Chapter 6 - The Boy Matteo Kept Hidden
We found the boy in a warehouse outside Brooklyn.
His name was Daniel.
He was twenty-three.
Thin.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
Sophia collapsed when she saw him.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her.
“You came.”
She hugged him.
Damiano stood back.
He understood.
Not every enemy deserved death.
Some deserved rescue.
Daniel told us everything.
Matteo had kept him hidden for nine years.
He had been used to control Sophia.
Whenever Sophia resisted, Matteo threatened him.
Whenever she obeyed, Daniel was fed and allowed to see daylight.
“Why Lily?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because Matteo believed the inheritance was the only thing that could make Damiano vulnerable.”
“Why did he know about Emma?”
“Elliot told him.”
I turned toward Damiano.
“We need to expose all of them.”
He nodded.
“No more hiding.”
The five dons agreed.
The evidence was transferred.
Financial records.
Messages.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Security footage.
The corruption ran deeper than any of us knew.
Judges.
Police officers.
Bankers.
Lawyers.
Several business owners.
Everyone who had profited from the old system had a reason to fear the truth.
But one name remained missing.
Marco Bellini.
He had vanished.
Rafael tracked him to an old train yard.
Damiano went with me.
We found Marco standing beside the tracks.
He looked tired.
“You came.”
Damiano raised his weapon.
“Why?”
Marco looked at me.
“I owed your mother.”
“To betray her?”
“No.”
“To watch my daughter?”
“No.”
Marco lowered his head.
“To protect her.”
Silence.
Damiano's gun lowered slightly.
“Explain.”
“When Emma was born, Matteo ordered me to kill her.”
My blood froze.
“I couldn't.”
“So I lied.”
“How?”
“I told him she was stillborn.”
I stared at him.
“Then why watch her?”
“To make sure he never found her.”
“Until now.”
“Yes.”
“Why let the bomb happen?”
Marco looked ashamed.
“I didn't.”
“Who did?”
“Sophia's associate.”
“Sophia?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Sophia tried to stop it.”
He handed Damiano a notebook.
“Read the last page.”
The page contained a map.
The mansion.
The peace meeting.
The bomb locations.
And one final target.
The nursery.
I felt sick.
They had planned to kill Emma.
Not kidnap her.
Kill her.
Damiano tore the page in half.
“It's over.”
Marco looked at him.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“Matteo has access to the old family crypt.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where your father hid the original trust.”
Damiano stared.
“The trust isn't digital?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“A handwritten document.”
“If Matteo gets it?”
“He can challenge Emma's inheritance in court.”
We returned to the mansion.
The alliance gathered.
Carlo shook his head.
“Then we destroy the document.”
Damiano disagreed.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I want my daughter to inherit what is hers legally.”
Carlo smiled.
“Then we protect it.”
That night, Damiano asked me to walk with him.
The garden was quiet.
“I need to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Will you marry me?”
I stared.
“What?”
He smiled.
“I know this is terrible timing.”
“You think?”
“I want Emma to know we're a family.”
“She already thinks we are.”
“I want you to know.”
I looked at him.
“You don't need a wedding to prove that.”
“I know.”
He took my hand.
“I've spent eight years believing the world stole you from me.”
“It didn't.”
“It stole time.”
I looked away.
“It gave me Emma.”
He nodded.
“Then maybe we stop measuring what we lost.”
I smiled.
“And?”
“We build what we have.”
I kissed him.
The moment was interrupted by a scream.
Emma.
We ran.
Her room was empty.
The window was open.
My heart stopped.
“Emma!”
No answer.
Damiano moved toward the window.
A small paper lay on the floor.
ONE HOUR.
COME TO THE CRYPT.
ALONE.
Damiano looked at me.
“This time, they took her.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He stared.
“What?”
I pointed toward the bed.
Emma's rag doll remained there.
Inside its torn seam was a tiny note.
DADDY, I HID.
I grabbed it.
She had remembered the hiding game.
She was still inside the room.
Behind the curtains.
Terrified.
Alive.
Damiano found her.
She wrapped both arms around him.
“I knew you'd look.”
He held her.
“Always.”
The note had been bait.
The real message was hidden beneath the crib.
A location.
The old family crypt.
Matteo wanted us to go there.
Damiano looked at me.
“Ready?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Stay beside me.”
May you like
“I will.”
We left together.
