracked again.
He pulled her down.
Twenty minutes later, Matteo arrived with four men.
Rinaldi was gone.
Two of his shooters had disappeared with him.
Gabriel looked furious.
Frankie felt empty.
Back at the safe house, Leo was waiting in the kitchen.
Frankie placed the red ledger on the table.
He saw his name.
His face collapsed.
“Frankie—”
“How long?”
He looked at Gabriel.
She slammed her palm down.
“Don’t look at him. Look at me.”
Leo swallowed.
“About a year.”
“Eighteen months.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“I owed money.”
“You always owe money!”
“This was different.”
“How?”
Leo’s voice cracked.
“Dad.”
Frankie froze.
“What about Dad?”
“After he died, I found documents.”
“What documents?”
“Insurance. Loans. The garage was almost gone.”
“You told me we were clear.”
“I lied.”
She stared.
“I borrowed to keep it open.”
The anger weakened, replaced by confusion.
“What?”
“Dad had taken loans against the building. I paid some. Then I lost money trying to cover the rest.”
“By gambling?”
“I thought I could win.”
Frankie closed her eyes.
“Jesus, Leo.”
“Then Rinaldi found me.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“What did he want?”
“Information.”
“About?”
“Your trucks.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“I didn’t know anyone would get hurt.”
“People always say that after someone gets hurt,” Frankie whispered.
Leo started crying.
Not loudly.
That made it worse.
“I was trying to save the garage.”
Frankie looked around the kitchen.
All of this began because everyone had tried to protect something by lying.
Her father.
Gabriel.
Leo.
Maybe even her.
“What else did you give Rinaldi?”
Leo hesitated.
Frankie saw it.
“What else?”
“He wanted Dad’s old things.”
“What things?”
“Photos. Papers.”
“The missing key?”
Leo’s silence answered.
“You gave him the Bay Three key?”
“No. I told him it existed.”
Frankie turned away.
Gabriel spoke.
“Why did Rinaldi still need the debt?”
“To force Frankie out,” Leo said.
“Why?”
“Because he thought she knew where Dad hid the ledgers.”
Frankie faced him.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
“So he planned to take the garage through Gabriel.”
Leo nodded.
“Once the deed transferred, Rinaldi could search everything without raising suspicion.”
Gabriel stared at the table.
He had nearly become the weapon that destroyed the evidence.
Frankie saw the realization.
“Rinaldi used you too.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“He tried.”
“No. He did.”
Their eyes met.
Gabriel did not argue.
Leo wiped his face.
“There’s something else.”
Frankie almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Rinaldi said Dad wasn’t supposed to die.”
She went still.
“What?”
“He said someone else ordered it.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Who?”
Leo shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“He never told you?”
“No.”
“But you heard something.”
Leo hesitated.
“One name.”
“What name?”
“Vittorio.”
Gabriel’s face changed.
“My father?”
“No.”
Leo swallowed.
“He said, ‘Vittorio’s mistake was trusting his own blood.’”
Silence.
Gabriel looked toward the red ledger.
Then he began turning pages.
Near the back, one name appeared repeatedly beside transfers dating back twenty years.
Luca Costa.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Frankie saw the resemblance before he said anything.
“Who is Luca?”
Gabriel closed the ledger.
“My uncle.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“He sits on the board of Vanguard Logistics.”
Frankie felt the next piece fall into place.
Rinaldi was dangerous.
But perhaps Rinaldi had never been the man at the top.
Gabriel’s phone rang.
Matteo.
Gabriel answered.
“What?”
His face hardened.
“When?”
Frankie stood.
“What happened?”
Gabriel lowered the phone.
“Luca disappeared thirty minutes ago.”
“Meaning?”
“He knew we found the ledger.”
Then Leo’s phone buzzed.
A message.
He looked at the screen.
All color left his face.
Frankie grabbed it.
A photograph filled the display.
Their garage.
Taken from across the street.
Below it was one sentence.
MIDNIGHT TOMORROW. BRING BOTH LEDGERS OR WE BURN WHAT SALVATORE BUILT.
But beneath that was a second photograph.
Frankie stared.
It showed Gabriel’s grandmother’s house.
Taken that evening.
Someone had been outside.
Watching.
And on the lower edge of the photograph was a reflection in a car window.
A woman.
Young.
Dark-haired.
Frankie looked closer.
She knew that face.
Gabriel did too.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Elena.”
Frankie looked at him.
“Who’s Elena?”
Gabriel’s expression contained something she had never seen in him before.
Pure fear.
May you like
“My sister.”
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