Chapter 10 - The Choice
The VIP room of Il Canto was bathed in the warm, amber glow of the crystal chandelier.
There were no lieutenants standing guard tonight. No men in expensive suits whispering about shipments or union disputes. Just two people seated across from each other at Table 7.
Beatrice Costello wasn't there either.
Gabriel sat at the head of the table, his shirtsleeves rolled up, a glass of scotch resting untouched near his right hand. He looked tired, but his dark eyes were steady, unblinking, and entirely focused on the door as it swung open.
Chloe walked in. She wasn't wearing her apron. She was wearing her coat, and in her hand, she held the lease agreement, folded neatly into a square.
She walked straight up to the table and dropped the paper right in the center of the mahogany wood.
Gabriel didn't look down at it. He looked up at her face.
“You play dirty, Mr. Costello,” Chloe said, her voice shaking slightly with emotion, but her chin held high. “Buying a commercial property and putting my name on the lease without my consent? That’s not generosity. That’s manipulation.”
“It’s an investment,” Gabriel said quietly, his voice low and even. “You told me you dropped out of college because you had to work seventy hours a week just to keep a roof over your head after your brother died. You told me you buried your sign language because it hurt too much to remember.”
He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table.
“I can’t bring your brother back, Chloe. I can’t fix the unfairness of what happened to him. But I have resources. I have empty buildings, and I have capital. If you want to teach, if you want to give people what I was too arrogant to learn for twelve years—a voice—I will clear the path. You don't have to worry about rent, or bills, or seventy-dollar bank balances ever again.”
Chloe stared at him, her chest heaving. Tears stung the backs of her eyes, hot and sharp, fighting against the walls she had built up for two long years.
“Why?” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Why do you care?”
Gabriel stood up slowly. He walked around the table until he was standing just inches away from her. He raised his hands—slowly, deliberately, forming the clumsy sign for learn that she had corrected three days ago, followed by the sign for thank you.
His fingers weren't stiff anymore. They were smooth, practiced, and filled with genuine intent.
“Because for twelve years, I was deaf to the most important person in my life,” Gabriel said softly, looking down into her eyes. “And you’re the one who finally made me hear.”
Chloe looked at his hands, then up into his dark, searching gaze. The walls she had carried for two years didn't just crack—they crumbled into dust.
Slowly, deliberately, her own hands rose into the air.
Her fingers danced through the light, spelling out a message she hadn't signed since the night her world broke.
You’re still an idiot, Gabriel Costello.
May you like
A slow, breathtaking smile broke across Gabriel’s face—a rare, genuine expression that chased away every shadow in the room. He reached out, gently catching her hand in his, and held it.
“I know,” Gabriel said softly. “So teach me.”
