Chapter 10 - Eleven Eighteen
At 1:15 a.m. on November seventeenth, Chloe met Gabriel Kane in a twenty-four-hour church on West Thirty-Sixth Street.
Roman hated the plan.
That did not stop it.
Chloe sat in the third pew.
Miriam remained outside.
Roman was across the street.
Gabriel entered through the side door.
He was taller than Chloe expected.
Late forties.
Close-cropped dark hair turning gray.
A face that looked tired before it looked dangerous.
He sat two pews behind her.
“You came.”
“You asked.”
“Roman?”
“Nearby.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“Of course.”
Chloe did not turn around.
“Why me?”
“Because Roman will believe you before he believes me.”
“That seems optimistic.”
“Roman trusts very few people.”
“He met me two days ago.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Gabriel was silent.
Chloe looked back.
“What?”
“You haven’t asked him for anything.”
“So?”
“Everyone asks Roman Vale for something.”
“I asked him to unlock the car.”
For the first time, Gabriel laughed.
It sounded genuine.
“Michael would have liked you.”
“Everyone keeps talking about Michael like he’s the answer to a question nobody knows how to ask.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“He was.”
“What happened?”
Gabriel looked toward the altar.
“Twelve years ago, Roman discovered his father planned to transfer several legitimate companies to Frank Russo in exchange for keeping certain old criminal relationships quiet.”
“Blackmail?”
“In effect.”
“Roman asked Michael for help.”
“Yes.”
“Michael moved the documents through Northstar.”
“Yes.”
“Then the warehouse burned.”
Gabriel closed his eyes briefly.
“Frank started it.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Roman thinks you were the last person to see Michael alive.”
“I was.”
“What did Michael say?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Save Roman.”
Chloe’s throat tightened.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Gabriel continued.
“He said, ‘Don’t let him become Dad.’”
Chloe looked away.
“What did you do?”
“For six years, I stayed beside Roman.”
“And then?”
“I failed.”
“With Frank?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Roman had cleaned up much of the company, but not enough. Men like Frank were still attached to us through old debts, silent partnerships, favors.”
“So you made a deal.”
“I believed I could separate those assets from Roman and collapse them.”
“You thought Frank would help.”
“Yes.”
“That seems stupid.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“It was.”
“Why not tell Roman?”
“Because Roman never surrendered control voluntarily.”
Chloe thought about the locked car.
The orders.
The arguments.
She could believe that.
Gabriel continued.
“I thought if the old structure collapsed, he would finally be free.”
“Instead Frank took control.”
“Slowly.”
“And you kept helping?”
“At first because I believed I could reverse it. Later because Frank had evidence connecting me to the transfers.”
“Crimes.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not asking for sympathy.”
“No.”
“Good.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I deserve consequences.”
“Then why keep going?”
“Because the Northstar originals can destroy Frank’s claims.”
“And yours.”
“Yes.”
“Why does Frank need me?”
“Because Pike used your employee identity to create the audit trail.”
“We know that.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
“Then you also know the rejection must occur before release.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know why?”
Chloe shook her head.
“Because Northstar contains one more thing.”
“What?”
“Michael’s testament.”
“A will?”
“No. A recorded statement.”
Chloe stared.
“About what?”
“Everything.”
“Roman’s father?”
“Yes.”
“Frank?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
Gabriel’s eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
“And Roman?”
“Yes.”
Chloe felt uneasy.
“What does it say about Roman?”
“I never saw the full recording.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Michael told me.”
“What?”
Gabriel paused.
“He wanted Roman to have a choice.”
“What choice?”
“To keep the empire and become responsible for every part of it.”
“Or?”
“Dismantle the structure voluntarily and preserve the legitimate companies.”
“So Frank wants the original documents.”
“Frank wants to destroy the testament and replace the ownership records.”
“And you?”
“I want the testament released.”
“Even if it hurts Roman?”
Gabriel looked directly at her.
“Especially if it frees him.”
