Chapter 6 - One Minute Before Midnight
A laptop sat open on the poker table.
The screen displayed encrypted banking portals and transfer instructions.
Gabriel shoved Tessa into a chair.
“Move the money.”
Tessa placed her hands on the keyboard.
“How much?”
“Thirty-two million.”
“You stole twenty-eight.”
“Interest.”
Victor stood across the room between two armed guards.
Blood had soaked the shoulder of his shirt.
Liam struggled against the ropes.
“Tessa, don’t do it.”
Gabriel struck him across the face.
Victor stepped forward.
Both guards raised their weapons.
Gabriel smiled. “You have become sentimental, Victor.”
“You have become careless.”
“I built half your empire.”
“And stole the other half.”
“I deserved more than standing behind you.”
“You could have asked.”
Gabriel’s expression twisted. “Men like you never give away power.”
“No,” Victor said. “Men like you never understand responsibility.”
Gabriel aimed at Victor.
Tessa began typing.
She opened the first offshore account, then the second.
Gabriel watched over her shoulder.
“Faster.”
“The transfers require authorization keys.”
“You have them.”
“They are in the ledger.”
Gabriel placed the ledger beside the laptop.
Tessa found the codes.
What Gabriel did not realize was that she had already memorized the payment structure. Every account used mirrored routing numbers.
She entered one digit incorrectly in each transfer.
The bank system rejected the first request.
Gabriel grabbed her hair.
“What did you do?”
“The code is outdated.”
“Try another.”
Tessa entered a second transfer.
Rejected.
Victor watched her carefully.
He understood she was delaying.
Gabriel checked the wall clock.
Eleven fifty-nine.
“You have sixty seconds,” he said. “Then I shoot your brother.”
Liam looked at Tessa.
For the first time, he did not beg her to save him.
“Don’t give him anything,” he said.
Tessa’s eyes filled.
Gabriel placed the gun against Liam’s temple.
“Forty-five seconds.”
Tessa entered the final account.
This time, the screen displayed TRANSFER PENDING.
Gabriel smiled.
“Authorization phrase.”
Tessa looked at Victor.
He gave the smallest possible nod.
She typed: DANCE WITH ME.
The laptop screen froze.
Then every light in the casino went out.
Gabriel cursed.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Victor moved.
He struck the first guard with his uninjured arm and took the man’s weapon.
Tessa dropped beneath the table as gunfire exploded across the room.
Liam threw himself sideways, knocking his chair into Gabriel’s knees.
Gabriel fired into the ceiling.
Victor shot the second guard in the leg.
A siren sounded outside.
Detective Ellis’s voice boomed through a loudspeaker.
“Gabriel Costa, the building is surrounded!”
Gabriel grabbed Tessa and pulled her upright.
He pressed the gun beneath her jaw.
Victor stopped.
“Put it down,” Gabriel said.
Victor lowered his weapon slightly.
“Let her go.”
“You surrendered an empire for a waitress.”
“No,” Victor said. “You destroyed it for money.”
Gabriel dragged Tessa toward the rear exit.
Liam worked one hand free from the ropes.
Tessa saw it.
She kept Gabriel’s attention on Victor.
“You never intended to kill Liam over fifty thousand dollars,” she said.
Gabriel laughed. “Your brother was useful. His account helped move money.”
“You rigged the games.”
“Of course.”
“You selected desperate people, gave them loans, then forced them to gamble at Rourke’s tables.”
“Poor people always believe the next hand will save them.”
Liam’s face hardened.
Tessa continued. “And Arthur Pendleton?”
“A coward with access to city contracts.”
“And the gala attack?”
“A performance. Unfortunately, Victor survived.”
Behind Gabriel, Liam stood silently.
He lifted the broken chair leg.
Gabriel sensed movement and turned.
Liam struck his wrist.
The gun fell.
Tessa drove her elbow into Gabriel’s ribs and dropped away.
Victor crossed the room in two strides and hit Gabriel hard enough to send him across the poker table.
Gabriel reached for the gun.
Victor reached it first.
He aimed at Gabriel’s chest.
Gabriel laughed through bloodied teeth.
“Do it.”
Victor’s finger rested on the trigger.
Tessa stepped beside him.
“Don’t.”
“He tried to kill you.”
“I know.”
“He will never stop.”
“Then let him spend the rest of his life knowing you chose not to become him.”
Police smashed through the doors.
Detective Ellis entered with a tactical team.
Victor slowly lowered the weapon.
Gabriel stared at him in disbelief.
Ellis handcuffed Gabriel.
“You are under arrest for conspiracy, attempted murder, racketeering, financial fraud, and enough additional charges to keep several prosecutors employed.”
Gabriel looked at Tessa.
“You think you won?”
She glanced at the laptop.
The pending transfer had triggered an automatic fraud report and transmitted the account records to federal investigators.
“Yes,” she said. “I do.”
Liam approached her unsteadily.
“Tess—”
She held up a hand.
“Not yet.”
He stopped.
Victor swayed beside her.
Tessa caught his arm.
“You need a hospital.”
“I dislike hospitals.”
“You were shot.”
“I remain aware.”
She placed his arm around her shoulders.
Detective Ellis watched them.
“Mr. Moretti,” she said, “we still need to discuss your organization.”
May you like
Victor looked at Gabriel being taken away.
“Yes,” he said. “We do.”
