Chapter 15 - TABLE 7Chaos erupted.
Gabriel pulled Chloe behind him.
Lena fired toward the corridor.
Elise dragged Daniel from the bed.
Beatrice remained perfectly still.
Then she raised her hands.
Chloe understood.
Beatrice was signing to everyone.
Wait.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Ma?”
Beatrice pointed toward the ceiling.
A red light blinked.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Then the entire building shook.
An explosion ripped through the corridor.
Dust filled the room.
Gabriel grabbed Chloe.
“Move!”
They escaped through a maintenance tunnel and emerged beneath the old cemetery.
Rain poured across the graves.
Chloe ran toward Leo's.
Gabriel followed.
“What are we looking for?”
“My mother's final file.”
They reached the stone.
Nothing.
Chloe knelt.
Then she noticed something.
A small metal plate beneath the flowers.
11:47.
She removed it.
A box emerged from the soil.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a letter.
Chloe opened it.
The letter contained one final line.
He will come for this.
Don't let him take it.
A shadow appeared behind them.
Gabriel turned.
Luca stood with a gun.
“You finally found it.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
Luca smiled.
“You don't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“The old man in the hospital wasn't your father.”
Gabriel froze.
Luca continued.
“Your father died fifteen years ago.”
Chloe stared.
“Then who was he?”
Luca laughed.
“A decoy.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“Where is the real one?”
Luca pointed behind Chloe.
“There.”
Chloe turned.
A man stood beneath the cemetery gate.
Older.
White-haired.
Holding an umbrella.
Gabriel stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
The man smiled.
Then he looked directly at Chloe.
“You look exactly like your mother.”
Beatrice stepped forward.
Her hands moved.
Chloe translated automatically.
She is not the one you think she is.
The old man smiled.
“I know.”
He removed his glove.
On his wrist was a scar.
The same scar Leo had described.
The same one from the last recording.
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
“Who is he?”
Gabriel couldn't answer.
The old man did.
“I am not Gabriel's father.”
He looked at Chloe.
“I am his brother.”
Silence.
Gabriel stared.
“That is impossible.”
The old man smiled.
“Your father had two sons.”
He pointed at Gabriel.
“You.”
Then himself.
“And me.”
Chloe's grip tightened around the flash drive.
“Why did Leo know you?”
The man's expression changed.
“Because Leo discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
He looked at Beatrice.
She closed her eyes.
Then he said the words that made everyone freeze.
“Gabriel Costello is not a Costello.”
Gabriel staggered backward.
“What?”
The old man smiled.
“Your father stole your identity.”
Chloe looked at Gabriel.
The rain came down harder.
For the first time since she had met him, Gabriel looked completely lost.
The man stepped closer.
“Your real name…”
He paused.
“…is Gabriel Bennett.”
Chloe's face went white.
Beatrice covered her mouth.
Elise stepped backward.
And somewhere behind them, a phone began ringing.
Gabriel slowly turned toward the sound.
The caller ID displayed one name.
LEO.
The phone rang again.
And again.
Chloe whispered:
“Leo is dead.”
Gabriel stared at the screen.
“No.”
The phone stopped.
A message appeared.
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU.
Then another.
TABLE 7.
The same table where Chloe had first spoken to Beatrice.
The same table where Gabriel had first looked at his mother's hands.
The same table where everything had started.
And now, somewhere inside Il Canto…
A man who should have been dead for eighteen years was waiting for them.
The screen went black.
Then a final message appeared.
COME ALONE, GABRIEL.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
For one terrible second, neither of them spoke.
Then he said:
“I think my brother just invited me to dinner.”
Chloe stared at him.
“No.”
She tightened her grip on the flash drive.
“He invited all of us.”
And in the distance, the clock tower struck midnight.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
But when it reached twelve…
A single light turned on inside Table 7.
May you like
And someone was sitting there.
Waiting.
