Chapter 6 - The Brother in the Warehouse
Valentina answered.
No one spoke.
“Gabriel?”
Breathing.
Then a man’s voice.
“You sound like Mama.”
Valentina nearly dropped the phone.
Mateo moved closer.
She raised one hand.
Please.
He stopped.
“Are you Gabriel Esposito?”
A soft laugh came through the line.
“I’ve used a lot of names.”
“My mother thinks you died.”
“She was supposed to.”
Valentina closed her eyes.
“Where are you?”
“You know.”
“The warehouse.”
“Yes.”
“Is Camille with you?”
Silence.
“Gabriel.”
“She’s safe.”
“Did you send the warning?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Raffaele wanted Mateo dead.”
“That doesn’t answer why you warned me.”
“You’re my sister.”
The word hit harder than Valentina expected.
She sat on the hood of Mateo’s SUV.
“Then why not call me seventeen months ago?”
“Because Sofia wasn’t the only person pretending to be dead.”
Valentina looked at Sofia.
Her sister covered her mouth.
Gabriel continued.
“I spent twenty years trying to learn who stole me.”
“Raffaele.”
“Raffaele arranged it.”
“Who raised you?”
“People who were paid not to ask questions.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
His voice became colder.
“Bring the files.”
Valentina’s heart sank.
“What files?”
“Everything you copied.”
Mateo heard.
His expression changed.
Valentina turned away.
“You want evidence.”
“I want names.”
“For what?”
“To finish this.”
“No.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel said, “You don’t know me.”
“No. But I know what revenge sounds like.”
“You worked for Fontana.”
“I worked for Mateo.”
“Same blood.”
“Not same man.”
Mateo looked at her.
She ignored him.
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“You trust him?”
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly.
Too easily.
Mateo’s expression softened.
Gabriel heard it too.
“That will get you hurt.”
“Maybe.”
“Come alone.”
The call ended.
Mateo waited.
Valentina looked at him.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
She smiled tiredly.
“You really need a second word.”
“I have several.”
“Use one.”
“Absolutely not.”
Cross approached.
“We can wire you.”
Mateo turned.
“No.”
Cross shrugged.
“She’s going anyway.”
“I can hear both of you,” Valentina said.
Sofia stepped forward.
“I’m going too.”
Valentina looked at her.
“No.”
Sofia blinked.
Valentina almost laughed.
“I understand Mateo now.”
“Terrifying, isn’t it?” Mateo said.
Thirty minutes later, Valentina entered the Calumet warehouse alone.
Almost.
A microphone the size of a button rested beneath her blouse.
Cross’s tactical team surrounded the building.
Mateo was supposed to remain with them.
Valentina knew he wouldn’t.
The warehouse smelled of oil and metal.
Rows of shipping containers formed narrow corridors.
“Gabriel?”
Her voice echoed.
A man stepped from behind a container.
Same face as the photograph.
Dark hair.
Scar.
Her eyes.
Valentina stopped.
He did too.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Gabriel smiled.
It was Teresa’s smile.
Valentina started crying.
She hated that.
Gabriel’s expression broke.
“You really do look like her.”
Valentina walked forward.
“Can I hug you?”
He blinked.
She almost laughed through tears.
“Normal people ask.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“That makes two of us.”
Gabriel hesitated.
Then nodded.
Valentina hugged her brother.
His body went rigid.
Then slowly relaxed.
Twenty-seven years collapsed into one impossible moment.
When they separated, Gabriel wiped his eyes angrily.
“Don’t tell anyone.”
“Everyone heard through the microphone.”
His head snapped downward.
Valentina winced.
“Sorry.”
He laughed.
A real laugh this time.
“You brought them.”
“I brought insurance.”
Mateo’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Good answer.”
Gabriel heard nothing.
Camille emerged from the shadows.
Valentina stared.
Camille looked thinner.
Tired.
Still Camille.
“You let me think you were in Boston.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You held me while I cried over Sofia.”
“I know.”
“You knew she was alive?”
“Yes.”
Valentina slapped her.
Camille accepted it.
Then Valentina hugged her.
Camille began sobbing.
“This family has terrible reunion habits,” Gabriel said.
Valentina pulled away.
“What happened?”
Camille looked at Gabriel.
He answered.
“She found me.”
“How?”
“She followed Raffaele’s payments.”
Valentina laughed weakly.
“Apparently everyone audits except Mateo.”
“I own businesses,” Mateo muttered in her ear.
Valentina ignored him.
Gabriel walked toward a folding table covered with documents.
“I sent the warning because Raffaele’s plan changed.”
“What changed?”
“He learned Sofia was alive.”
“So the bomb was for everyone.”
“Yes.”
“And the gunman beneath my desk?”
“Raffaele’s man.”
“Why was he hiding there?”
“To ensure Mateo stayed in the room.”
