Chapter 4 - THE TRAITOR BESIDE THE BOSS
Gabriel did not reach for his weapon.
That saved the room from exploding.
Alessandro read the note twice.
Then he looked at the man who had protected him for thirteen years.
“Give me your gun.”
Gabriel immediately removed it.
Placed it on the table.
Then another from his ankle.
“Anything else?”
Alessandro asked.
“A knife.”
“Table.”
Gabriel obeyed.
I watched their faces.
No shouting.
No accusations.
That scared me more.
Gabriel looked at me.
“You should be suspicious.”
“I am.”
“Good.”
Alessandro’s eyes never left him.
“Who knew Elena worked here?”
“Personnel. House management. Me.”
“Who approved her?”
“I did.”
My stomach dropped.
Alessandro’s expression became lethal.
“Why?”
Gabriel answered slowly.
“Because her background check was clean.”
“After an altered recommendation.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Convenient.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“I’ve taken bullets for you.”
“And Vincent was Lucia’s godfather.”
That silenced everyone.
Loyalty from yesterday did not prove loyalty today.
I looked at the flash drive.
“Maybe Michael left more.”
Gabriel said, “Use an isolated computer.”
Alessandro turned toward him.
“You don’t give orders right now.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
“You can do that from the other room.”
Two guards escorted Gabriel out.
He went without resistance.
I hated the look on his face.
Not guilt.
Pain.
The flash drive contained six files.
One was corrupted.
Three were construction documents.
One was a recording.
The last was a photograph.
I clicked the photograph first.
Daniel stood beside a black SUV.
The same model visible behind Lucia’s car shortly before the crash.
On the back, someone had digitally written a date.
Two months before Daniel died.
I opened the recording.
Static.
Then Daniel’s voice filled the room.
I stopped breathing.
“Elena, if this somehow reaches you…”
My hand covered my mouth.
I had not heard his voice in almost four years.
“I’m sorry.”
Alessandro looked away, giving me privacy without leaving.
“I got involved in something stupid. Harbor Ridge wasn’t just construction. We renovated buildings for people connected to Caruso.”
Daniel coughed.
“I found a vehicle in a warehouse scheduled to be stripped. Black Escalade. Front-end damage. Fake plates.”
My eyes found Alessandro.
Daniel continued.
“There was paperwork in the glove compartment. Traffic camera suppression payments. A police evidence number.”
Alessandro stepped closer to the computer.
“I looked it up.”
A pause.
“It connected to the crash that killed Alessandro Moretti’s wife and daughter.”
Alessandro’s face lost all color.
“I copied everything.”
Daniel breathed shakily.
“Then Michael Trent caught me.”
My stomach turned.
“But Michael didn’t turn me in. He said he wanted out too.”
Another pause.
“If anything happens, the evidence is somewhere Elena knows.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the screen.
“Somewhere I know?”
Alessandro said nothing.
I replayed Daniel’s words.
Somewhere Elena knows.
Daniel loved hiding things.
Birthday presents.
Cash when we were broke.
One Christmas he hid my gift inside an empty cereal box because he knew I hated clutter and would eventually throw it away.
Then I remembered.
“Our first apartment.”
Alessandro turned.
“What?”
“Daniel repaired a loose floorboard beneath the radiator.”
My heart started racing.
“He used to joke that if we ever became criminals, that would be our safe.”
The building still existed.
Astoria.
We left immediately.
Not with ten cars.
Two.
Alessandro insisted on coming.
I protested.
He ignored me.
Some negotiations with Alessandro were not negotiations.
The apartment now belonged to a young couple who looked terrified when Alessandro Moretti appeared at their door.
We invented a story about retrieving family documents.
Money made the rest easy.
The floorboard was still there.
Underneath sat a rusted metal tin.
Inside—
A memory card.
A motel key.
And a list of names.
Gabriel Russo was not on it.
I nearly collapsed from relief.
Alessandro exhaled.
He had been afraid too.
The names included two police officers, a city evidence clerk, three Caruso employees—
And Matteo Vieri.
Alessandro’s consigliere.
His closest adviser.
The man who sat beside him during business meetings.
The man who had been in the house the day Lucia died.
The man who stood closer to Alessandro than Gabriel ever did.
“No,” Alessandro whispered.
I had never heard him sound like that.
“Who is Matteo?”
“My mother’s nephew.”
“Family.”
“Yes.”
That word sounded like poison.
The memory card contained photographs of payments.
Messages.
And one video.
Poor quality.
Parking garage.
Six years ago.
Vincent Caruso stood beside Matteo Vieri.
They argued.
Then Matteo handed him an envelope.
Audio was faint.
But one sentence was clear.
“She leaves the recital at eight-thirty.”
Alessandro stepped backward.
I understood immediately.
Matteo had given Vincent Lucia’s schedule.
Alessandro grabbed the desk so hard his knuckles whitened.
“He knew.”
I said nothing.
“He hugged me at the funeral.”
His voice broke.
“He carried Lucia’s coffin.”
That image hurt even me.
Then his phone rang.
Matteo.
Alessandro stared at the screen.
I whispered, “Don’t let him know.”
He answered.
“Yes?”
Matteo’s voice came through casually.
“Everything all right? Gabriel said you left the estate.”
Alessandro looked at me.
His face became calm.
Terribly calm.
“Fine.”
“You need anything?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Where are you?”
Alessandro smiled without warmth.
“Why?”
Matteo hesitated.
“Security.”
“I’ll be home soon.”
He ended the call.
Then Gabriel called.
Alessandro answered immediately.
“Boss, don’t come back.”
“What happened?”
“Matteo just removed Sophia from the nursery.”
My blood stopped.
“What?”
Gabriel continued quickly.
“She’s safe. I intercepted him at the stairwell.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Where is she?”
“With Teresa and four guards.”
Alessandro’s face became pure fury.
“Matteo?”
“Locked in the cellar security room.”
I grabbed Alessandro’s arm.
“Why would he take Sophia?”
Gabriel answered through the phone.
“He said he was moving her to another secure wing.”
“That’s a lie,” I whispered.
Gabriel continued.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“We found a tracker sewn into Sophia’s stuffed rabbit.”
I could not breathe.
The rabbit had been given to her three weeks earlier.
By Matteo.
Alessandro looked at me.
And in that moment, the decision was made.
Not spoken.
Not yet.
But I saw it.
Whatever rules had once governed Alessandro Moretti’s world were about to change.
May you like
Because someone inside his own family had reached for my child.
And Alessandro had just discovered that the same man helped kill his.
