Chapter 5 - THE DEBT THAT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE PAID
“Then take me to Bellweather House.”
Eleanor was already reaching for her coat when Gabriel stopped her.
“Not until we know what kind of place it is.”
“My niece is there.”
“We have an invoice,” Gabriel replied. “Not proof of where she's being held.”
Eleanor looked at him with exhausted eyes.
“You're asking me to be patient?”
“No. I'm asking you to give me enough time to avoid making her disappear again.”
She wanted to argue.
But the memory of the empty garage returned.
The open door.
The sudden footsteps behind her.
The concrete stairs.
She sat down.
“Then find out.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I will.”
Bellweather House was a converted school building on Chicago's Lower West Side.
Its original brick walls remained, along with a narrow clock tower whose copper roof had turned green.
The building now contained small furnished apartments rented through several private companies.
North Star Home Care leased two units on the third floor.
Vince discovered those details through public property records and the company's own service paperwork.
But he could not confirm whether Molly was inside.
Gabriel refused to send armed men rushing into a building full of ordinary residents.
He had done enough harm by treating every problem as something his organization could solve through force.
Instead, he asked Detective Brennan to verify the address.
Then he summoned Julian Cross.
Julian arrived at the Moretti Freight offices shortly before noon.
He wore a charcoal suit and carried himself with the confidence of a man who had spent fifteen years being indispensable.
He found Gabriel sitting behind his desk.
Simone stood near the windows.
Two senior security officers waited by the door.
Julian surveyed the room.
“This looks cheerful.”
Gabriel didn't smile.
“Sit down.”
Julian remained standing.
“Before we start, the council wants an explanation for yesterday. You embarrassed every family in Chicago.”
“I stopped a wedding.”
“You publicly rejected a woman whose family owes us money.”
“Her family doesn't owe us four hundred and twenty thousand dollars.”
Julian's eyes moved toward Simone.
There was the smallest hesitation.
Then he shrugged.
“Collection accounts are complicated.”
“Not that complicated.”
Gabriel placed the original loan summary on the desk.
“Eighteen thousand dollars.”
Julian looked at the paper.
“The guarantees—”
“Were unsupported.”
“The interest—”
“Was invented.”
Julian's face hardened.
“You're going to let some motel clerk ruin an agreement between families?”
Gabriel stood.
“Her name is Eleanor Shaw.”
Julian sighed.
“Gabriel, I've known you since you were twenty-three. I helped keep this organization together after your father died. I've buried friends for this family.”
“I know.”
“And now you're willing to destroy everything over a frightened woman?”
“No.”
Gabriel walked around the desk.
“I'm willing to discover what you've been doing while I wasn't paying attention.”
For the first time, Julian looked genuinely offended.
“I kept your businesses alive. Do you know how much money we've lost because you insist on cleaning up the family name?”
Gabriel said nothing.
“You closed three profitable operations. You refused contracts other men would have accepted in a heartbeat. The old families think you're weak.”
“Is that what you think?”
Julian looked away.
“I think you inherited an empire and started feeling guilty about owning it.”
The remark hurt because part of it was true.
Gabriel had been trying to move the family toward legitimate transportation contracts.
He had shut down violent collections.
He had also avoided confronting the people who profited from the old methods.
Julian continued.
“The council is meeting tomorrow. They want to reconsider your leadership.”
Gabriel returned to his desk.
“They can.”
Julian looked surprised.
“You're not worried?”
“I am.”
“Then listen to me.”
Julian leaned forward.
“Marry the woman. Bring the Shaw family inside. Stop asking questions about things that happened eight months ago.”
Gabriel studied him.
“And Molly?”
Julian blinked.
“Who?”
“Nathan Shaw's daughter.”
“I don't involve children.”
Gabriel looked at him for a long moment.
“Then you won't object to an investigation.”
Julian smiled thinly.
“Investigate whatever you like.”
He turned toward the door.
Gabriel spoke again.
“Your authority over Moretti funds and security operations is suspended.”
Julian stopped.
Slowly, he turned back.
