Chapter 1 - THE BILL SHE COULDN'T PAY
Gabriel had expected debt.
He had expected blackmail.
He had even expected Norah to admit she had stolen from him.
He had not expected her younger brother.
“Leo has been in a long-term care facility in Queens for three years,” Norah said. “The insurance covered the first year. Then they started rejecting things. Therapy. Respiratory care. Night nursing.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“How much?”
Norah laughed once.
It was not a happy sound.
“You think that matters?”
“Yes.”
“To you, maybe.”
“How much?”
She finally looked at him.
“Fourteen thousand a month.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Norah continued.
“I sold my furniture. Then my jewelry. Then I gave up my apartment. I thought I’d sleep in the car for one month, catch up, and find somewhere cheap.”
“Twenty-one nights.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you ask for an advance?”
Her face changed.
“Because I work for you.”
“That makes absolutely no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.”
She stepped closer.
“Everyone who comes through your office wants something. Money. Protection. Favors. Access. I refuse to become one more person standing in front of Gabriel Costa with my hand out.”
For the first time in years, Gabriel had no immediate answer.
Then he noticed something on the desk.
A white envelope had fallen from Norah’s notepad.
He picked it up.
She moved faster than he expected.
“Give me that.”
Gabriel looked at the return address.
Mercy Ridge Rehabilitation Center.
Then the red lettering beneath it.
FINAL NOTICE.
He opened it.
Norah’s eyes filled with humiliation.
“Don’t.”
Gabriel read the amount due.
$42,870.
But that was not what made him stop.
At the bottom was a scheduled transfer order.
Leo Hayes was being moved in forty-eight hours.
Destination:
St. Matthew’s State Care Facility.
Gabriel knew the place.
Everyone in New York’s criminal world knew it.
It was overcrowded, understaffed, and infamous for patients disappearing into forgotten wards.
“They’re transferring him?”
Norah turned away.
“I can’t stop it.”
Gabriel read the letter again.
Then his eyes narrowed.
The drunk driver who had put Leo in that wheelchair was listed in the attached legal case summary.
Gabriel knew the name.
Anthony Vale.
He looked at Norah.
“When did you say the accident happened?”
“Three years ago.”
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“Anthony Vale worked for my father.”
Norah froze.
“What?”
Gabriel stared at the page.
May you like
Anthony Vale had disappeared from Costa records three days after Leo’s accident.
And suddenly Gabriel no longer believed Leo Hayes had been hit by a random drunk driver.
