Chapter 2 - THE MAID RECOGNIZED THE MAN WHO SUPPLIED THE POISONED STITCHES—THEN GABRIEL DISCOVERED HER MOTHER HAD DIED AFTER TRYING TO EXPOSE HIS OWN FAMILY
Sadi had spent eleven months telling herself her mother's death had been ordinary.
Painful.
Unfair.
But ordinary.
Lung disease.
Kidney failure.
Years of factory exposure.
A lifetime of working too hard for too little.
That was what the doctors said.
That was what Sadi accepted.
Until she saw Tomas Varga on Gabriel Falcone's security footage.
Then every old question came back.
Gabriel had her brought to his study that afternoon.
Not the library.
He had insisted on leaving the medical bed.
Two nurses protested.
Carmine protested louder.
Gabriel ignored everyone.
He wore a sling and looked pale, but the fever had dropped below 100.
Sadi stood across from his desk.
"Sit."
"I'd rather stand."
Gabriel looked at Carmine.
"Does everyone ignore me now?"
"Just her."
"Good to know."
Sadi remained standing.
Gabriel enlarged the security image.
"Tomas Varga."
She nodded.
"Tell me about him."
"He supplied materials to Meridian Garments."
"The factory where your mother worked?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Years."
"What materials?"
"Thread. Dyes. Fabric treatments. Industrial solvents."
"Was he an employee?"
"No. Contractor."
Carmine slid a folder onto the desk.
"Tomas Varga doesn't exist."
Sadi stared.
"What?"
"No driver's license. No tax record. No Social Security history under that name."
"That's impossible."
"Probably an alias."
Gabriel watched her.
"What happened to your mother?"
Sadi stiffened.
"She died."
"I understand that."
His voice softened.
"How?"
"Occupational illness."
"According to whom?"
"The hospital."
"Which hospital?"
"Mercy General."
Carmine looked at Gabriel.
Something passed between them.
Sadi noticed.
"What?"
Neither answered.
"What?"
Gabriel leaned back carefully.
"Mercy General is controlled by the Bellucci Foundation."
"I don't know what that means."
"It means the Bellucci family has funded half its private wing for twenty years."
"Who are they?"
Carmine answered.
"One of Gabriel's rivals."
Sadi's stomach tightened.
"The people who shot him?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Possibly."
"You said rival syndicate."
"I didn't say which."
"So my mother's hospital was connected to the people who tried to kill you?"
"Financially."
"That's not proof."
"No."
Gabriel looked almost pleased.
"What?"
Sadi asked.
"Most people in this house would already be telling me what they think I want to hear."
"I'm not most people in this house."
"I noticed."
Carmine placed another folder down.
"We checked Meridian Garments."
Sadi looked at him.
"Factory closed nine months ago."
"I know."
"Officially because of bankruptcy."
"Yes."
"Unofficially, it was purchased through a shell company before liquidation."
Gabriel opened the folder.
"Owner of that shell company was another shell company."
"And?"
"The final beneficiary was Dr. Julian Mercer."
Sadi stopped breathing.
"The surgeon?"
"Yes."
The room seemed to tilt.
Gabriel continued.
"Mercer bought the factory six months before your mother died."
"Why would a surgeon buy a garment factory?"
"That's what I intend to find out."
Sadi went home that evening for the first time in three days.
Her apartment was small.
Second floor.
Old radiator.
Thin walls.
Her mother's sewing machine still sat beside the window.
Sadi had never moved it.
She ran her fingers over the metal.
Dust.
A spool of pale thread.
A cracked measuring tape.
Then she remembered something.
Her mother had kept everything.
Receipts.
Buttons.
Samples.
Notes.
"Never throw away the mistake until you know why it happened," she used to say.
Sadi opened the machine cabinet.
Nothing.
Then the bottom drawer.
Fabric.
Patterns.
Old scissors.
Beneath them was a biscuit tin.
Inside were dozens of thread samples wrapped around cardboard.
Each labeled.
Supplier.
Batch.
Date.
Sadi's heart began pounding.
Near the bottom was black braided cord.
VARGA INDUSTRIAL.
LOT 77B.
DO NOT USE.
BURNS HANDS.
Sadi stared.
The thread looked exactly like Gabriel's stitches.
She called Carmine.
Not Gabriel.
That felt safer.
He answered immediately.
"What?"
"I found something."
"Where are you?"
"Home."
"Don't touch anything."
"I already touched it."
Carmine sighed.
"Of course you did."
Twenty minutes later, three black SUVs arrived.
Sadi opened the door.
Gabriel stepped out of the second one.
She stared.
"What are you doing here?"
"Apparently ignoring medical advice."
"You were shot three weeks ago."
"I remember."
"You nearly died yesterday."
"I also remember that."
"You shouldn't be walking around."
Carmine looked at her.
"I've been saying that for forty minutes."
Gabriel entered.
Then stopped when he saw the sewing machine.
Sadi handed him the tin.
He didn't touch it.
Carmine photographed everything.
A forensic technician collected the black thread.
Then Sadi noticed an envelope taped beneath the tin.
Her name was written on it.
SADI.
Her mother's handwriting.
Her knees weakened.
She sat.
Gabriel remained standing.
"Open it."
She looked at him.
"I know."
"Sorry."
Sadi tore the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
My Sadi,
If you're reading this, something happened before I could explain.
The new thread is making people sick.
Not just rashes.
Maria lost her baby.
Mrs. Chen's kidneys are failing.
Three men from the night shift collapsed.
Management says it is heat.
It isn't.
Mr. Varga knows.
I saw him moving boxes after midnight.
The boxes were not clothing supplies.
They had hospital labels.
I took photographs.