“You can't do that without the council.”
“I can suspend access to my own companies.”
Julian's voice became quiet.
“Your father trusted me.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“So did I.”
That afternoon, Nathan came to Eleanor's hospital room.
He looked as though he hadn't slept.
He carried Molly's purple backpack.
Eleanor stared at it.
“Where did you find that?”
“At home. It's her spare one.”
Nathan placed it on the bed.
Inside were crayons, a children's library book, and a small yellow sweater.
Eleanor touched the sweater.
Sarah had knitted it two winters earlier.
Molly refused to throw it away even though the sleeves were too short.
Nathan sat beside the bed.
“I need to tell you something.”
Eleanor waited.
“I worked on the sprinklers at Ashland. Julian ordered us to bypass part of the system during renovations.”
“Before the fire?”
Nathan nodded.
Eleanor felt cold.
“Did you know it was dangerous?”
“I knew the building shouldn't have been occupied until the inspection was finished.”
“Then why did you do it?”
Nathan looked down.
“My company was failing. Julian promised a contract that would keep twelve men employed.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Three people died, Nathan.”
“I didn't set the fire.”
“But you helped make it worse.”
He couldn't deny that.
Tears gathered in his eyes.
“Afterward, Julian said the inspectors would blame everything on me. Then the loan company started calling.”
“And you believed him?”
“He had the paperwork. He had men who knew where Molly went to school.”
Eleanor gripped the sweater.
“You should have come to me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“So you let them threaten me instead?”
Nathan covered his face.
“I thought if you married Gabriel, we'd both be safe.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“You thought giving them your sister would save your daughter.”
Nathan began crying.
She wanted to hold him.
He was still the brother who had carried her bicycle home when she broke her arm at twelve.
He was still the man who had stood beside her at their mother's funeral.
But love could not erase what he had done.
“Go home, Nathan,” she said.
He looked devastated.
“Ellie—”
“Find every record you kept from Ashland. Every work order. Every photograph. Bring them to the detective.”
“And Molly?”
Eleanor looked at her niece's sweater.
“We are going to get her back.”
Vince made progress that evening.
The van seen at the cathedral belonged to North Star.
Its driver had used a company fuel card twice after collecting Molly.
One purchase was made near Bellweather House.
The second occurred at a small service garage west of the building.
Vince located the garage's manager, who remembered finding a child's drawing in the vehicle when it came in for cleaning.
The manager hadn't thought much of it.
Children sometimes rode in medical vans.
He gave Vince the drawing.
Gabriel brought it to Eleanor.
The page showed a tall brick building with a green clock tower.
A little girl stood beside a window.
Above her head were three white stars.
At the bottom, written in careful block letters, were five words.
I WANT TO GO HOME.
Eleanor pressed the paper to her lips.
“That's Molly's handwriting.”
Gabriel sat beside her.
“Detective Brennan is checking the building. We may have a way to reach her safely.”
Eleanor nodded.
Then she looked at the window drawn beneath the clock tower.
“Molly always draws what she sees.”
Gabriel followed her finger.
The drawing showed a third-floor window.
A small flowerpot sat on its sill.
“Vince,” Gabriel said into his phone, “check the windows facing the courtyard.”
Forty minutes later, Vince stood across from Bellweather House.
Rain had stopped.
The green clock tower rose against the evening sky.
He counted the windows beneath it.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then he saw a flowerpot.
A small hand appeared behind the glass.
Vince raised his binoculars.
A little girl in a pink sweater stood inside.
Her dark hair was tied back.
She pressed both palms against the window.
Then she looked toward the courtyard and mouthed two words.
Vince couldn't hear them.
But he understood.
Help me.
He immediately called Gabriel.
“Boss, I found her.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Is she safe?”
“She's standing. She's looking out the window.”
“Don't frighten her. Brennan is arranging the next step.”
Vince watched the girl again.
A woman appeared behind Molly and gently pulled her away from the glass.
The curtain closed.
May you like
Vince lowered his binoculars.
“Gabriel,” he said, “there's someone else in that apartment.”
