Chapter 15 - THE WAR AT HOME
Z
Gabriel did not start the war.
That became important later.
Because newspapers said he did.
Police said rival criminal factions had “escalated hostilities.”
Federal agents called it instability following leadership disruption.
People who had never met Gabriel discussed him like weather.
But I watched it happen.
Dante moved first.
He took warehouses.
Bribed drivers.
Threatened business owners.
Sent men to clubs loyal to Gabriel.
But Gabriel refused to retaliate against families.
No houses.
No wives.
No children.
No hospitals.
Rules.
Dante laughed at them.
“That’s your weakness,” Leo said one night.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You disagree?”
“No.”
Leo poured coffee.
“It’s what makes him think you’re weak.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Good.”
I sat at the kitchen table studying patient charts for work the next day.
That was my life now.
Reviewing medication notes while crime strategy happened six feet away.
“You’re not going out tonight,” Gabriel said.
I kept reading.
“Was that directed at me?”
“Yes.”
“Try again.”
He sighed.
“Would you consider staying here tonight?”
“Why?”
“Dante’s men were seen near your building.”
I closed the chart.
“Then yes.”
Leo looked impressed.
Gabriel looked suspicious.
“What?”
“You agreed.”
“You asked.”
He stared.
“Is that all it takes?”
“Sometimes.”
“This relationship has been unnecessarily difficult.”
I threw a pen at him.
He caught it.
Three nights later, Dante crossed a line.
Benny disappeared.
His diner closed at six.
By seven, he wasn’t answering.
At eight, his car was found behind the restaurant.
Blood on the driver’s door.
Gabriel received a video at 8:17.
Benny tied to a chair.
Alive.
Dante stood behind him.
“Walk away,” Dante said into the camera.
“West side. South docks. Construction contracts.”
He smiled.
“You can keep your little diner.”
Gabriel watched the video twice.
Then turned off the phone.
“No.”
I knew that tone.
“No what?”
“You’re staying here.”
“Gabriel.”
“Norah.”
“Benny is my friend.”
“That is why you stay.”
“You’re going.”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m going.”
“No.”
I stared.
He stared back.
Old Gabriel.
Old Norah.
Same fight.
Then he closed his eyes.
“Fine.”
That surprised me.
“Fine?”
“You come to the command site.”
“Not the rescue?”
“No.”
“That’s a compromise.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sick?”
“Possibly.”
Leo laughed from the doorway.
Gabriel glared.
Benny was being held in an abandoned boxing gym.
Dante chose it for symbolism.
Gabriel had fought there as a teenager.
Before Daniel.
Before power.
Before suits.
Dante wanted Gabriel standing inside the place where he had once been poor and desperate.
He wanted humiliation.
Instead, Gabriel sent Leo through the rear entrance while Samuel coordinated local police from two blocks away.
Yes.
Samuel helped.
No.
Nobody enjoyed the irony.
Gabriel entered through the front.
I watched camera feeds from a van.
My hands shook.
Dante stood in the center ring.
Benny was tied in a corner.
“You came.”
Gabriel stepped through the ropes.
“Obviously.”
“You always did care too much.”
“Only men with nothing call caring weakness.”
Dante laughed.
“There she is.”
“What?”
“The waitress.”
My stomach tightened.
Dante continued.
“She put words in your mouth.”
Gabriel looked almost bored.
“You think Norah changed me?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Pause.
“She reminded me I could.”
That sentence hit me harder than any declaration of love.
Dante’s smile disappeared.
He drew a gun.
Gabriel did not.
“You really became soft.”
“No.”
Gabriel looked toward Benny.
“I became patient.”
The lights went out.
Leo’s team moved.
Dante fired blindly.
Benny dropped sideways with the chair.
Gabriel tackled Dante.
Camera feeds became chaos.
I heard shouting.
Shots.
Then one of our monitors went black.
“Gabriel?”
No answer.
I grabbed the radio.
“Gabriel.”
Static.
Then—
“Alive.”
I almost collapsed.
Police rushed the building.
Dante escaped.
Again.
But Benny was rescued.
He had a broken nose.
Two cracked ribs.
And the emotional reaction of a man whose primary concern was whether his diner still had customers.
“You got kidnapped.”
“Saturday breakfast is busy.”
“You have broken ribs.”
“People like pancakes.”
Gabriel stood beside the hospital bed.
“I’ll cover losses.”
Benny pointed at him.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at me.
I smiled.
“Now you know how I feel.”
The war lasted nine days.
Dante lost men because Gabriel refused to become what Dante expected.
Business owners who once paid Gabriel from fear stayed loyal because he had protected them from Dante.
Men returned because Dante threatened their families.
Even criminals had lines.
By day ten, Dante had almost nothing.
Which made him more dangerous.
He didn’t attack Gabriel.
He attacked me.
Not physically.
Professionally.
An anonymous complaint reached St. Anne’s administration.
Photos.
Gabriel entering my apartment.
Me inside his car.
Me at properties connected to him.
Questions about whether a nurse involved with organized crime could access patient information safely.
I was suspended pending review.
That broke something in me.
Not because I lost money.
Because nursing was mine.
Not Gabriel’s.
Not Rosa’s.
Not Marcus’s.
Mine.
I had studied nights.
Worked double shifts.
Passed boards.
Earned every inch.
Dante tried to contaminate the one thing nobody had given me.
Gabriel found me sitting on my kitchen floor.
He crouched.
“I’ll fix it.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
“No.”
“I can make the complaint disappear.”
“That would prove them right.”
He stopped.
I wiped my face.
“I have to handle this.”
“How?”
“Truth.”
He looked nervous.
“Truth is dangerous.”
“I know.”
I requested a formal hearing.
Disclosed my relationship with Gabriel.
Disclosed threats.
Disclosed the Marcus investigation.
Samuel submitted federal documentation confirming that I had helped expose crimes, not facilitate them.
Three days later, the hospital reinstated me.
No special favor.
No intimidation.
Process.
When I walked out of the hearing, Gabriel waited across the street.
Not inside.
He had listened.
I crossed to him.
“You didn’t interfere.”
“No.”
“Was it painful?”
“Extremely.”
I smiled.
He pulled me close.
Then his phone buzzed.
One message.
From Dante.
A location.
A photo.
Rosa.
Again.
Except this time, she wasn’t tied up.
She stood beside Dante willingly.
I stared.
“What?”
Gabriel’s face went white.
May you like
The message read:
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHO SHE CHOSE.
