Returning to the estate was reckless.
Which was why Adrian would expect me not to do it.
We arrived shortly after noon using two decoy convoys.
The house looked unchanged.
Stone walls.
Bare trees.
Security at every entrance.
Yet the place felt different.
For eleven weeks Elena had thought of it as employment.
For most of my life, I had considered it a fortress.
Now we both knew someone inside its walls had nearly killed her.
Luca searched Elena's locker himself.
The gray apron hung where she'd left it.
Inside one pocket was a small brass key.
Elena stared at it.
"I almost threw that away."
I took it carefully.
"Gabriel liked old locks."
"What does it open?"
"We find out."
The first place we searched was Sofia's sitting room.
I had not entered since the day after her funeral.
The door opened reluctantly.
Dust covered everything.
Sofia's books remained on their shelves.
A half-finished embroidery frame rested beside the window.
Her perfume bottle still stood on the dressing table.
Six years disappeared.
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Elena remained behind me.
She didn't touch me.
Didn't speak.
Her silence was kinder than sympathy would have been.
Eventually I approached the portrait.
Sofia had hated it.
She said the artist made her look too serious.
I used to tease her that standing still for six hours would make anyone serious.
Behind the frame was an empty groove where the key had been hidden.
Elena looked around.
"If Gabriel left it here, he expected you to find it."
"Maybe."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because after Sofia died, I couldn't enter this room."
She understood.
Grief had hidden the evidence better than any vault.
We searched drawers.
Cabinets.
The writing desk.
Nothing matched the key.
Then Elena crouched beside the fireplace.
"Matteo."
"What?"
"There."
A decorative brass panel was built into the side of the mantle.
I'd seen it hundreds of times.
Elena noticed a tiny keyhole.
I inserted the key.
Click.
The panel opened.
Inside was a flash drive.
And an envelope.
My name was written in Gabriel's handwriting.
My hands shook for the first time in years.
I opened it.
Matteo, if you're reading this, I was right—or I'm dead. Possibly both.
Typical Gabriel.
Even facing death, sarcasm.
I continued.
Don't trust the obvious enemy. Follow the money. Adrian has help, and the betrayal goes higher than I first thought. If Sofia is with me when something happens, know she was trying to protect you. She learned more than she told you because she knew you'd react before thinking.
I stopped breathing.
Sofia knew.
Elena stood close enough to catch me if I fell.
I forced myself to continue.
The drive contains transaction records. There is also a recording. I hope you never need either.
We brought the drive to my office.
Luca disconnected the computer from all networks before opening it.
Files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Shipping manifests.
Payoffs.
Names.
Adrian.
Carbone representatives.
Two judges.
A police captain.
And one name I did not expect.
Vincenzo DeLuca.
Elena looked at me.
"No."
My uncle stood across the room.
His face went white.
"Matteo, I can explain."
I reached for my gun.
Elena grabbed my wrist.
"Wait."
Vincenzo stared at her.
"You should listen to the recording."
Why did he know about the recording?
My suspicion sharpened.
Luca opened the audio file.
Gabriel's voice filled the room.
"If Matteo is hearing this, things went badly."
My chest tightened.
Then another voice.
Vincenzo.
"You can't confront Adrian."
Gabriel:
"He's laundering money through our companies."
"I know."
"Then help me stop him."
Vincenzo sounded exhausted.
"Your father ordered me to watch him, not expose him yet."
"Why?"
"Because Adrian isn't the top of it."
Silence on the recording.
Then Gabriel asked:
"Who is?"
Vincenzo answered.
"Judge Robert Halston."
I looked at Luca.
Halston had been one of my father's closest political allies.
He had attended Sofia's funeral.
He had publicly praised Gabriel after his death.
The recording continued.
Halston had built an alliance between criminal organizations and corrupt officials. Adrian was merely the DeLuca representative.
Then Sofia's voice entered the recording.
My heart stopped.
"Matteo needs to know."
Six years.
Six years since I heard her voice.
Elena squeezed my hand.
I didn't pull away.
On the recording, Gabriel replied.
