Chapter 22
The transition from a glittering gala to a fortified war room took less than an hour. The celebration was abruptly cut short, the guests politely ushered out by a small army of security personnel, and the executive floor of the shipping company was placed on high alert.
Inside Gabriel’s massive corner office, the lights were dimmed. Rachel sat at the large conference table, her midnight-blue gown looking wildly out of place amidst the spread of shipping manifests, financial ledgers, and security schematics. She had kicked off her high heels, her bare feet resting on the plush carpet as her eyes darted furiously across a spreadsheet on her glowing laptop screen.
Gabriel paced the length of the room, his tuxedo jacket discarded on a leather chair, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was on the phone with his underground contacts, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.
"I don't care if she's been off the grid for two years," Gabriel barked into the phone. "Vanessa Bellini doesn't have the resources to hire ghost couriers and breach my corporate perimeter without backing. Find out who is funding her. Now."
He hung up, tossing the phone onto the desk. He walked over to Rachel, resting his heavy hands on her bare shoulders, massaging the deep tension knotting her muscles.
"Anything?" Gabriel asked softly, leaning down to look at her screen.
"I've been auditing the acquisition reports for the last three quarters," Rachel said, her brow furrowed in intense concentration. "When Vanessa left, her family’s assets were supposed to be liquidated. But there is a massive discrepancy in the holding accounts for the South Side warehouses. Over forty million dollars moved through a labyrinth of shell companies based in Eastern Europe."
"Eastern Europe?" Gabriel straightened up, his slate-gray eyes narrowing. "The Bellinis never had contacts that far east. They were strictly local operators."
"They do now," Rachel pulled up a heavily encrypted corporate registry file she had managed to bypass using the skills Gabriel had taught her. She pointed to a holding company named Ironclad Logistics. "This company has been quietly buying up the commercial real estate surrounding our primary shipping hubs. They aren't trying to outbid us, Gabriel. They are trying to box us in."
Bruno knocked heavily on the glass door before stepping inside. "Boss. We just got a ping on the facial recognition software from the perimeter cameras outside Lily’s private school."
Rachel’s blood turned to ice. She shot up from her chair, her chair skidding backward on the carpet. "Lily? Is she safe?"
"She’s secure, Mrs. Moretti," Bruno assured her instantly, holding up his hands. "She is currently asleep in her bed at the estate. Four guards are stationed outside her door. But the cameras caught a vehicle idling across the street from the school academy this afternoon. The driver didn't get out, but the plate traces back to a rental agency funded by Ironclad Logistics."
Gabriel’s face went entirely blank. It was a terrifying absence of emotion that Rachel knew meant he had crossed a psychological line. When Gabriel got angry, he shouted. When Gabriel went silent, someone was going to die.
"They are tracking my daughter," Gabriel whispered, the words echoing in the silent office.
"Vanessa is trying to bait you, Gabriel," Rachel said, stepping forward to grab his arm, feeling the rigid, coiled tension in his muscles. "She sent the carnation to let us know she’s here. She parked a car outside Lily's school to make you panic. She wants you to revert to the man you were two years ago. She wants a street war."
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"If she wants a street war, I will paint the avenues with her blood," Gabriel replied, his voice devoid of all warmth.
"No," Rachel said, her voice firm and absolute. She stepped squarely in front of him, forcing him to look at her. "We are not throwing away two years of legitimate peace to play her game. We are going to destroy her our way. With the ledgers, with the courts, and with absolute precision. She wants a mafia boss. We are going to give her a corporate execution."