Valentina’s stomach tightened.
Gabriel handed her a folder.
“Your evidence is incomplete.”
She opened it.
Bank transfers.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Judges.
Corporate executives.
“This is bigger than Raffaele.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Release everything.”
Mateo’s voice came through.
“No.”
Valentina touched her earpiece.
Gabriel noticed.
“Mateo?”
She nodded.
Gabriel looked toward the ceiling.
“Come out, Fontana.”
Silence.
Then Mateo walked from behind a container.
Valentina glared.
“You were supposed to stay outside.”
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“No.”
Gabriel studied him.
“So you’re the man pretending to marry my sister.”
Mateo glanced at Valentina.
“Apparently the rumor traveled.”
“I’m not marrying anyone,” Valentina said.
Gabriel nodded.
“Good.”
Mateo looked offended.
Valentina almost laughed.
Then Camille became serious.
“Raffaele isn’t the top.”
Mateo’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Gabriel slid a photograph across the table.
Elena Fontana.
Mateo’s mother.
Valentina’s heart stopped.
“No,” Mateo said.
Gabriel held up a hand.
“Look carefully.”
The photo showed Elena meeting a federal prosecutor.
Date: two years earlier.
Mateo stared.
“My mother cooperated with authorities.”
“Yes.”
“That makes her a target, not a criminal.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Exactly.”
He placed another photograph beside it.
Detective Daniel Cross.
Meeting Raffaele.
Mateo went still.
Valentina felt cold.
“He’s outside,” she whispered.
Gabriel nodded.
“He has been protecting Raffaele’s network for years.”
Mateo reached for his phone.
No signal.
Jammer.
Gabriel said, “That’s why I told you to come alone.”
A loudspeaker clicked overhead.
Cross’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Thank you, Gabriel.”
Everyone froze.
“You just saved me hours.”
Metal doors slammed shut.
Valentina looked toward Mateo.
Cross continued.
“Place the files on the floor and step away.”
Mateo moved in front of Valentina.
Gabriel rolled his eyes.
“She hates when you do that.”
“I know.”
Valentina grabbed Mateo’s jacket.
“Not helping.”
Camille whispered, “There’s a tunnel.”
Gabriel nodded.
“South container.”
They ran.
Gunfire struck metal behind them.
Mateo pushed Valentina around a corner.
Gabriel returned two shots.
“No killing,” Valentina shouted.
“I’m shooting lights.”
Darkness swallowed half the warehouse.
They reached the south container.
Camille opened a floor hatch.
“Down.”
Valentina went first.
Mateo followed.
Gabriel stayed above.
“Come on!” Valentina shouted.
“I need the files.”
“Leave them!”
“They’re the only originals.”
Mateo climbed back.
Valentina seized his ankle.
“No!”
“He’s your brother.”
“So are you apparently suicidal?”
Mateo disappeared upward.
Gunfire cracked.
Valentina stopped breathing.
Then Mateo dropped through the hatch.
Gabriel landed behind him carrying one metal case.
Camille followed.
They ran through the tunnel.
Behind them, Cross shouted.
A bullet struck concrete.
The tunnel ended at an old drainage channel near the river.
Sunlight appeared ahead.
Valentina ran toward it.
Then Gabriel stopped.
“What?”
He looked down.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Valentina screamed his name.
Mateo caught him.
“Through and through,” Gabriel gasped.
Valentina pressed both hands against the wound.
“No.”
Gabriel smiled weakly.
“Met you for twenty minutes. Already getting yelled at.”
“Shut up.”
“You really are Mama’s daughter.”
Footsteps echoed from the tunnel.
Cross was coming.
Mateo lifted Gabriel.
“Move.”
They reached the riverbank.
Luca’s SUV appeared above the service road.
Sofia jumped out.
“Gabriel!”
He opened his eyes.
“Which one are you?”
“Sofia.”
“The dead one?”
“Yes.”
“Family really is complicated.”
Even Mateo laughed.
They loaded him into the SUV.
Luca accelerated.
Valentina held pressure on Gabriel’s wound.
Mateo sat opposite her.
For one second their eyes met.
Alive.
All of them.
Maybe.
Then Gabriel’s hand tightened around Valentina’s wrist.
“The case.”
Mateo grabbed it.
“What?”
“Bottom compartment.”
Mateo opened it.
A sealed envelope.
One name written across the front.
MATTEO FONTANA.
Mateo frowned.
“My name has one T.”
Gabriel looked confused.
“I didn’t write it.”
Valentina opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Antonio Fontana’s handwriting.
Mateo recognized it immediately.
He read the first line.
Then stopped.
“What?” Valentina asked.
His face changed.
The letter began:
Mateo, if you are reading this, Luca Romano has betrayed you.
Mateo slowly looked toward the driver.
May you like
Luca stared at them through the rearview mirror.
Then the SUV doors locked.
