Chapter 3 - The Black Vault Contained the Truth About the Duca Family
The Black Vault was beneath Matteo's mansion.
I had walked past the entrance dozens of times without realizing it was there.
He opened it with a fingerprint.
Then a code.
Then a key.
The door was almost a foot thick.
Inside was a room lined with black steel cabinets.
Files.
Weapons.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
Matteo looked at me.
“What did the caller say?”
“Open the Black Vault.”
“Nothing else?”
“He has Emily.”
Matteo's jaw tightened.
“He wants me to believe you.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“He wants me to know you're worth protecting.”
That silenced him.
We entered.
The air smelled like dust and metal.
Matteo opened the first cabinet.
Old family records.
Second.
Financial records.
Third.
Medical records.
Then he found a file marked:
PROJECT NIGHTFALL.
He stopped.
“What?”
I asked.
“My father's private operation.”
“What operation?”
He opened the file.
The first page made my stomach twist.
A list of women.
Nurses.
Doctors.
Accountants.
Whistleblowers.
Each had been followed.
Some disappeared.
Some were murdered.
At the bottom was Eva's name.
Then mine.
Matteo closed his eyes.
“I didn't know.”
“I believe you.”
He looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because if you did, you wouldn't have to look this shocked.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
“You're very observant.”
“Occupational hazard.”
We found a hidden recording.
Eva.
Alive.
Her voice shook.
“If this reaches Lena, it means they found me.”
I covered my mouth.
Matteo moved closer.
Eva continued.
“Lena, I'm sorry I lied. I wasn't working against the Ducas.”
She paused.
“I was working with Matteo.”
I looked at him.
He looked as shocked as I was.
“I discovered that the Vitalis family was using medical contracts to control hospitals.”
Eva continued.
“But they weren't alone.”
Another pause.
“Someone inside the Duca family gave them access.”
The recording cut.
Matteo stared at the screen.
“Who?”
I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
Then the vault alarm sounded.
Someone was entering the mansion.
Matteo grabbed my hand.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Lena.”
“I've spent too many years hiding.”
He looked at me.
“Then stay behind me.”
“Fine.”
We went upstairs.
Gunfire erupted.
Luca and the guards returned fire.
A figure ran across the corridor.
Matteo chased him.
I followed.
The man escaped through a side door.
But he dropped something.
A watch.
I recognized it.
Gabriel Vitali wore the same model.
Matteo picked it up.
“He was here.”
We returned to the vault.
The caller sent another message.
One photograph.
Emily.
Sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Underneath:
Bring the girl to Pier 17.
Alone.
Matteo wanted to go alone.
I refused.
He argued.
I won.
At Pier 17, the warehouse was empty.
Too empty.
Then lights turned on.
Gabriel Vitali stepped from the shadows.
Alisandre beside him.
Enzo behind them.
And Emily in a chair.
I nearly ran.
Matteo held my arm.
“Wait.”
Alisandre smiled.
“You should have listened when I told you to stay in your place.”
I looked at her.
“My place isn't beneath your shoe.”
Her smile disappeared.
Gabriel laughed.
“Still brave.”
Matteo stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“She isn't yours.”
“Neither is Lena.”
Alisandre looked at him.
“Then why are you defending her?”
Matteo said nothing.
She smiled.
“Because she's Eva's sister?”
“No.”
He looked at Lena.
“Because she's Lena.”
The room went quiet.
Alisandre's expression changed.
“I thought so.”
She gestured toward the chair.
“Tell her.”
Gabriel pulled a file from his coat.
“Your sister didn't die because of us.”
I stepped forward.
“What?”
“She was killed by someone inside the Duca family.”
Matteo stared.
“Who?”
Gabriel smiled.
“You.”
Matteo's face hardened.
“What?”
“Your father gave the order.”
The words hung in the room.
I looked at Matteo.
He looked devastated.
“You're lying.”
Gabriel laughed.
“I wish.”
He threw a document onto the floor.
Marco Duca's signature.
An authorization for Eva's removal.
Matteo picked it up.
His hand trembled.
“No.”
I stared at the paper.
Then I saw the signature.
The middle initial was wrong.
I had spent years typing my father's name on legal forms.
I knew signatures.
“That's forged.”
Everyone looked at me.
I pointed.
“Your father's middle name was Luca, not Louis.”
Matteo stared.
Gabriel's smile vanished.
I had just exposed the smallest mistake in a document intended to destroy us.
Alisandre lunged.
Matteo moved faster.
He pulled her back.
Then the lights exploded.
Gunfire.
Emily screamed.
I reached her.
Matteo covered us.
A bullet hit the wall beside his head.
Then silence.
The kidnappers fled.
Emily clung to me.
“Mom?”
I hugged her.
“I'm here.”
Matteo looked at us.
Relief crossed his face.
Then he noticed blood on my shoulder.
“You're hurt.”
“It's not mine.”
He touched my cheek.
“Thank God.”
I looked at him.
May you like
For the first time, his eyes were not those of a feared boss.
They were those of a man terrified of losing me.
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