I gave copies to a man named Anthony Falcone because he came to the factory asking questions about shipments.
If anything happens, find him.
Do not trust Dr. Mercer.
Sadi stopped reading.
Gabriel had gone white.
"What?"
she whispered.
He sat across from her.
"Anthony Falcone was my father."
Silence.
Sadi looked at the letter.
Then at Gabriel.
"Your father knew my mother?"
"Apparently."
"When did he die?"
"Seven years ago."
"How?"
"Heart attack."
Carmine swore softly.
Gabriel's eyes moved to him.
"What?"
Carmine hesitated.
"Anthony's medical records."
"What about them?"
"He died at Mercy General."
Nobody spoke.
Sadi looked down at her mother's warning.
Do not trust Dr. Mercer.
"Who treated your father?"
Gabriel already knew.
His face told her before Carmine checked.
Dr. Julian Mercer.
Gabriel had spent seven years believing his father died naturally.
Now he requested every record.
The results were disturbing.
Anthony Falcone had arrived at Mercy General complaining of chest pain.
He died four hours later.
No autopsy.
Mercer signed the death certificate.
Acute myocardial infarction.
Anthony was fifty-eight.
History of hypertension.
Plausible.
Ordinary.
Except two weeks before his death, Anthony had transferred twenty million dollars into a legal trust.
Beneficiary?
Gabriel.
Purpose listed:
EMPLOYEE MEDICAL COMPENSATION—MERIDIAN EXPOSURE CLAIMS.
The trust disappeared after Anthony died.
Money transferred out.
Authorized by Anthony's younger brother.
Victor Falcone.
Gabriel's uncle.
The man who had helped raise him.
The man currently serving as senior adviser to the Falcone organization.
Carmine stared at the records.
"Boss."
Gabriel said nothing.
"Victor?"
"Don't tell him we know."
"He's family."
Gabriel looked at him.
"So was my father."
Victor arrived at the estate for dinner the next evening.
Sixty-three.
Silver hair.
Elegant suit.
Warm smile.
He kissed Gabriel's cheek.
"You look terrible."
"I feel better."
"I heard some maid saved you."
Gabriel's eyes moved toward Sadi, who was pouring water at the far end of the dining room.
"She noticed something."
Victor looked at her.
For half a second, his smile disappeared.
Sadi saw it.
Then it returned.
"Remarkable."
"Very."
Victor sat.
"Where's Carmine?"
"Handling something."
Victor drank wine.
"You know, your father always said servants see more than executives."
Gabriel became still.
"Did he?"
"Constantly."
Sadi placed Victor's water beside him.
He looked up.
"What's your name?"
"Sadi."
"Last name?"
"Rahman."
The glass in Victor's hand stopped.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Gabriel saw it.
"So you're Elena Rahman's daughter."
Sadi's blood went cold.
She had never told him her mother's name.
Gabriel leaned back.
"Interesting."
Victor realized his mistake.
"Anthony mentioned her years ago."
"Did he?"
"Factory worker. Complaints about chemical exposure."
Sadi asked:
"How did you know I was her daughter?"
Victor smiled.
"Resemblance."
"My mother was Pakistani. There were hundreds of Pakistani women at Meridian."
Silence.
Victor set down his glass.
"Perhaps I remembered the name."
Gabriel's voice became quiet.
"I never told you her name."
Victor looked at him.
For the first time, the warmth disappeared.
"What's this about?"
Gabriel placed a photograph on the table.
Black thread.
Victor stared.
"Recognize it?"
"No."
"Mercer does."
Victor's eyes sharpened.
"You found Mercer?"
Gabriel smiled without warmth.
"I didn't say that."
Victor stood.
Dinner was over.
Everyone knew it.
"You're making a mistake."
Gabriel remained seated.
"Which one?"
"Digging into things your father chose to bury."
"My father created a trust for Meridian workers."
Victor froze.
Sadi watched.
Gabriel continued.
"Twenty million."
No answer.
"Where did it go, Uncle?"
Victor's jaw tightened.
"You don't understand what Anthony was doing."
"Explain."
"He was going to destroy everything."
"By compensating sick workers?"
"By talking."
"About what?"
Victor looked toward Sadi.
Then back at Gabriel.
"You think your empire appeared from clean hands?"
Gabriel's expression didn't change.
"No."
"But you enjoy pretending your father was better than the rest of us."
"I never pretended that."
"He was going to cooperate with federal authorities."
Sadi's heart pounded.
Victor continued.
"Shipping routes. Shell companies. Medical imports. Everything."
"And you stopped him."
Victor said nothing.
Gabriel stood slowly.
"Did you kill my father?"
Victor's face became unreadable.
Then the dining room windows exploded.
Gunfire tore through the room.
Gabriel hit the floor.
Carmine came through the side door firing toward the garden.
Sadi crawled beneath the table.
Victor disappeared through the kitchen entrance.
Within thirty seconds, the shooting stopped.
Gabriel stood.
Blood ran down his cheek from flying glass.
"Victor."
Carmine checked the hallway.
"Gone."
Sadi crawled out.
Then she saw something beneath Victor's abandoned chair.
A phone.
The screen was still illuminated.
One message.
From DR. MERCER.
DID SHE FIND ELENA'S LETTER?
Sadi stared at it.
Gabriel came beside her.
A second message arrived.
IF SHE DID, THE GIRL CANNOT LEAVE THAT HOUSE ALIVE.
Gabriel read it.
His face became terrifyingly calm.
Then he looked at Sadi.
For the first time since she had saved his life, she understood something.
May you like
The poisoned stitches had never been only about Gabriel.
Someone had been waiting years for Elena Rahman's daughter to discover the truth.
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