Chapter 4 - The Spider's Web
The flashing red and blue lights of the police cruisers painted the restaurant windows in a frantic rhythm.
Tessa sat in the cold metal chair of the restaurant's private office, her hands wrapped around a cup of black coffee.
The police were outside, but they were not in charge of this interrogation.
Gabriel paced back and forth across the small room, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked bruised.
"Richard worked for my family for fifteen years," Gabriel said, his voice dangerously low.
"He was a coward, but he was a loyal coward."
Tessa stared at her reflection in the dark coffee, trying to stop her hands from shaking.
"Someone forced him to poison the salt, and then killed him to cover their tracks."
Gabriel stopped pacing and slammed his hands onto the desk, leaning down until he was inches from her face.
"And how is it that you, a random waitress, managed to step perfectly into the middle of a mafia hit?"
"I didn't ask for this," Tessa fired back, finally finding her anger.
"Your manager forced me to take your table."
Gabriel stared into her eyes, searching for a lie, searching for any crack in her defense.
He slowly backed away, running a frustrated hand through his dark hair.
"My father wants you dead."
"He thinks you are the bait that distracted us while the real assassin moved in the kitchen."
"What do you think?" Tessa asked, holding her breath.
Gabriel looked at her with that same intense, calculating stare he had used on her for months.
"I think you are a ghost who suddenly decided to become solid."
He walked over to the door and locked the deadbolt with a loud click.
"The police outside are on my payroll."
"They will report that you were an innocent bystander who went home hours ago."
"Why are you helping me?" Tessa asked, deeply suspicious of his mercy.
"Because the man who slit Richard's throat left a calling card."
Gabriel reached into his pocket and tossed a small, blood-soaked object onto the desk.
It was a silver coin, deeply tarnished, with the crest of a wolf carved into the metal.
Tessa gasped, stepping back so fast her chair tipped over and crashed to the floor.
She had seen that exact coin a hundred times before.
It used to sit on the nightstand of her old neighbor, Mr. Cosenza.
Gabriel watched her reaction closely, his eyes narrowing into deadly slits.
May you like
"Pack your things, Tessa."
"You are coming to live at my compound, because you are going to tell me exactly how you know the seal of the Lupatti syndicate."
