Chapter 6
Gabriel ordered the gala locked down quietly.
No sirens.
No panic.
Guests kept drinking upstairs.
Music continued.
Arthur laughed.
“You still think this house is yours.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“It is.”
“No.”
Arthur nodded toward the ceiling.
“Half the men upstairs have heard your private doubts.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
Arthur continued.
“They know which capo you called weak.”
“That conversation was private.”
“Not anymore.”
“They know which route frightened you.”
“I changed it.”
“They know which cousin you don’t trust.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“And you think gossip makes you boss?”
Arthur smiled.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Prediction.”
He tapped the map.
“I knew what you’d do before you did it.”
“That is not leadership.”
“It is when everyone else thinks you’re making decisions.”
Gabriel understood.
Arthur had been shaping reactions.
Feeding selected recordings to selected people.
Not enough to expose himself.
Enough to create resentment.
If Gabriel criticized one capo privately, Arthur could let that capo hear the sentence.
If Gabriel questioned a route, Arthur could tell security Gabriel lacked confidence.
Small fractures.
Months of them.
Olivia opened another drawer.
Inside were envelopes marked with capo names.
One held a memory card.
One sentence written outside:
HE CALLED YOU DISLOYAL.
Another:
HE DOESN’T TRUST YOUR SON.
Another:
HE PLANS TO REPLACE YOU.
Gabriel stared.
Arthur looked almost proud.
“You call it betrayal.”
“What do you call it?”
“Preparation.”
“For what?”
Arthur’s voice lowered.
“For the day Moretti realizes it doesn’t need you.”
Nero growled.
Arthur smiled at the dog.
“Even that animal knows when a room changes.”
Olivia suddenly found one envelope without a capo name.
GABRIEL.
Inside was a card marked:
FATHER — LAST NIGHT.
Gabriel stopped.
His father, Lorenzo Moretti, had died three years earlier.
Officially from illness after a long decline.
Arthur had been at his bedside.
Caleb had controlled the estate that night.
Gabriel looked at Arthur.
For the first time, the adviser’s confidence vanished completely.
Olivia whispered:
“This one was hidden underneath the others.”
Gabriel inserted the card into the reader.
His father’s voice filled the room.
Weak.
Angry.
“Arthur, if you ever use my son the way you used me…”
The recording cut.
Arthur lunged.
May you like
Gabriel stopped him.
And suddenly the second organization had begun before Gabriel ever became boss.
