Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE WITH TWO BOSSES
The storm passage began behind the oldest wine rack.
Lorenzo’s father had built it during Prohibition and never removed it.
Sophia would have laughed at the absurdity if twenty-three armed men had not just entered the estate above them.
Marco pushed the rack aside.
A narrow concrete corridor disappeared into darkness.
“You first,” he told Sophia.
She held Emma close.
“I’m not leaving until Lorenzo is moving.”
Lorenzo looked irritated.
“You have developed inconvenient timing.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Vincent helped him stand.
Pain crossed Lorenzo’s face, but he remained upright.
Ricci watched from the wall.
His wrists were now secured with his own belt.
“What about him?” Sophia asked.
Marco shrugged.
“We could leave him.”
“No,” Lorenzo said.
Ricci smiled.
“Sentimental.”
“No. I want answers.”
They moved into the passage.
Marco went first.
Sophia and Emma behind him.
Lorenzo followed with Vincent.
Ricci came last, tethered by a length of old utility rope.
The tunnel smelled of earth and rust.
Emma whispered, “Adventure?”
Sophia almost cried.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Bad adventure?”
“Yes.”
Emma rested her head against Sophia’s shoulder.
“I like zoo adventure better.”
“So do I.”
The passage ended beneath a detached greenhouse two hundred yards from the mansion.
Marco lifted the floor hatch carefully.
Cold night air rushed in.
No one nearby.
They emerged one at a time.
From behind a line of hedges, Sophia could see the mansion’s upper windows.
Lights moved room to room.
Men searching.
Lorenzo stared at his own house.
“Who is leading them?”
Ricci said nothing.
Vincent tightened the rope.
“Answer.”
“You already know him.”
Lorenzo looked over.
A black Mercedes rolled through the circular drive.
The rear door opened.
A tall man stepped out.
Sophia recognized him from holiday dinners.
Matteo Duca.
Lorenzo’s cousin.
The man who toasted Emma’s birthday with champagne.
The man who called Sophia “family” when he wanted extra cannoli after midnight.
Lorenzo’s face became stone.
“Matteo.”
Ricci nodded.
“There.”
Vincent swore softly.
Matteo had spent fifteen years playing the harmless cousin.
The smiling one.
The one who preferred restaurants to rackets.
Nobody feared Matteo.
That had apparently been the point.
“He wants the organization?” Marco asked.
“He wants what Lorenzo was dismantling.”
Ricci looked toward the house.
“Matteo has support from three families. They believe Lorenzo is making them weak.”
Lorenzo’s eyes remained on his cousin.
“And you?”
“I believe your father built something too large for idealism.”
Lorenzo laughed, then winced.
“You murdered him for shipping contracts?”
Ricci’s composure cracked.
“I did not murder Giuseppe.”
Vincent lifted the vial.
“You expect us to ignore this?”
“That medicine was prescribed.”
“You hid it.”
“Because Matteo planted it in my office after your father died.”
Everyone stared at him.
Sophia felt exhausted by the lies.
“So Matteo framed you?”
Ricci looked at her.
“Partly.”
“Then why tie Lorenzo up?”
“Because Matteo gave me a choice.”
“My daughter or Lorenzo.”
The anger drained slightly from his face.
“My daughter did not move to Rome by choice. Matteo put her there.”
Vincent scoffed.
“You had years to tell us.”
“And watch her disappear?”
Ricci looked at Lorenzo.
“I sedated you because I believed Matteo intended to make you sign control of the port assets and send you into exile.”
Lorenzo’s voice went cold.
“He tied me to a chair and cut me.”
“I did not know that part.”
“But you walked away.”
“Yes.”
No one said anything.
Ricci’s eyes filled, though Sophia couldn’t tell whether the emotion was real.
“I walked away.”
That was confession enough.
A light swept across the greenhouse.
Marco pulled everyone down.
Two men approached.
Sophia crouched behind a planter.
Emma pressed both hands over her own mouth because Sophia had taught her to play “quiet mouse” during thunderstorms.
The greenhouse door opened.
Footsteps.
“Check everything.”
Sophia recognized the second voice.
Carlo Vieri, one of Lorenzo’s senior guards.
Another betrayal.
The men separated.
One came toward their hiding place.
Marco raised a hand.
Wait.
Closer.
Closer.
Then Biscotti jumped from a shelf.
The guard shouted.
A crash of flowerpots followed.
The cat sprinted through the open door.
Both guards chased the movement instinctively.
Marco motioned.
“Now.”
They slipped through the opposite greenhouse exit.
Sophia almost laughed again.
Biscotti had somehow become the most effective operative in the Duca household.
A vehicle waited beyond the service road.
An old catering van.
Vincent opened the rear doors.
“You planned this?”
“I plan everything.”
Lorenzo looked at him.
“Except tonight.”
Vincent grimaced.
“Thank you.”
They loaded everyone inside.
Marco drove.
Ten minutes later, Lorenzo’s phone—now recovered from Vincent—lit up.
A video call.
Matteo.
Lorenzo answered.
His cousin appeared in Lorenzo’s study.
Sitting in Lorenzo’s chair.
Sophia noticed Lorenzo’s jaw tighten.
Matteo smiled.
“Cousin.”
“Matteo.”
“You look better than expected.”
“You look comfortable.”
“I always liked this chair.”
“So did Vincent.”
Vincent rolled his eyes from the back of the van.
Matteo continued.
“You have something of mine.”
Lorenzo looked toward Ricci.
“You mean the doctor?”
“I mean information.”
“What information?”
“The files you took from the port audit.”
Lorenzo smiled faintly.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Matteo’s expression changed.
“Don’t play.”
“You came into my house with twenty-three men. I think I’m allowed entertainment.”
Matteo leaned closer to the camera.
“Bring me the audit files before sunrise.”
“And if I don’t?”
Matteo smiled.
A second camera feed appeared.
Sophia stopped breathing.
The Duca kitchen.
Her mother, Teresa Rossi, sat tied to a chair.
Sophia’s seventeen-year-old brother Nico stood beside her.
Hands bound.
Terrified.
“Mama,” Sophia whispered.
Matteo heard.
“So the maid is with you.”
Lorenzo’s face darkened.
Matteo smiled.
“Good.”
May you like
He looked directly into the camera.
“Then she understands the price better than you do.”
