Chapter 4 - The Enemy Inside His House
Gabriel Vescari arrived at nine the next morning.
Alina knew which man he was before anyone introduced him.
He looked enough like Roman to make the relationship obvious.
Same dark hair.
Same sharp cheekbones.
Same controlled posture.
But Gabriel smiled more.
That should have made him less frightening.
It didn't.
Roman had hidden the flash drive before calling him.
Only Henderson, Alina, and Roman knew what Thomas's recording had said.
Gabriel entered the study carrying two phones and a paper coffee cup.
"You look terrible."
Roman sat behind the desk.
"Good morning to you too."
Gabriel noticed Alina.
His smile became warmer.
"You must be Alina."
She stood.
"How do you know my name?"
Gabriel laughed.
"Because Roman has spent the last month rearranging half our security schedule around a diner waitress."
Roman's expression didn't change.
Alina noticed Gabriel said our security.
Not company security.
Not household security.
Our.
Gabriel offered his hand.
"Gabriel Vescari."
Alina shook it.
His grip was polite.
"Sorry about what happened at Belle's."
"Which part?"
"The drunk."
"The broken window."
His smile faded slightly.
"That too."
Roman leaned back.
"We found three Serrano men at Union Station."
Gabriel's eyes sharpened.
"What were you doing there?"
"Testing something."
"Without telling me?"
"Apparently."
Gabriel stared at Roman.
Something passed between them.
Old hierarchy.
Old resentment.
Then Gabriel smiled again.
"Did the test work?"
"Not yet."
Alina watched his hands.
Waitressing taught you to watch hands.
People lied with their mouths.
Their hands were worse at it.
When Roman mentioned Union Station, Gabriel's left thumb began rubbing the edge of his phone case.
Nervous habit.
Small.
Almost invisible.
Alina filed it away.
Roman continued.
"Serrano knew we were there."
"Someone followed you."
"No."
"Then there's a leak."
"Exactly."
Gabriel stopped rubbing the phone.
Only for half a second.
Alina noticed that too.
Roman did not.
Or pretended not to.
"How many people knew you were going?"
Gabriel asked.
"Four."
"Who?"
Roman smiled faintly.
"If I told you, it would defeat the purpose of the question."
Gabriel's face hardened.
"You're testing me."
"I'm testing everyone."
"After eleven years?"
"Especially after eleven years."
Gabriel stood.
"Fine."
His voice had cooled.
"Do whatever paranoid ritual makes you happy."
He looked at Alina.
"But if Serrano is moving because of her, she shouldn't be here."
Roman stood too.
"Careful."
Gabriel laughed once.
"There it is."
"What?"
"The tone."
"What tone?"
"The one our fathers used whenever somebody questioned them."
Roman said nothing.
Gabriel adjusted his cuff.
"This woman has been in your life for what? A month?"
Alina answered.
"Technically about thirty seconds."
Gabriel almost smiled.
Roman didn't.
Gabriel looked back at his cousin.
"And now we're shifting resources, exposing safe properties, moving people. You don't think that's dangerous?"
"I think Serrano is dangerous."
"So eliminate the problem."
Alina felt cold.
Roman's voice went quiet.
"Explain what you mean."
Gabriel's gaze met his.
"You know exactly what I mean."
The room became still.
Roman walked around the desk.
He stopped directly in front of Gabriel.
"She isn't a problem."
Gabriel held his stare.
Roman continued.
"And if you ever refer to her as one again, we'll have a different conversation."
Gabriel smiled.
"You're proving my point."
He left.
The door closed.
Alina exhaled.
"Family holidays must be incredible."
Roman rubbed his forehead.
"You noticed something."
She blinked.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you've been staring at his hands for five minutes."
Henderson chuckled.
Alina looked impressed despite herself.
"When you mentioned Union Station, he got nervous."
Roman's face sharpened.
"How?"
"He rubs his phone with his thumb."
"That's your evidence?"
"No. It's an observation."
Roman nodded.
"Good distinction."
"He stopped when you said there was a leak."
Roman looked toward the door.
Henderson said, "Thomas suspected Gabriel twelve years ago."
Roman shook his head.
"Gabriel was twenty-three."
"Twenty-three-year-olds can commit murder."
"I know."
Roman walked toward the window.
Alina watched his shoulders.
"You don't want it to be him."
"No."
"Why?"
Roman looked back.
"Because he was my brother before I understood what cousins were."
That silenced her.
Roman continued.
"Our fathers built everything together. Gabriel and I grew up in the same house half the time."
"And if he betrayed you?"
Roman's face became unreadable.
"Then he chose his ending."
That evening, the house lost power.
At first nobody panicked.
The emergency generator should have activated within five seconds.
It didn't.
Roman was standing beside Alina in the upstairs hallway when the lights vanished.
"Don't move."
"Wasn't planning to."
A red emergency light flickered once.
Then died.
Roman pulled her against the wall.
Footsteps sounded downstairs.
Not running.
Moving deliberately.
Roman's phone buzzed.
Marcus.
Perimeter breach.
Roman grabbed Alina's hand.
"Bedroom."
They moved.
A gunshot cracked below.
Alina flinched.
Roman pushed her inside the nearest room.
"Lock it."
