Chapter 7: The Offer That Wasn't One
Gabriel set the phone face-down on the table.
The room held its breath.
Then he looked at Dov.
"Response?"
"None yet.
He sent it forty seconds ago."
"Don't respond." Gabriel's voice was completely level.
"Not yet."
He walked to the door, opened it, and stepped into the corridor.
I followed him.
At the far end of the hall, through a half-open door, I could see the soft blue light of the tablet screen.
Eli was still asleep.
Noah was curled on his side.
Marcus was sitting upright in the chair nearest the door, awake, watching the corridor with those gray-green eyes.
Gabriel stood very still looking at them.
"He's not getting near them," he said.
Quietly.
Like a statement of physics.
"I know," I said.
He turned back to me.
"I need you to understand what kind of man Vitelli is.
He doesn't make threats he isn't prepared to follow through on.
This message isn't a negotiation opener.
It's a demonstration.
He's telling me he knows where they are.
He's telling me he knows they're here, tonight, right now."
"He has someone inside the gala."
"He has someone inside this building." Gabriel looked at Dov, who had followed us into the corridor.
"Sweep the staff.
Everyone who came on tonight."
"Already started," Dov said.
"What does he actually want?" I asked.
"Not the boys.
He can't actually want the boys.
What's the leverage?"
"He wants me to step back from the Port Authority contract," Gabriel said.
"I've been blocking his access to it for two years.
It's worth approximately three hundred million dollars over ten years.
He's been trying to find a way to make me withdraw my bid." He paused.
"Now he has one."
"He thinks you'll trade a contract for your children's safety."
"He thinks I'll do anything." Gabriel's jaw was tight.
"He's not entirely wrong about the impulse.
He's wrong about what I'll actually do."
I looked at him.
"What will you actually do?"
"I'm going to give him the impression that he's winning.
And while he believes that, I'm going to dismantle everything he's built." He met my eyes.
"But I need you to trust me.
And I need you to stay in this building tonight."
"I'm not leaving my sons."
"Good.
Then we're agreed."
Dov's phone buzzed again.
He looked at it, then at Gabriel.
"Harlan Bates.
He's reached out through an intermediary.
He wants to talk."
Gabriel and I looked at each other.
"The photographer," I said.
"The man who built the original trap," Gabriel said.
"And apparently the man who's now frightened enough to reach out at eleven o'clock on a Friday night." He looked at Dov.
"Set it up.
One hour.
Secure line."
Dov stepped away to make the call.
Gabriel turned back to the window at the end of the corridor.
The city spread out below us, indifferent and glittering.
"I owe you an apology," he said.
Not looking at me.
"Not for tonight.
For five years ago."
"Gabriel—"
"Let me say it." He turned.
"You came to my office with my medication.
You saw something that wasn't what it looked like.
And instead of giving you the chance to ask me about it, I handed you divorce papers three days later because a woman I trusted had handed me a photograph and a story that fit what I was afraid of." He paused.
"I was afraid you were pulling away from me.
I was afraid of losing you first.
And Serena knew that.
She used it."
I looked at him for a long moment.
"What was it?" I said.
"What I saw.
In your office."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Serena had come to tell me she was in love with me.
I had just told her that wasn't something I could return.
She was upset.
She reached for me.
I—" He stopped.
"What you saw lasted approximately four seconds.
I stepped back immediately.
But you were already gone."
Five years.
Two suitcases.
Three heartbeats on an ultrasound screen.
"You should have come after me," I said.
"Yes," he said.
"I should have."
Down the hall, Marcus had gotten up from his chair and was standing in the doorway of the lounge, watching us with those serious gray-green eyes.
"Mom," he called softly.
"Is it still okay?"
I walked to him.
Crouched down.
Smoothed his hair back.
"It's still okay," I said.
"Go back to sleep."
He looked past me at Gabriel.
Gabriel raised one hand in a small wave.
Marcus studied him for a moment, then apparently decided this was acceptable, and went back inside.
When I stood up and turned around, Gabriel was watching me with an expression I hadn't seen on his face in five years.
I didn't let myself feel it yet.
There was still too much in the way.
Dov appeared at the end of the corridor.
"Bates is on the line."
Gabriel straightened.
"Then let's find out what he knows."
He started toward the room, then stopped and looked back at me.
"Come with me," he said.
May you like
"You should hear this."
I followed him.
