Chương 9
“Yes,” she said.
Vincent looked at her.
“Elena, I don’t think—”
“I didn’t ask what you think.”
The edge in her voice surprised him.
It surprised her too.
He glanced at Adrian.
Adrian said nothing.
For once, he let Elena’s answer stand without adding force to it.
Vincent accepted the call and put it on speaker.
“Gabriel.”
A faint rush of traffic came through the phone.
Then a man’s voice said, “You took your time.”
Elena’s knees weakened.
The voice had changed.
Age had roughened it.
Cigarettes, maybe.
But there were sounds a person carried unchanged through decades, certain rhythms of impatience, certain ways of swallowing consonants.
Gabriel had always made everyone’s name sound like a complaint.
Vincent said, “Where are you?”
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You people get nervous fast.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Christmas Eve, nineteen years earlier.
Her father cutting roast pork in the kitchen.
Gabriel sitting at the table with a beer, complaining that the Yankees had ruined baseball by spending too much money.
Her mother telling him he complained about everything he couldn’t afford.
Gabriel laughing then too.
The same short, dry sound.
Elena opened her eyes.
“Uncle Gabriel.”
Silence came through the phone.
Vincent turned toward her.
Madison covered her mouth again.
Adrian’s attention fixed on the device.
Traffic hissed in the background.
Then Gabriel said, “Who is that?”
Elena almost admired the lie.
“You know.”
Another pause.
“Elena?”
Her stomach turned.
“You’re alive.”
Gabriel exhaled.
“I assumed you knew that.”
“You assumed wrong.”
“I heard you moved.”
“Eleven years ago.”
“Yeah.”
Nothing in his voice resembled remorse.
Elena felt anger give her balance.
“Did you take my mother’s money?”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Gabriel did not answer immediately.
When he finally spoke, the casualness had disappeared.
“You’re with Moretti?”
“I’m with several of them.”
“That wedding.”
Vincent snapped, “How do you know where we are?”
Gabriel laughed again.
“You sent me the venue yesterday.”
Vincent’s face changed.
Madison stared at him.
Adrian looked slowly toward his brother.
“You contacted him yesterday?”
Vincent said, “Not now.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You contacted him before the wedding?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Gabriel said through the phone, “Vinny, I told you not to call me unless the account moved.”
Madison recoiled.
Adrian’s jaw hardened.
Elena stared at Vincent.
“The account.”
Vincent’s face turned pale.
Gabriel continued, unaware or uncaring that he was being heard by half a ballroom.
“If your lawyer finally cleared the second release, say so.”
Vincent reached toward the phone.
Elena caught his wrist.
It was the first time she touched him.
He froze.
“Leave it.”
He looked at her hand.
Then at her face.
She released him.
Gabriel said, “Hello?”
Elena leaned toward the phone.
“What second release?”
Silence.
Then, “Who has me on speaker?”
“I do.”
“Elena, listen.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You listen.”
The old familiarity of speaking to him made her anger uglier.
“You disappeared after stealing from my mother.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“You used my dead father’s name.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand signatures.”
“It wasn’t stealing.”
Elena laughed.
“What would you call it?”
“A settlement.”
“For you?”
“For the family.”
“My mother was the family.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Your mother was dead.”
The sentence landed with such cruelty that Adrian took a step toward the phone as if Gabriel were physically present.
Elena’s face went numb.
Gabriel continued.
“There were bills.”
“You didn’t pay them.”
“I had debts.”
“Those were your debts.”
“I was trying to keep people off me.”
“And you used Dad’s identity.”
“You think I wanted to?”
“Yes.”
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
Her voice shook now.
“I think you wanted money.”
Gabriel went quiet.
In that silence, she heard the truth more clearly than any confession.
Madison looked at Vincent.
“How much did he ask for this time?”
Vincent did not answer.
Gabriel said, “Who is that?”
Madison leaned toward the phone.
“The woman Vincent was supposed to marry today.”
Gabriel whistled softly.
“Supposed to?”
Vincent said, “Madison.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
Her hands had stopped shaking.
That frightened Vincent more than the tears had.
Madison removed the engagement ring and held it in her palm.
He stared at it.
“Don’t do this here.”
She gave him a tired look.
“You keep saying that.”
“Maddie.”
“Don’t.”
He lowered his voice.
“We can talk.”
“We have been talking.”
“Privately.”
“You had a private year.”
The ring caught the chandelier light between her fingers.
“You had months to tell me what this was.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Vincent looked toward the guests.
Madison followed his gaze.
“Embarrassment?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
He said nothing.
Her voice softened.
“Were you going to pay him?”
The question changed Vincent’s face.
Elena saw the answer before he gave it.
Madison did too.
“Oh my God.”
Vincent shook his head.
“I was trying to close the matter.”
“With my money?” Elena asked.
“No.”
“Whose?”
“The company’s.”
Adrian said, “Which becomes my problem.”
Vincent looked at him.
“You weren’t supposed to be involved.”
Adrian’s mouth tightened.
“That explains a lot.”
Vincent glanced toward Elena.
“I wanted Gabriel to sign a final waiver.”
Gabriel’s voice came through the phone.
“And I told you the number.”
Elena turned toward the device.
“What number?”
Gabriel answered before Vincent could stop him.
“Two fifty.”
A few guests murmured.
Vincent picked up the phone.
“Gabriel, shut up.”
“No, you shut up.”
The older man’s voice sharpened.
“You people sat on that money for a decade.”
“It wasn’t yours.”
“You paid me before.”
“Because you committed fraud.”
“And your father signed it.”
Adrian went still.
Vincent said, “Don’t bring him into this.”
Gabriel laughed.
“He brought himself into it.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian’s eyes remained on Vincent.
“Ask him.”
Elena did.
Gabriel waited a beat.
Then he said, “Your precious Moretti senior knew exactly who I was.”
The ballroom seemed to become airless.
Vincent whispered, “You lying son of a bitch.”
May you like
Gabriel ignored him.
“Elena, your father and Carlo Moretti knew each other.”
