Chapter 11 - THE LAST TEN SECONDS“Gabriel!”
Chloe dropped beside him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Beatrice screamed silently.
Lena grabbed Chloe.
“Move!”
Another bullet struck the concrete beside them.
Chloe dragged Gabriel behind a crate.
“You're okay.”
Gabriel grimaced.
“That's a terrible lie.”
“You're not dying.”
“That's better.”
He reached inside his jacket.
A bulletproof vest.
The shot had hit it.
Gabriel exhaled.
His father shouted from above.
“Leave him.”
No one moved.
“Five seconds,” the older man said.
Luca stepped toward the stairs.
“Don't.”
Beatrice stood.
She raised her hands.
Everyone looked at her.
She signed.
I have the ledger.
Gabriel's father froze.
Luca looked at him.
“What ledger?”
Beatrice smiled.
For the first time, Chloe understood why men had once feared this tiny old woman.
She wasn't helpless.
She had been waiting.
Gabriel whispered:
“Ma, what are you doing?”
Beatrice signed:
Buying us time.
Then she pointed at Chloe.
And signed:
Run.
Chloe grabbed Gabriel.
They moved.
Lena fired at a light.
Darkness swallowed the warehouse.
Gunshots erupted everywhere.
Crates splintered.
Men shouted.
Gabriel pulled Chloe through a side door.
They reached the loading dock.
A car waited.
The driver was dead.
“No,” Gabriel said.
Chloe looked behind them.
Luca was running toward them.
“Get in!”
They jumped into a second vehicle.
Gabriel started the engine.
As they sped away, Chloe looked back.
Beatrice was still inside.
“Your mother!”
Gabriel hit the brakes.
Chloe grabbed his arm.
“No!”
“She'll die.”
A phone rang.
Gabriel answered.
His father's voice came through.
“You have ten seconds.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“Ten.”
Chloe's heart pounded.
“Nine.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Eight.”
Then Beatrice's voice came through.
Not Gabriel's mother.
A recording.
Leo.
“If you are hearing this, the woman beside you is the reason my death was necessary.”
Gabriel froze.
Leo continued.
“Gabriel, don't save her.”
A pause.
“Protect her.”
The recording ended.
Gabriel stared at Chloe.
May you like
And Chloe realized the message was not meant for her.
It had been meant for him.
