Chapter 6 - The Brother Who Thought He Had Already Won
The old port warehouse smelled of salt, rust and rain.
Lorenzo watched from a dark SUV as Mateo entered.
Victor Hale followed.
Three other men stood near the loading dock.
Mateo carried a folder.
Inside were the final transfer papers for the Duca empire.
He had everything arranged.
The board.
The accounts.
The properties.
The shipping contracts.
All he needed was Lorenzo's death certificate.
Lorenzo stepped from the vehicle.
Mateo looked up.
For several seconds, neither brother moved.
Then Mateo laughed.
"You walk."
Lorenzo smiled.
"You talk."
Mateo's expression hardened.
"You should be dead."
"I know."
"Who helped you?"
"People you ignored."
Mateo glanced toward the SUV.
Clara stood inside with Ava.
His face changed.
"You brought them?"
Lorenzo's eyes became cold.
"You threatened my family."
Mateo laughed.
"Family?"
He shook his head.
"You're talking about a maid and her child."
Lorenzo took one step forward.
"That's where you made your mistake."
Victor raised his weapon.
Raphael and two other guards raised theirs.
Mateo looked around.
"You're outnumbered."
Lorenzo smiled.
"No."
A siren sounded in the distance.
Then another.
Then another.
Federal agents surrounded the warehouse.
Mateo stared at him.
"You called them?"
"I called everyone."
The warehouse erupted.
Mateo's men scattered.
Victor fired.
Raphael returned fire.
Lorenzo pushed Clara and Ava behind a concrete barrier.
"Stay down."
Ava grabbed Clara's hand.
Mateo ran toward the back corridor.
Lorenzo followed.
They reached the old office.
Mateo slammed the door.
He turned.
"This was always yours."
He pulled out a pistol.
"The title."
Lorenzo stared.
Mateo lowered the weapon.
"I hated you because you never had to earn anything."
"I earned everything."
"You were born first."
"You were born second."
"Exactly."
Mateo laughed.
"That's how it works in this family."
Lorenzo shook his head.
"No."
He looked around the office where his father had once worked.
"It works how we choose."
Mateo's face tightened.
"You don't understand."
"I understand perfectly."
"No, you don't."
Mateo's voice cracked.
"Every time Dad looked at you, I disappeared."
Lorenzo stared.
Mateo's eyes were wet.
"I became the spare."
"Then why not tell me?"
"Because you wouldn't understand."
"You never let me."
Mateo lowered the gun.
For one moment, he looked like the younger brother Lorenzo remembered.
The boy who followed him around the estate.
The boy who wanted to sit beside him at dinner.
The boy who once asked whether they would always be brothers.
Then Mateo's expression changed again.
"You ruined everything."
He raised the gun.
Lorenzo moved.
A shot exploded.
Glass shattered.
Raphael tackled Victor outside.
Mateo ran.
Lorenzo chased him through the warehouse.
He caught him near the loading dock.
Mateo turned and fired again.
Lorenzo ducked.
The bullet struck the wall.
Then Clara screamed.
Ava had run into the open.
"Ava!"
Mateo looked toward her.
The child froze.
Lorenzo sprinted.
He grabbed Ava and pulled her behind him.
Mateo aimed again.
Then Isabella stepped out.
"Mateo!"
He turned.
Isabella stood between them.
"You said you wouldn't hurt her."
Mateo looked at Isabella.
"You betrayed me."
"I am done."
He raised the pistol.
Then the police fired.
Mateo dropped.
The warehouse went silent.
Lorenzo held Ava tightly.
She buried her face against his chest.
"You're okay."
"I knew you would come."
He closed his eyes.
Again, the little girl had trusted him.
Again, he intended to deserve it.
Mateo survived.
Barely.
He was taken into custody.
Victor survived as well and agreed to cooperate.
Isabella was arrested for conspiracy and financial crimes.
She asked for one thing.
To see Lorenzo.
He refused.
Not yet.
There were victims who deserved answers before she deserved forgiveness.
The evidence seized from the warehouse broke open the larger organization.
Accounts.
Names.
Records.
Photographs.
Proof of the murder of Thomas Bennett.
Proof of the sabotage.
Proof of the conspiracy.
But one mystery remained.
Who had ordered the original attack on Lorenzo's father?
The answer appeared in an old file.
A name Lorenzo had never suspected.
Ronan Vale.
Except the signature had been forged.
Elena identified it.
"The real author was your father."
Lorenzo stared.
He read the letter.
It revealed that Lorenzo's father had staged his own death to escape the same organization.
He had secretly protected Ronan.
Mateo had discovered part of the truth.
Then he manipulated it.
The entire family war had been based on a lie.
Lorenzo sat alone that evening.
Clara entered.
"How are you?"
"Tired."
"Good."
He looked at her.
"Good?"
"Being tired means you're alive."
He smiled.
"Ava?"
"Asleep."
"Safe?"
"Very."
Clara sat opposite him.
"Your mother wants to meet her."
Lorenzo smiled.
"That sounds dangerous."
"She likes you."
"That's a problem."
Clara laughed.
Lorenzo watched her.
"Clara."
"Yes?"
"Why did you keep helping me?"
She thought.
"Because Thomas said you weren't what people thought."
"And what did people think?"
"That you were ruthless."
"And what do you think?"
Clara smiled.
"I think you're a man who forgot how to come home."
Lorenzo looked down.
She was right.
He had spent years protecting the empire.
He had forgotten to protect the people inside the house.
Now he knew what mattered.
Ava.
Clara.
May you like
His mother.
And the family he had not realized he was building.
