Chapter 8 - THE TRADE MATTEO WANTED
Norah read the note once.
Then grabbed her coat.
Gabriel blocked the door.
“No.”
“He wants me.”
“Exactly.”
“He has Leo.”
“I know.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You don’t own me.”
Gabriel’s expression softened by one degree.
“I’m aware.”
“Then move.”
“He doesn’t want you because you’re Leo’s sister.”
“What else would he want?”
Gabriel had already asked himself that question.
If Matteo wanted the flash drive, he would demand it.
If he wanted Gabriel, he would demand Gabriel.
Instead he wanted Norah.
Elias searched the files again.
One legal document stood out.
A dormant family trust.
Beneficiaries required two signatures to activate.
One from a Costa blood relative.
One from the guardian named by Margaret Hayes.
Norah.
She stared at the screen.
“My mother made me guardian?”
“Years ago.”
“I was nineteen.”
“Maybe she knew what might happen.”
The trust held more than money.
Voting shares.
Eleven percent of Costa Enterprises.
Enough to decide control if Gabriel and Matteo ever fought over the board.
Matteo needed Norah’s signature.
Not her death.
Gabriel said:
“That gives us leverage.”
She looked at him.
“It gives Leo time.”
They agreed to the meeting.
Abandoned freight terminal in Brooklyn.
Midnight.
Norah would enter.
Gabriel would remain out of sight.
Matteo stood beneath a single hanging light.
Leo’s wheelchair was beside him.
Norah’s breath broke.
“Leo.”
His eyes moved toward her.
His fingers tapped frantically.
N.
O.
Norah stopped.
Matteo smiled.
“Your brother always was stubborn.”
“Let him go.”
“Sign.”
He placed documents on a crate.
Transfer of voting shares.
Guardianship rights.
Control of Leo’s medical decisions.
Norah stared.
“You want me to give you my brother.”
“I want you to stop pretending you understand this family.”
She picked up the pen.
Leo began tapping harder.
N.
O.
R.
A.
H.
Then:
G.
A.
B.
R.
I.
E.
L.
She looked toward the darkness where Gabriel waited.
Leo tapped again.
R.
U.
N.
Norah’s blood went cold.
Not because Matteo had a weapon.
Because Leo was looking behind her.
A second man emerged from the shadows.
Samuel Pierce.
The lawyer.
He pointed a gun directly at Norah.
Matteo looked surprised.
“Samuel?”
Pierce smiled.
May you like
“You were never the smartest Costa.”
Then he shot Matteo in the chest.
