Chapter 3 - No More Deals
At 8:12 the next morning, Rose found Gabriel asleep at the kitchen table.
Files surrounded him.
She noticed photographs.
Shipping manifests.
Bank transfers.
Her father’s name.
“What is all this?”
Gabriel opened his eyes instantly.
“Good morning.”
“Don’t ‘good morning’ me.”
She picked up a document.
“What did my father do?”
Gabriel stood.
“Rose.”
“Tell me.”
“Richard didn’t owe me because of gambling alone.”
Her fingers tightened.
“What?”
“He was moving cargo through Vain Shipping without declaring it.”
“For you?”
“No.”
“Then for who?”
“A rival organization.”
Rose went silent.
Gabriel continued.
“When the arrangement was proposed, I thought your father wanted his debt cleared.”
“He didn’t?”
“He wanted protection.”
“From you?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“From them.”
Rose dropped the paper.
“So the wedding…”
“Was supposed to place Vain Shipping under my protection.”
“And me?”
“Collateral.”
Rose looked away.
Gabriel’s voice softened.
“I didn’t know the full story.”
“But you still agreed to marry a woman who didn’t want you.”
“Yes.”
That answer was immediate.
No excuse.
Rose looked back.
“Why admit that?”
“Because it was wrong.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Finally Rose asked, “What happens now?”
“We find proof.”
“We?”
“You can leave.”
“No.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
Rose picked up another ledger.
“My father traded my life to cover his crimes.”
Her expression hardened.
“I want the truth.”
Gabriel studied her.
“Then sit down.”
They worked for four hours.
Rose noticed something strange.
Gabriel asked questions.
He listened.
He never ordered her once.
Finally she pointed to a manifest.
“This container number.”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“What about it?”
“My father used to make me organize company records during college summers. Container numbers beginning with VA-9 were never commercial freight.”
“What were they?”
“Private consignments.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“Where are those records kept?”
Rose answered immediately.
“My father’s old office.”
---
That evening, Rose stood outside Vain Shipping headquarters.
Gabriel glanced at her.
“You sure?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She frowned.
“Good?”
“Only idiots aren’t afraid.”
Rose almost smiled.
“Comforting.”
They entered through a side door.
Her old access code still worked.
Inside Richard’s office, Rose opened a hidden cabinet behind an architectural drawing.
Gabriel looked impressed.
“You knew about that?”
“I used to hide Christmas presents in here.”
She pulled out several ledgers.
Then stopped.
A photograph lay beneath them.
Rose picked it up.
Her mother.
Standing beside a younger Gabriel.
Rose looked between them.
“What the hell is this?”
Gabriel went still.
“I’ve never seen that photograph.”
Rose turned it over.
One sentence was written on the back.
If anything happens to me, Gabriel Moretti knows why.
Rose whispered, “My mother wrote this.”
Then the office lights came on.
Richard stood in the doorway.
May you like
“You should have gotten on the bus.”
---