Chloe stood.
“That is not your choice.”
Gabriel’s face tightened.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
She moved into the aisle.
“You’ve spent six years making decisions for Roman because you decided he wouldn’t make the correct ones himself.”
Gabriel did not answer.
“That doesn’t sound very different from Frank.”
The words hit.
Chloe continued.
“Or Tommy.”
Gabriel looked down.
“You’re right.”
That surprised her.
She remained standing.
“What do you want me to tell Roman?”
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“Northstar can only be opened at Harbor 6.”
“We know.”
“At six in the morning on the eighteenth.”
“We know.”
“Roman and I must both be present.”
“We know that too.”
Gabriel’s eyes sharpened.
“Then you’ve learned faster than Frank expected.”
“What haven’t we learned?”
Gabriel reached inside his coat.
Chloe stiffened.
He removed a key.
Old brass.
Stamped 1118.
Chloe stared.
“Eleven eighteen.”
“Michael gave this to me the night he died.”
“What does it open?”
“The physical Northstar vault.”
“Why give it to you?”
“Because he knew Frank was coming.”
“Why didn’t you tell Roman?”
Gabriel looked toward the church entrance.
“Because for twelve years I believed I had lost it.”
Chloe frowned.
“Where was it?”
“Michael hid it.”
“Where?”
Gabriel held it out.
“Inside Roman’s father’s grave.”
Chloe stared at him.
“You dug up a grave?”
“Not the grave. The stone contains a sealed compartment.”
“Why?”
“His father built hiding places everywhere.”
That, Chloe could believe.
She took the key.
Gabriel did not release it immediately.
“Frank thinks I still have this.”
“Do you want me to give it to Roman?”
“Yes.”
“Why not do it yourself?”
Gabriel looked toward the stained-glass window.
“Because Roman may kill me before I finish explaining.”
Chloe pulled the key from his hand.
“I don’t think he will.”
“You don’t know him.”
“No.”
She slipped the key into her pocket.
“But maybe neither do you anymore.”
Outside, Roman waited in the rain.
Chloe crossed the street.
He opened an umbrella over her.
“You took longer than agreed.”
“Hello to you too.”
“What did he say?”
She handed him the key.
Roman stopped breathing for a second.
He recognized it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Gabriel.”
Roman turned toward the church.
Gabriel was gone.
“What did he tell you?”
Chloe explained.
Roman listened without interruption.
When she finished, his face was unreadable.
“You believe him.”
“I believe parts.”
“Which parts?”
“The parts that make him look worst.”
Roman looked at her.
“People lie to avoid guilt. Gabriel isn’t avoiding his.”
Roman stared at the brass key.
1118.
“Michael used that number.”
“Why?”
Roman looked toward the rain.
“November eighteenth was our mother’s birthday.”
Chloe’s expression softened.
“She died when Michael was ten.”
“So Northstar…”
“Was probably named after something she used to say.”
“What?”
Roman’s mouth moved in the faintest smile.
“When we got lost driving, she’d point at the sky and tell us the North Star always knew the way home.”
Chloe looked at the key.
Everything had returned to family.
Not money.
Not power.
Family.
And men who had spent twelve years misunderstanding what the dead wanted from them.
Roman’s phone rang.
Miriam.
He answered.
Her voice was urgent.
The demolition permit for Harbor 6 had been changed.
Not November nineteenth.
November seventeenth.
Today.
At 5:00 p.m.
Roman looked at Chloe.
“They’re destroying Harbor 6 thirteen hours early.”
“Can they?”
“They already have city authorization.”
“Pike.”
“Probably.”
Chloe checked the time.
1:43 a.m.
They had fifteen hours.
Roman started toward the car.
Chloe followed.
“Where?”
“To stop the demolition.”
“How?”
Roman looked at her.
“Legally, if possible.”
“And if not?”
Roman opened her door.
Chloe waited.
His expression remained calm.
May you like
“Then we become extremely creative.”
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