Chapter 6 - THE MAN FROM THE COFFIN
The Moretti security boat intercepted the Duca vessel eleven miles south of Montauk.
By then, Alessandro had learned enough to know he could not solve everything with armed men and threats.
Too many people were watching.
Too much evidence existed.
So Gabriel made an anonymous call to the Coast Guard reporting a potentially abducted medical patient aboard a private vessel.
Authorities intercepted first.
Moretti security arrived minutes later.
Rosa remained at the mansion.
Not because she wanted to.
Because Alessandro refused to let Lily anywhere near the confrontation, and Rosa refused to leave Lily.
At 11:18 a.m., Gabriel called.
Alessandro answered immediately.
“Is he there?”
“Yes.”
Rosa stood.
“Alive?”
Gabriel’s voice softened.
“Alive.”
Rosa collapsed into a chair.
Lily stared at her.
Rosa began signing so fast her fingers stumbled.
Papa alive.
Papa alive.
Lily smiled because Mama was crying and smiling at the same time.
She did not fully understand death.
But she understood return.
“What condition?” Alessandro asked.
“Weak. Disoriented. Medical bracelet says traumatic brain injury. He keeps asking for Rosa.”
Rosa covered her face.
Alessandro looked away.
“Bring him to a hospital.”
“Already moving.”
“Not a Moretti facility.”
“Understood.”
“And federal protection if necessary.”
Gabriel paused.
“You want outsiders involved?”
Alessandro looked at Rosa.
Eighteen months earlier, his organization had hidden a man inside a private hospital.
Whether Alessandro knew or not did not change the fact that his name had made it possible.
“Yes.”
It was the first decision that marked the beginning of a different kind of war.
Miguel regained enough awareness that afternoon to speak with investigators.
He remembered the construction site.
He remembered confronting Luca about falsified material invoices.
He remembered Matteo arriving.
Then nothing.
Doctors believed he had been struck on the head and later suffered complications from being sedated.
He had spent months barely conscious.
When his memory improved, Luca began visiting.
Not as a captor.
As a savior.
“He told me Rosa remarried,” Miguel whispered.
Rosa sat beside his hospital bed.
Her face broke.
“No.”
“He said Lily didn’t remember me.”
“No.”
“He showed me papers.”
“Fake.”
Miguel closed his eyes.
“I believed him.”
Rosa took his hand.
“You were hurt.”
“I stopped fighting.”
“You survived.”
He looked at her.
“That doesn’t feel like enough.”
“It is today.”
Then Lily entered.
Rachel carried her.
The child stopped at the doorway.
Miguel stared.
His daughter had been eighteen months old when he disappeared.
Now she was three.
Her curls were longer.
Her legs stronger.
She held Hopper beneath one arm.
Miguel began crying before she moved.
Lily looked at Rosa.
Papa?
Rosa nodded.
Papa.
Miguel knew only a few signs.
Rosa had taught him before his disappearance.
He lifted one trembling hand.
Lily.
She ran.
Rachel caught her before she could jump onto the bed.
Miguel laughed through tears.
“Careful, baby.”
Lily could not hear him.
So Rosa signed.
Gentle.
Papa hurt.
Lily climbed onto the edge of the bed.
Miguel touched her cheek.
Then struggled to remember the sign.
Love.
His fingers formed it awkwardly.
Lily stared.
Then answered.
Love Papa.
Miguel covered his face.
Rosa leaned over him.
For several minutes, Alessandro stood outside the room.
He did not enter.
Gabriel joined him.
“Federal agents want statements.”
“They’ll get them.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
“Everything?”
“Everything connected to Miguel, Harbor Renewal, Luca, Matteo, and Duca Materials.”
“That could expose Moretti companies.”
“Yes.”
“Years of records.”
“Yes.”
“Some of those records won’t make us look clean.”
Alessandro turned.
“We aren’t clean.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“If protecting our reputation means protecting the people who did this, then there is no reputation worth protecting.”
“You know what happens if prosecutors start pulling threads.”
“I know.”
“You could lose legitimate companies.”
“I know.”
“Maybe more.”
Alessandro looked through the glass at Rosa and Miguel.
“A man lost eighteen months of his life because people used my name to make him disappear.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“All right.”
Then he handed Alessandro his phone.
“Luca’s moving.”
“Where?”
“Airport.”
“Private?”
“Yes.”
“Vivian?”
“With him.”
“Matteo?”
“No signal.”
Alessandro almost smiled.
“They know Miguel was found.”
“Probably.”
“Stop Luca and Vivian before they reach the aircraft.”
“Police?”
“No.”
Gabriel looked at him.
Alessandro clarified.
“Not because I want them dead.”
“That’s new.”
“I want them alive enough to testify against Matteo.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“There’s the boss I know.”
At MacArthur Airport, Luca and Vivian reached the private terminal at 1:52 p.m.
Their luggage had already been loaded.
A jet waited.
Vivian hurried toward the stairs.
Then a black SUV pulled across the tarmac.
Gabriel stepped out with two detectives.
Luca stopped.
Vivian whispered something.
Luca reached inside his jacket.
Gabriel’s hand moved toward his weapon.
“Don’t.”
Luca froze.
Detectives shouted commands.
For a second, years of brotherhood hung between the two men.
Gabriel looked at Luca.
“Don’t make your last loyal act dying for her.”
Vivian turned on him.
“Do something.”
Luca stared at Gabriel.
Then slowly raised his hands.
Vivian’s face twisted.
“Coward.”
Luca looked at her.
The illusion between them broke instantly.
He laughed bitterly.
“Interesting word.”
Police moved in.
Vivian screamed that her father would destroy everyone.
Luca said nothing.
Until one detective told him Miguel Delgado was alive.
Luca’s face emptied.
“Alive?”
Gabriel watched him.
“You didn’t know?”
Luca whispered, “Matteo said he handled it.”
That was the first crack.
The second came twenty minutes later.
Luca asked for a lawyer.
Then added:
“And I want a deal.”
Vivian turned on him.
“You pathetic bastard.”
Luca looked at her through the glass partition of the patrol vehicle.
“You were going to marry Alessandro after poisoning him.”
“For us.”
“No.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“For control.”
Vivian stared.
He finally understood.
“You never planned to leave with me.”
She said nothing.
“You were going to use Matteo to remove Alessandro, then remove me.”
Silence.
Luca laughed once.
“Fifteen years I betrayed a brother for a woman who had already chosen my replacement.”
Vivian looked away.
Gabriel heard enough.
“Who?”
Luca turned.
“What?”
“Her replacement for you.”
Luca smiled without humor.
“Matteo.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Not romantically.
Politically.
Vivian had promised Matteo leadership after Alessandro’s death.
Luca had been intended as the scapegoat.
The poisoned wine would kill Alessandro.
Evidence would point to Luca.
Vivian and Matteo would inherit the alliance.
Everyone had been betraying everyone.
Gabriel called Alessandro.
“We have them.”
“And Matteo?”
“Gone.”
Alessandro looked back into Miguel’s hospital room.
“Not for long.”
But Matteo had one final advantage.
He knew where Rosa lived.
May you like
And while everyone focused on the hospital, a car had already stopped outside her apartment building in Queens.
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