Chapter 5 - The Betrayal Inside the Russo House
The next morning, Dominic called an emergency family meeting.
Everyone who mattered was there.
Elena.
Several senior associates.
Security chiefs.
Rosa.
And Dominic's younger cousin, Matteo.
Matteo had always been friendly toward Sadi.
That morning, he was not.
Dominic placed the note on the table.
“The Morettis know about the archive.”
Nobody spoke.
“They also know Sadi has the key.”
Matteo leaned back.
“That assumes she isn't working with them.”
Sadi looked at him.
“You think I am?”
“I think strange things happen around you.”
Dominic's eyes darkened.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Matteo stood.
“This family is bleeding because of a waitress.”
Sadi flinched.
Rosa slammed her hand against the table.
“That waitress saved my life.”
Matteo stared at her.
“And now everyone else is at risk.”
Dominic rose.
“She is my wife.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“A wife after two weeks?”
“Leave.”
Matteo's face hardened.
“You're making an emotional decision.”
“No.”
Dominic's voice was frighteningly calm.
“I'm making a final decision.”
Matteo left.
Sadi looked at Dominic.
“You trust him?”
“No.”
That answer surprised her.
“Then why is he here?”
“Because enemies are easier to understand than family.”
The search for the archive began.
They followed clues hidden in old Russo records.
A church.
A train station.
A warehouse near the river.
Nothing.
Then Sadi noticed something.
The symbol on her locket matched a carving on an old church pew.
Inside the wood was a hidden compartment.
A brass key fell out.
On it was an address.
An abandoned theater.
Dominic wanted to go alone.
Sadi refused.
They arrived after dark.
The theater had been closed for years.
Inside, Sadi followed the symbol carved into the wall.
A trapdoor opened beneath the stage.
Below it was a narrow tunnel.
At the end stood a steel door.
The brass key fit.
Inside they found shelves.
Boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Enough material to destroy the Moretti organization.
But there was something else.
A file labeled:
RUSSO FAILURE.
Dominic opened it.
The first page named his father.
The second named a former police commissioner.
The third named someone alive.
Matteo Russo.
Dominic's face hardened.
“No.”
Sadi whispered.
“What does it say?”
Matteo had secretly been working with the Morettis for years.
He had fed them information.
He had arranged access to warehouses.
He had orchestrated internal betrayals.
And he had been the one who leaked Rosa's schedule.
The attack at the diner had been designed to look like an external strike.
But Matteo had one more secret.
He had known Sadi's identity.
He knew she was Elena Bellini's daughter.
He believed she could unlock the archive.
Dominic closed the file.
“We're leaving.”
Too late.
The theater lights turned on.
Matteo's voice echoed through the room.
“You always were predictable, cousin.”
Men entered from every side.
Sadi grabbed the closest box.
Dominic pulled his weapon.
A firefight erupted.
They ran through the tunnel.
Dominic pushed Sadi ahead.
A bullet struck his shoulder.
She screamed.
“Dominic!”
“Keep moving.”
They reached the outside.
A car sped toward them.
Dominic pulled Sadi behind a concrete barrier.
The car crashed.
Matteo stepped from another vehicle.
He held Rosa at gunpoint.
Sadi's blood froze.
Rosa had been followed.
Dominic's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Let her go.”
Matteo smiled.
“Give me the archive.”
“It belongs to nobody.”
“It belongs to me now.”
Sadi stepped forward.
“Take me instead.”
Dominic snapped:
“No.”
Matteo laughed.
“You finally understand, don't you?”
He looked at Sadi.
“That's why I was watching you.”
Sadi's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Matteo smiled.
“You've had the key your entire life.”
He pointed toward her locket.
Dominic's expression changed.
The real key was not the brass key.
It was the symbol.
Sadi herself was the final cipher.
Matteo wanted her alive.
Which meant they still had leverage.
Dominic slowly lowered his gun.
“I'll give you what you want.”
Sadi stared at him.
Matteo smiled.
May you like
Then he gave the order.
“Take them.”