"What about you?"
"Lock it."
"No."
His expression flashed with disbelief.
"Alina."
"If somebody got through your fortress, I'm safer near the person who knows what's happening."
Another shot.
Closer.
Roman cursed under his breath.
"Stay behind me."
They moved toward a service staircase.
Smoke began creeping through the lower corridor.
Not fire.
Canisters.
Roman pulled his shirt over his mouth.
Alina did the same.
Two security men appeared below.
"East entrance compromised."
"How?"
"Access code."
Roman's expression changed.
Only senior staff had those codes.
Someone inside had given them away.
They reached the kitchen.
Teresa stood behind the island holding a cast-iron skillet.
Roman stared.
"What exactly are you planning to do with that?"
"Something memorable."
Despite the danger, Alina almost laughed.
Marcus entered through the back hall.
"We need to move."
A burst of gunfire came from outside.
Roman pulled Alina down.
Glass shattered.
Teresa swore loudly in Italian.
Marcus returned fire through the broken doorway.
Alina crawled behind the island.
Her heart hammered.
Then she noticed something.
The intruders weren't pushing toward Roman.
They were moving toward the study.
The flash drive.
"Roman!"
He looked at her.
"They're not here for us."
"What?"
"The study."
Understanding hit him.
He grabbed his phone.
"Jonah, protect the office."
No answer.
Roman's face went pale.
"Jonah?"
Still nothing.
He ran.
Alina followed despite every rational thought telling her not to.
They reached the study.
The safe stood open.
The flash drive was gone.
A security guard lay unconscious nearby.
Alive.
Roman knelt.
"No bullet wound."
Alina saw a syringe on the carpet.
"Drugged."
Roman stood.
His rage was quiet.
That frightened her more than shouting would have.
Henderson appeared in the doorway.
"What happened?"
Roman looked at the empty safe.
"They knew exactly where it was."
Alina's stomach dropped.
"So Gabriel?"
"Maybe."
A phone rang.
Not Roman's.
The unconscious guard's.
Roman picked it up.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Gabriel's voice filled the room on speaker.
"Roman."
Roman didn't breathe.
"Where are you?"
"Warehouse twelve."
"You gave them the access code."
Silence.
Then Gabriel sighed.
"I tried to warn you."
Alina felt cold.
Roman's hand tightened around the phone.
"Why?"
"Because you stopped seeing clearly."
"You attacked my home."
"I didn't authorize the shooting."
"That supposed to help?"
Gabriel's voice hardened.
"Bring the girl to warehouse twelve."
Roman's expression turned lethal.
"No."
"Then Serrano gets the drive."
"He already has it."
"No. I have it."
Everyone stared.
Gabriel continued.
"Serrano doesn't."
"Then what do you want?"
"You."
Roman said nothing.
"You've spent eleven years trying to turn our family into something respectable," Gabriel continued. "Closing businesses. Cutting alliances. Handing profitable territory away."
"That territory destroyed people."
"Our fathers built an empire."
"Our fathers built a prison."
"And you think some waitress is going to save you from it?"
Roman looked at Alina.
"No."
His voice softened.
"She has nothing to do with what I chose."
Gabriel laughed.
"That's what scares me."
Roman's face tightened.
"What do you want?"
"Come alone."
"Not happening."
"Then I send the drive to Serrano."
Gabriel disconnected.
Alina looked at Roman.
"He wants you emotional."
"I am emotional."
"Then don't make the decision now."
Roman stared.
"You sound like your father."
"Apparently everybody knew him except me. I might as well get something out of the experience."
Henderson almost smiled.
Roman paced.
Alina watched him.
"Why would Gabriel steal evidence against Serrano if he's working with Serrano?"
Roman stopped.
She continued.
"It doesn't make sense."
"He could be playing both sides."
"Or he wants something in the files that has nothing to do with Serrano."
Henderson nodded slowly.
"Thomas's recording."
Roman looked at him.
Alina understood.
"Gabriel doesn't know we heard it."
"No," Roman said.
"If he knew Thomas named him..."
"He'd destroy that file first."
Roman took out his phone.
"Then we let him think he succeeded."
"What does that mean?"
Roman looked toward the empty safe.
"It means the drive he stole wasn't Thomas's."
Alina blinked.
Roman reached beneath the desk.
He pressed a concealed latch.
A hidden drawer opened.
Inside lay the real flash drive.
Alina stared at him.
"You switched it."
"Before Gabriel arrived this morning."
Henderson smiled.
"Paranoid."
Roman took the drive.
"Alive."
Alina stepped closer.
"So now what?"
Roman looked at her.
"Now we find out why my cousin just declared war on me."
He opened Thomas's files.
A search bar appeared.
Roman typed GABRIEL VESCARI.
One result.
A scanned payment order.
Twelve years old.
The amount was two hundred thousand dollars.
The recipient was a mechanic named Frederick Lane.
The memo line contained six words.
VEHICLE SERVICE — THOMAS HALE ACCOUNT.
Alina stopped breathing.
Her father's car.
Roman stared at the payment.
Then at the authorization signature.
Gabriel Vescari.
And suddenly the question was no longer whether Gabriel had betrayed Roman.
May you like
The question was whether he had murdered Alina's father.
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