Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Elena answered.
“Anthony?”
A man's voice replied.
“You finally asked the right question.”
Matteo reached for the phone.
Elena stepped away.
“What happened to my mother?”
“Not over the phone.”
“You broke into my apartment.”
“To protect something.”
“You poisoned Matteo?”
Silence.
That silence answered enough.
“Anthony?”
“I didn't poison anyone.”
“Then who did?”
“You're standing beside him.”
Elena looked at Matteo.
Matteo shook his head once.
Anthony continued.
“Your mother trusted Matteo once. It nearly killed her.”
“Where are you?”
“You have the address.”
The call ended.
Elena grabbed her coat.
Matteo stood in front of the door.
“You're not going alone.”
“He said—”
“I don't care.”
“You don't get to decide.”
“No. But whoever arranged tonight already proved they're willing to hurt you.”
“Maybe you arranged tonight.”
Matteo absorbed that.
“Possible.”
Elena hadn't expected him to say it.
He continued.
“You don't know me. You shouldn't trust me.”
“Then why should I let you come?”
“Because you shouldn't trust Anthony either.”
They left Bellavita through the rear entrance.
Luca drove.
Matteo sat beside Elena in the back.
Nobody spoke.
The address led to an abandoned social club in Cicero.
Elena recognized the neighborhood.
Not the building.
Inside, one light burned.
Matteo stopped her.
“I go first.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“My life. My mother.”
She entered.
Anthony Rossi sat at a table.
Gray hair.
Weathered face.
Older than Elena remembered.
But unmistakable.
“Hello, Ellie.”
Only one person had called her that.
Elena's anger cracked.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think you were gone.”
“I had to.”
“My mother died thinking you abandoned us.”
Pain crossed his face.
“No.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was there.”
Elena stared.
“At the hospital?”
“Outside.”
“Why didn't you come in?”
“Because people were watching.”
Matteo entered.
Anthony immediately stood.
“You.”
Matteo stopped.
“Tony.”
Twenty-five years collapsed into one word.
Anthony looked at Elena.
“Did he tell you?”
“He said he might be my father.”
“Might?”
Anthony laughed bitterly.
“He always was a coward when the truth cost him something.”
Matteo's voice hardened.
“Tell her everything.”
Anthony opened a metal case.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A ledger.
And a sealed envelope bearing Isabella's handwriting.
Elena stopped breathing.
“For Elena,” she read.
Anthony nodded.
“Your mother gave me that three days before she died.”
“Why didn't you give it to me?”
“Because she told me when.”
“When?”
“When Matteo finally learned you existed.”
Elena looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because she knew the De Lucas would come.”
Matteo approached the table.
“What did Isabella discover?”
Anthony opened the ledger.
“Your father wasn't just stealing.”
Pages contained names.
Judges.
Police officers.
Businessmen.
Politicians.
Payments.
Dates.
Matteo scanned them.
“My father kept this?”
“No.”
Anthony looked toward him.
“Carlo did.”
Matteo froze.
Anthony explained.
Carlo had built a secret network beneath the family's legitimate businesses. Their father discovered it. Isabella accidentally found records proving Carlo was moving money and paying corrupt officials.
“She tried to tell you,” Anthony said.
Matteo shook his head.
“She vanished.”
“Because Carlo intercepted her.”
Elena felt sick.
“What did he do?”
“He threatened her.”
“With what?”
“You.”
Anthony looked at Elena.
“She was pregnant.”
Matteo's face tightened.
“He told Isabella that if she stayed near you, the child would never be safe.”
Elena sat down.
“So she left.”
“Yes.”
“And married you.”
Anthony nodded.
“To give you a different name.”
Matteo turned away.
For the first time, Elena saw his composure fracture.
Anthony continued.
“Isabella didn't trust anyone in the De Luca family. Including Matteo.”
Matteo looked back.
“She had every reason not to.”
Elena stared at the envelope.
“Can I open it?”
Anthony slid it toward her.
Her fingers shook.
Inside was a letter.
My beautiful Elena...
She couldn't continue.
Tears blurred the page.
Matteo looked away, giving her privacy.
Elena read silently.
Isabella explained that Anthony had protected them.
That Matteo had never known.
That she had loved Matteo but feared the world surrounding him.
Then Elena reached a sentence that changed everything.
If Matteo is standing beside you when you read this, then he finally knows the truth: you are his daughter.
Elena stopped.
Matteo saw her face.
“What?”
She handed him the letter.
He read.
His hand began trembling.
Matteo De Luca, the man who could silence an entire restaurant with three words, had to sit down.
“My daughter.”
Elena didn't know what she felt.
Anger.
Grief.
Relief.
Nothing.
Everything.
Anthony watched them.
“There's more.”
He opened another compartment.
A flash drive.
“Carlo wants this.”
“Evidence?” Matteo asked.
“Enough to destroy him.”
Matteo reached for it.
Anthony pulled back.
“Not you.”
“Why?”
“Because Isabella didn't trust what you'd become.”
The words hurt.
Matteo nodded.
“Fair.”
Anthony gave the drive to Elena.
“This belongs to you.”
Before she could take it, headlights swept across the windows.
Anthony went still.
Matteo looked toward the door.
“How many people knew this location?”
“Three.”
“Who?”
“Me. Isabella.”
Anthony looked at Matteo.
“And Carlo.”
The lights outside went dark.
Luca entered quickly.
“We have company.”
“How many?”
“Six. Maybe eight.”
Matteo looked at Elena.
“Back exit.”
Anthony shook his head.
“Blocked.”
A knock came from the front door.
Three slow knocks.
Then Carlo's voice.
“Elena.”
Matteo stepped between her and the entrance.
Carlo continued.
“I know you're in there.”
Elena gripped the flash drive.
Anthony whispered, “There's another way.”
He moved a cabinet.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
Luca entered first.
Elena followed.
Matteo stayed behind.
“Come on,” she whispered.
He looked at Anthony.
“Get her out.”
“Matteo.”
He turned toward Elena.
For the first time she understood that he intended to remain.
“No.”
“Elena.”
“You don't get to discover you're my father and die five minutes later.”
Something almost like a smile touched his face.
Then the front door exploded inward.
Matteo pushed Elena into the passage.
Anthony dragged the cabinet shut.
Darkness swallowed them.
Elena heard footsteps.
Voices.
Then Carlo.
“Where is she?”
A pause.
Matteo answered.
“Far away from you.”
Then came a single deafening crash.
Elena spun toward the hidden door.
“Matteo!”
Anthony grabbed her.
“Keep moving.”
Another crash sounded behind them.
May you like
Then Matteo's voice stopped.
And someone began opening the passage from the other side.
