Chapter 7 - The Halsted Street Chapel
The chapel had been abandoned for twelve years.
Its stained-glass windows were broken.
Its bell tower leaned toward the street.
Victor entered through the front doors carrying the flash drive.
Lily walked beside him.
Marco and six men positioned themselves in nearby buildings.
Gabriel had demanded Victor come alone.
Victor rarely followed demands.
Inside, candles burned along the altar.
Someone had cleaned a narrow path through the dust.
Gabriel stood beneath a wooden crucifix.
He was sixty-two years old, silver-haired and elegantly dressed.
Two men held Dr. Marino near the altar.
The doctor’s face was bruised.
Ethan was nowhere in sight.
Victor stopped in the center aisle.
“Where is my son?”
Gabriel smiled.
“You look like your father when you are frightened.”
“I am not frightened.”
“You should be.”
Lily searched the shadows.
No movement.
No sound from Ethan.
Gabriel’s eyes settled on her.
“Lillian Harper.”
She raised her chin.
“Your brother was remarkably stubborn.”
“You murdered him.”
“He murdered himself when he chose principle over survival.”
“Where is Ethan?”
Gabriel looked at Victor.
“She speaks to you like an equal.”
“She speaks the truth.”
“Truth.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Your wife was obsessed with truth. It made her exhausting.”
Victor’s voice became quiet.
“You ordered her death.”
“I ordered the removal of a liability.”
Lily felt Victor’s rage moving through the room.
Gabriel seemed to enjoy it.
“Elena discovered financial arrangements that existed long before you inherited the organization.”
“You betrayed my father.”
“Your father understood necessity.”
“He would have killed you.”
“Perhaps. But he died before learning the truth.”
Victor held up the case.
“The drive for my son.”
Gabriel nodded toward one of his men.
A door beside the altar opened.
Serena stepped into the chapel.
She carried Ethan.
The baby’s face was pale.
A cloth had been tied over his mouth.
His injured arm remained strapped to his chest.
Lily moved forward.
Victor caught her shoulder.
Serena smiled.
“Still pretending to be his mother?”
“Remove the cloth.”
“He cries too much.”
Victor looked at Gabriel.
“If she hurts him again, this conversation ends.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Serena.”
She reluctantly removed the cloth.
Ethan gasped and began crying.
“Li!”
Lily’s heart broke.
“I’m here.”
The baby reached for her.
Serena tightened her hold.
Gabriel extended his hand.
“The drive.”
Victor placed the case on the floor and kicked it down the aisle.
One of Gabriel’s men picked it up.
Gabriel inserted the drive into a laptop near the altar.
He opened several files.
“They are real.”
“Give me my son.”
Gabriel removed the drive.
“Not yet.”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
“You gave your word.”
“My word was given to a nephew who still controlled Chicago.”
He looked around the ruined chapel.
“That man no longer exists.”
Serena moved toward a side door with Ethan.
Lily reached beneath her coat.
Gabriel’s men raised their weapons.
Victor stepped in front of her.
“Let them leave,” Gabriel said.
Victor looked at Serena.
She smiled.
“You should have believed me when I said Lily was dangerous.”
Victor’s gaze moved toward Ethan.
The child stared back at him.
Victor slowly raised both hands.
“You win.”
Lily looked at him sharply.
Gabriel smiled.
“I knew you would eventually understand.”
“I understand that my father chose the wrong brother.”
The chapel windows shattered.
Smoke grenades rolled through the broken glass.
Marco’s men opened fire from outside.
Victor pulled Lily behind a stone column.
Gabriel’s guards fired blindly toward the windows.
Dr. Marino dropped to the floor.
Serena ran toward the side door carrying Ethan.
Lily chased her.
“Stop!”
Serena entered a narrow corridor behind the altar.
Lily followed.
The corridor led to an old staircase.
Serena climbed toward the bell tower.
Ethan screamed with every step.
Lily raised the pistol.
“Put him down.”
Serena turned halfway up the stairs.
“You will not shoot me while I’m holding him.”
“No.”
Lily aimed carefully.
“But you are holding him with your left arm.”
Serena looked down.
Lily fired.
The bullet struck the wooden railing beside Serena’s right hand.
Splinters exploded.
Serena screamed and lost her balance.
She dropped to one knee.
Ethan slipped.
Lily threw herself forward.
She caught the back of his coat before he fell between the stairs.
Her pistol dropped into the darkness.
Serena grabbed Lily’s hair.
“You ruin everything!”
Lily held Ethan with one arm and struck Serena with the other.
Serena fell backward.
She caught the railing.
Below them, gunfire echoed through the chapel.
Serena pulled a knife from her dress.
Lily backed toward the tower platform.
“You think Victor will choose you?” Serena hissed.
“This is not about Victor.”
“It is always about Victor.”
“No.”
Lily held Ethan against her chest.
“It is about a child you were willing to kill.”
Serena lunged.
A gunshot filled the stairwell.
Serena stopped.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
Victor stood below with a pistol raised.
“Step away from them.”
Serena stared at him.
“You shot me.”
“You still have one good arm.”
She looked down at the knife in her hand.
Victor raised the weapon again.
Serena dropped it.
Marco appeared behind him.
“The chapel is secure.”
“Gabriel?”
“Gone.”
A hidden tunnel beneath the altar had allowed him to escape.
Victor climbed the stairs.
Ethan reached for him.
Victor took his son.
Then he looked at Serena.
“You chose my uncle over my child.”
“He promised me everything.”
“I would have given you everything.”
“No.”
Tears filled Serena’s eyes.
“You would always have loved him more.”
Victor looked at Ethan.
“Yes.”
Serena’s face twisted with hatred.
Victor turned away.
“Take her alive.”
Marco handcuffed Serena.
As they descended, Lily noticed something carved into the tower wall.
Three letters.
S.H.P.
Samuel Harper’s initials.
Beneath them was an arrow pointing toward a loose stone.
Lily removed it.
Inside the wall was a small voice recorder.
She pressed play.
Her brother’s voice emerged from the device.
“Lily, if you found this, Gabriel has already betrayed Victor.”
She stopped breathing.
May you like
Samuel continued.
“But Gabriel is not the only traitor.”
