The Don's Daughter He Left to Bleed novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Tape

I did not let my husband in.

Giacomo opened the door on the chain, and I stood behind it with my shirt buttoned wrong.

Gabriel was soaked to the skin.

He had come without a coat, and rain ran off his hair and down his face.

He held the drive out through the gap in two shaking hands.

"It's all on there," he said. "All of it. His voice. Brooke's voice. I heard it three times."

"Brooke's?"

"She asked if you were clear. She asked what happens if you aren't dead."

I took the drive.

It was small and wet and light.

"Nina, I'm so sorry," Gabriel said. "I didn't know. I swear to you, I didn't know he meant to kill you. I thought he was getting Brooke out. I thought you were behind me."

"You looked at me."

"I know."

"I said your name."

"I know." His voice broke. "I'll say it on air. I'll say all of it. Whatever you want."

"I want you to get off this step," I said.

He stared at me through the gap.

"I'm not forgiving you tonight, Gabriel. I'm not forgiving you at all. You did it because he said to, and you'd do it again if he said it again."

"No."

"Yes."

His face crumpled.

I shut the door.

I turned the lock, and then the bolt.

I stood with my forehead against the wood and listened to him walk back down the steps.

When I turned around, Giacomo was watching me from the middle of the kitchen.

I laid the drive on the table.

"Play it," I said.

We played it on a laptop, the two of us side by side.

I listened to my husband's voice say *Welcome to thirty years.*

I listened to Vincent say *Leave the wife.*

I listened to a woman I had trusted with my zipper say, *And if she isn't dead?*

I did not cry.

When it ended, I closed the laptop.

The kitchen was very quiet.

The only light was the lamp over the table, and the rain ticked against the window.

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