Chapter 14 - The East Bridge
Clara did not tell anyone about the message for thirty seconds.
That was long enough to decide one thing.
She would not obey it exactly.
"I received a text."
Leonardo reached for the phone.
Clara held it away.
"Read from there."
He did.
Dante immediately said, "No."
Clara looked at him.
"I didn't ask."
"They want you alone."
"Which means they expect all of you to follow."
Sofia, who had just arrived at the restaurant, studied the wording.
"If we send Clara visibly alone and track from farther out, they may still make contact."
Leonardo's expression was hard.
"I am not using her as bait."
Clara turned toward him.
"You are not using me at all."
"I am choosing to go."
The distinction silenced him.
At 3:10 a.m., Clara drove herself toward Lower Wacker in a plain rental car.
No visible escort followed.
Leonardo, Dante, Sofia, and Elias stayed several blocks back using separate routes.
Clara hated that she knew they were there.
She also hated how relieved it made her feel.
The lower roadway echoed with tires and distant river traffic.
She parked near the east bridge maintenance entrance and walked toward a metal door marked AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
The door stood slightly open.
Inside, concrete stairs descended toward a service corridor.
Clara entered.
A single light glowed at the bottom.
"Gabriel?"
Her voice echoed.
No answer.
She continued.
The maintenance room was empty except for two chairs and an old utility table.
A phone sat in the center.
It began ringing as she approached.
Clara answered.
"I'm here."
A man's voice said, "Put the ring on the table."
Not Gabriel.
"Where is my husband?"
"The ring first."
Clara looked toward the ceiling.
A small camera had been taped above a pipe.
She slowly removed the ring.
Then she placed it on the table.
"Now you."
The voice laughed softly.
"You have his stubbornness."
"I have my own."
A side door opened.
Victor Sorrento walked in alone.
Clara recognized the crescent mark along his jaw from Nurse Ellen's description.
He was older than she expected.
Elegant.
Calm.
Almost grandfatherly.
That made him more unsettling.
"Mrs. Bennett."
"Mr. Sorrento."
Victor glanced at the ring.
"You have caused a great deal of movement in forty-eight hours."
"I went to work."
"Everyone else caused the movement."
Victor smiled.
"Gabriel always did choose women who underestimated themselves."
Clara's eyes narrowed.
"Women?"
Victor's smile deepened.
"You didn't know about Anna."
Clara refused to react.
"I know enough to recognize a distraction."
Victor studied her with new interest.
"Good."
"He did choose well."
Clara pointed to the second chair.
"Where is Gabriel?"
Victor sat.
"Alive."
"For now?"
"Do not make me sound theatrical."
"I have no interest in hurting Gabriel."
"I need what he took."
"He took records proving you stole from Leonardo."
Victor laughed quietly.
"Is that what Sofia told you?"
"It is incomplete."
"I moved money because Leonardo's father asked me to."
"The accounts funded people, favors, and settlements that kept the legal companies protected."
Clara folded her arms.
"Then why hide it?"
"Because Gabriel wanted clean hands in a family built on dirty history."
"He thought truth could be separated neatly from consequence."
Clara thought of Gabriel's lies.
"He was wrong about neatness."
Victor nodded.
"Exactly."
For one dangerous moment, his argument sounded reasonable.
Then Clara remembered the false hospital records and the debt used to track her.
"Did you steal the trust Gabriel created for me?"
Victor's face did not change.
"I redirected it."
"You bought my debt with my own money."
"I needed to know where the ring was."
"You punished me for three years to watch a piece of jewelry."
"I kept you visible."
"There is a difference."
Clara stared at him.
"Only to the person holding the leash."
Victor's smile faded.
He looked at the ring.
"Bring me the watch."
"I don't have it."
"Leonardo does."
"Not anymore."
For the first time, Victor looked surprised.
Clara noticed.
"You didn't steal it."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"No."
"Then someone else is playing both sides."
A sound came from the corridor.
Victor stood.
"You brought them."
"I came alone."
"Do not insult me."
The side door opened again.
Gabriel stepped into the room.
Clara forgot every prepared sentence.
He looked thinner.
A pale scar crossed his temple.
His hair was longer than she remembered.
But the eyes were the same.
Blue.
Tired.
Terrified of what he saw in her face.
"Clara."
She stared at the man she had buried.
Three years of grief became one impossible second.
Then she walked across the room and slapped him.
The sound echoed off the concrete walls.
Gabriel did not move.
Clara's hand trembled.
"That," she whispered, "was for letting me mourn you."
Her eyes filled.
"And I haven't decided what the next one is for."
Victor quietly stepped backward.
Gabriel looked past Clara toward him.
"You should leave."
Victor smiled.
"Not without the ring."
Gabriel's gaze dropped to the table.
The ring was gone.
Everyone froze.
Clara looked at the empty spot where she had placed it.
Then a voice came through the phone speaker.
May you like
"Thank you for gathering everyone."
Martin Vale's voice.
