Chapter 4 - The Safe Beneath the Library
Matteo didn't attack immediately.
That was deliberate.
He wanted us afraid.
He wanted us guessing.
He wanted me turning on everyone around me.
The house changed again.
Every employee was questioned.
Every vehicle searched.
Every camera replaced.
Every phone inspected.
But I refused to make Lily feel imprisoned.
She continued going to school.
She continued eating pancakes every Sunday.
She continued demanding that I read bedtime stories despite my complete inability to do voices.
“You sound like a robot,” she told me one night.
“I am a robot.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're silly.”
“Don't tell anyone.”
“Okay.”
Isabella watched from the doorway.
Her smile was soft.
I realized then how much she had missed.
A father.
A family.
A home.
Three things Lily had deserved from birth.
And three things Isabella had given up to keep her alive.
One evening, after Lily fell asleep, Isabella walked into the library.
“There is something else.”
I looked up.
“I am beginning to hate those words.”
She smiled sadly.
“I know.”
She approached the fireplace.
“When I saved you, you dropped something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
She removed it from a small pouch around her neck.
I recognized the shape.
A brass key engraved with my family's crest.
“Where did you get this?”
“You told me to keep it.”
“For what?”
“The library.”
I frowned.
“The library?”
She nodded.
I stood.
The key fit beneath an old carved panel in the fireplace.
I had lived in this mansion for fifteen years and never known the panel existed.
It opened.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside sat a black metal box.
My father's initials were carved across the lid.
A.M.
Alessandro Moretti.
My hands began shaking.
“My father left this?”
“Yes.”
We opened it.
There was a ledger.
Photographs.
A set of old audio tapes.
And a photograph of a younger Matteo.
He stood beside my father.
Between them was a third man.
I knew him.
Marco Bellini.
My trusted guard.
The same man who had been watching Lily.
I stared.
“My father knew.”
“He knew there was a betrayal.”
“Then why didn't he expose Matteo?”
“Because he didn't know how deep it went.”
I opened the ledger.
The names of businesses.
Bank accounts.
Payments.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Judges.
The last page was different.
Only one sentence.
THE TRAITOR WILL PROTECT YOU BEFORE HE DESTROYS YOU.
I thought about Marco.
Eleven years of loyalty.
He had saved my life twice.
He had taken bullets for me.
Or had he?
The next morning, Marco was captured.
He was found at a motel in New Jersey.
I brought him to the basement.
He looked exhausted.
I didn't strike him.
I didn't need to.
“You watched Lily.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marco looked at me.
“Because Matteo ordered it.”
“Are you working for him?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Before you met Isabella.”
My heart sank.
He had been inside my organization before Isabella ever appeared.
“How did you know about her?”
“I saw her save you.”
I froze.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“You watched her save my life.”
“I did.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Matteo ordered me to keep you from finding her.”
“Why?”
Marco looked at me.
“Because she knew what happened.”
“What happened?”
“The ambush wasn't random.”
I stared.
“Who ordered it?”
Marco said nothing.
“Tell me.”
He lowered his head.
“Your father.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“Your father ordered the attack.”
I grabbed his collar.
“Why?”
“To expose Matteo.”
I released him.
Marco continued.
“But Matteo turned it around.”
“How?”
“He arranged for the convoy to be attacked by another group. Your father was trying to catch the traitor, but Matteo manipulated the evidence so it looked like your father had betrayed you.”
I stepped back.
Everything I knew about my family was collapsing.
“And Isabella?”
“She wasn't supposed to survive the night.”
“Why not?”
“She saw Matteo.”
I stared.
“And Lily?”
“He discovered Isabella was pregnant.”
“Then why didn't he take her?”
Marco looked ashamed.
“Because I lied.”
“What?”
“I told Matteo Isabella had died.”
I stared.
“You protected her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She saved you.”
That single answer silenced me.
Marco looked at the floor.
“I couldn't repay a debt like that.”
I left him alive.
I would decide his future later.
For now, I had another problem.
Sofia.
Her name appeared in the ledger.
Payments.
Three transactions.
All from a shell company linked to Matteo.
I called her.
She came that night.
She looked frightened.
“Did you know?”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Did you know about Isabella?”
“No.”
“Did you know about Lily?”
“No.”
“Then why did you work for Matteo?”
Her eyes filled.
“He had my brother.”
I stared.
“What brother?”
“My younger brother.”
She had never mentioned him.
“He's been missing for three years.”
“And Matteo had him?”
“Yes.”
“He forced you to marry me?”
“He forced me to make you trust me.”
“And the baby?”
She lowered her eyes.
“Victor's.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you still tried to marry me.”
“I was desperate.”
I looked at her.
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You destroyed everything I believed.”
“I know.”
“Why tell me the truth now?”
She cried.
“Because I saw Lily.”
Silence.
“What about her?”
Sofia whispered:
“She looked exactly like the little girl Matteo described.”
I froze.
“Matteo knew what Lily looked like?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He had a photograph.”
A photograph of Lily at three.
Taken outside her school.
Matteo had been watching her for years.
I felt something inside me turn savage.
“He won't touch her.”
Sofia looked at me.
“What will you do?”
May you like
I looked toward the nursery.
“Everything.”
