Chapter 10 - The Brother I Never Knew Invited Me to Dinner
The invitation arrived before lunch.
Cream paper.
No return address.
One line.
DINNER. SEVEN O’CLOCK. RITTENHOUSE CLUB. COME WITHOUT CARTER.
Signed: G.
Mara said no.
Carter said absolutely not.
The federal prosecutor said it could be useful if agents controlled the location.
I said, “I’m going.”
Everyone hated that.
For once, the government and Carter Battalia agreed on something.
At 6:55, I entered the private dining room wearing navy because I refused to let anyone dress me in red again.
Agents occupied two adjacent rooms.
Mara sat downstairs.
Carter was legally forbidden from entering because of my release conditions and practically forbidden because three federal agents had threatened to arrest him if he tried.
I suspected he was nearby anyway.
Gabriel stood at the window.
He turned when I entered.
I knew immediately.
Not because of our eyes.
Because he had my father’s habit of pressing his thumb against his lower lip when thinking.
I almost cried before either of us spoke.
“Diana.”
His voice was rough.
“Gabriel.”
He smiled.
“You look like her.”
“Alessandra?”
“Yes.”
“You knew her?”
“I remember her.”
He was six years older than Carter. Almost fifteen years older than me.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“That word is doing too much work.”
He laughed softly.
“You sound like Daniel.”
“Apparently everyone knew my father except me.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Good.”
He gestured to the table.
“I ordered nothing. I figured poison jokes would ruin the evening.”
I sat.
“Why were you with Dominic?”
“Because Dominic is useful.”
“Vanessa says he kidnapped you.”
“She lied.”
“Why?”
“To get out.”
“Did you ask her to?”
“No.”
“Are you working with Dominic?”
“Temporarily.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
I stared at him.
“What do you want from me?”
“The key.”
Of course.
I touched the chain at my neck.
“What does it open?”
“A private deposit box Daniel maintained under a false name.”
“Where?”
“First Philadelphia Trust.”
“What’s inside?”
“Original paternity records. Alessandra’s journals. Copies of Blue Mercy’s ledger.”
“And the letter?”
He took the black envelope from his jacket.
“This.”
My pulse jumped.
“Is it addressed to Carter?”
“Yes.”
“Then why do you have it?”
“Because he isn’t ready.”
I laughed.
“Do you hear yourself?”
His expression changed.
“Daniel used to say that.”
“Then apparently he was right often enough to annoy everyone.”
Gabriel looked at the envelope.
“Carter worshipped our mother.”
“Our mother?”
He nodded.
There.
Confirmation.
“You’re Daniel’s son?”
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“DNA?”
“Done years ago.”
“Why didn’t Dad tell me?”
“Because Alessandra made him promise.”
I almost stood.
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m done accepting that sentence as explanation.”
Gabriel stared.
“She was afraid Salvatore would kill me.”
“So Dad hid you.”
“Yes.”
“Until when?”
“Until Salvatore died.”
“And then?”
“I chose not to come back.”
That stopped me.
“You chose?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Carter had become what Salvatore built.”
My jaw tightened.
“You don’t know him.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“That was quick.”
“What?”
“Defending him.”
“I’m not defending. I’m correcting.”
“He collects debts.”
“He also dismantled half his father’s rackets.”
“He controls people through fear.”
“He does.”
Gabriel blinked.
“You’re honest about him.”
“I’m trying to be.”
“That makes you more dangerous than Vanessa.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa wants power. You want truth.”
“That sounds flattering.”
“It isn’t.”
He slid the black envelope toward me.
“Read it.”
“It’s Carter’s.”
“Read it first.”
“No.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Daniel said you’d say that.”
My stomach dropped.
“Dad knew you’d come back?”
“He hoped.”
“When did you last see him?”
“The night he died.”
Everything inside me went still.
Dad died in a car crash seven years ago.
Police said he hit black ice on Lincoln Drive.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the crash?”
Gabriel looked away.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“We argued two hours before.”
“About what?”
“You.”
I stared.
“Me?”
“He wanted to tell you everything.”
“And you stopped him.”
“Yes.”
Anger came fast.
“Why?”
“Because Dominic had just learned Alessandra’s daughter was alive.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“What did Dominic want?”
“The same thing Salvatore always wanted. Control of Alessandra’s evidence.”
“And Dad?”
“He said secrets were killing all of us.”
“He was right.”
“Yes.”
“Then he died.”
“Yes.”
I leaned forward.
“Was it an accident?”
Gabriel did not answer.
“Did Dominic kill him?”
Silence.
“Gabriel.”
He looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
That answer felt real.
Then his phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His face changed.
“What?”
“Your sister escaped transport.”
I stood.
“What?”
“Vanessa.”
“How do you know before the government?”
He did not answer.
That was answer enough.
“You are working with Dominic.”
“Not the way you think.”
“What way?”
Gabriel stood too.
“Dominic and I are trying to find the person who actually ordered Daniel’s crash.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She thinks she does.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Vanessa whispered, breathless.
“Diana, don’t open Dad’s deposit box.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Why?”
“Because the ledger isn’t evidence.”
“What is it?”
“A kill list.”
The line went dead.
Gabriel’s face had gone pale.
“What did she say?”
I held up the brass key.
“She said this opens a kill list.”
May you like
And for the first time since I met him, my brother looked afraid.
After Gabriel left the dining room, federal agents searched every inch of it. Nothing illegal remained, which was probably the point. I stood beside the untouched place setting he had chosen for me and felt the strange grief of meeting a sibling too late. There had been no shared childhood to reclaim, only documents and resemblance. Still, when I replayed his laugh in my head, something in it sounded like my father. That bothered me more than the DNA question. Biology could be tested. Familiarity could not. Before I left, the waiter handed me a folded napkin Gabriel had left behind. Inside he had written one sentence: Daniel kept your first drawing in his wallet for twenty years. I hated him for giving me tenderness exactly when I wanted to remain angry. I folded the note anyway and put it in my purse.
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