Chapter 8 - The Bait
The silence in the penthouse was suffocating.
Gabriel took the bloody folder from Elias and threw it onto the glass coffee table.
"Lock down the entire building," Gabriel commanded.
"No one gets in or out without my personal authorization."
Harper stared at the folder in absolute shock.
She was just a maid from Dorchester.
Now she was the most valuable target in the entire city.
"Why would the Irish mob care about me?" Harper asked in desperate confusion.
"Because they know you are my weakness," Gabriel answered honestly.
The confession hung in the air, heavy and undeniable.
Gabriel began pacing the floor, formulating a war strategy in his mind.
"We stay here until I can rally the Five Families and crush the O'Connors," Gabriel decided.
Harper shook her head fiercely.
"No," Harper stated with absolute conviction.
"If we wait here, they will eventually breach the walls and hurt Noah."
Gabriel stopped pacing and looked at her.
"What are you suggesting?" he asked.
"I know Derek better than anyone," Harper explained.
"He is arrogant, obsessed, and incredibly impatient."
She looked directly into Gabriel's dangerous eyes.
"We use me as bait to draw him out into the open."
Gabriel furiously slammed his fist against the marble wall.
"Absolutely not!" Gabriel roared, his protective instincts taking over completely.
"I will not put you in the crosshairs of a madman!"
"You said you wanted to dismantle him," Harper challenged, stepping closer.
"This is the only way to end it tonight."
Gabriel stared at her fierce, unbroken spirit and finally nodded in reluctant agreement.
They spent the next hour orchestrating the perfect ambush.
They chose the abandoned St. Patrick's Cathedral on the edge of the city.
It was a neutral ground, isolated and easily defensible.
Harper stood alone in the center of the massive, empty nave.
The moonlight filtered through the shattered stained-glass windows.
Gabriel and twenty of his best shooters were hidden perfectly in the shadows of the choir loft.
Harper held her breath as the heavy wooden doors of the church slowly creaked open.
Heavy combat boots echoed ominously on the stone floor.
But it was not Derek Lawson who stepped into the moonlight.
It was a heavily armed police SWAT team.
Dozens of red laser sights instantly painted Harper's chest.
"Drop your weapons and surrender!" a voice boomed through a megaphone.
May you like
Derek had not come to kill her.
He had sent the entire Boston Police Department to execute her.