"He'll kill Adrian before we understand the network."
Sofia laughed softly.
"You know your brother well."
I closed my eyes.
Then Sofia said:
"I'll tell him tonight."
She never did.
The bomb detonated first.
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Vincenzo finally said, "My name appears in the transfers because I was moving money under your father's orders to trace Halston's accounts."
"Why didn't you tell me after Gabriel died?"
"Because Halston had people everywhere."
"So you let me believe my brother died without answers."
"I kept you alive."
"You let me bury my wife and child while protecting a judge."
His face hardened.
"I protected you because three days after the funerals, Halston offered ten million dollars to anyone inside the family who would arrange your death."
Silence.
"I spent six years dismantling his network slowly."
"Why now?"
"Because Adrian learned Gabriel had kept evidence."
Elena looked at the screen.
"So Judge Halston knows about me?"
Vincenzo's eyes moved to her.
"If Adrian told him."
My phone rang again.
Unknown.
This time I put it on speaker.
Adrian.
"You found it."
"Yes."
"Then you know."
"Enough."
He laughed.
"Not enough."
"What do you want?"
"The drive."
"No."
"Then Salvatore dies."
A muffled sound came through.
Someone struggling.
"Proof he's alive."
Adrian moved the phone.
Salvatore's voice cracked through.
"Matteo, don't—"
A blow cut him off.
Elena flinched.
Adrian returned.
"Midnight. Old DeLuca freight terminal on the river."
"You're not getting the original."
"I don't care about the plastic, cousin. I care about every copy."
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
At least he was honest.
"Bring Elena."
My eyes hardened.
"No."
"She heard too much."
"She's not part of this."
"She became part of it when she picked up that key."
Elena looked at me.
Adrian continued.
"If she doesn't come, I assume you've already sent the evidence to federal authorities. Salvatore dies immediately."
The call ended.
"No," I said before Elena spoke.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to volunteer."
"I was going to suggest something."
"No."
"What if—"
"No."
She crossed her arms.
"Do you treat everyone this way?"
"Only people currently targeted by murderers."
"That's oddly specific."
"Elena."
She stepped closer.
"If Adrian expects me, use that."
"I'm not putting you near him."
"You don't have to."
I stared.
She pointed at the drive.
"Make him think I'm coming."
Luca understood first.
"A decoy."
She nodded.
"You give him what he expects to see."
"From a distance," Luca said.
I hated the idea.
Which meant it might work.
We created three copies of the files.
One went to an attorney with instructions to release everything if I failed to call by one in the morning.
One went to a secure server.
One remained with Vincenzo.
Adrian could destroy a drive.
He couldn't destroy information anymore.
At eleven forty, we approached the abandoned freight terminal.
Snow fell over the river.
Lights burned inside the warehouse.
Elena was supposed to remain three miles away in a secure vehicle.
That was the agreement.
Which was why discovering her sitting in the SUV beside Luca ten minutes later nearly caused me to lose my mind.
"What are you doing here?"
She looked guilty.
"Luca said—"
"I absolutely did not," Luca interrupted.
"Traitor," she muttered.
I leaned toward her.
"You stay in this vehicle."
"Fine."
"You do not leave."
"Fine."
"You do not—"
"Matteo."
"What?"
Her expression softened.
"Come back."
Two simple words.
Nobody had said them to me in six years.
Come back.
Not win.
Not kill him.
Not protect the family.
Come back.
I touched her face briefly.
Then I walked toward the warehouse.
Adrian waited beneath industrial lights.
Salvatore knelt nearby, bruised but alive.
Three armed men surrounded them.
"You look tired," Adrian said.
"You look like a dead man."
He smiled.
"There's the Matteo I remember."
I held up the drive.
"Release Salvatore."
"Elena?"
"Safe."
His smile disappeared.
"I said bring her."
"I don't take orders from you."
Adrian raised his weapon toward Salvatore.
I held up a hand.
"The evidence is already elsewhere."
"You're bluffing."
"Kill him and find out."
Adrian hesitated.
That was all Luca needed.
The lights went out.
Shouting erupted.
I moved.
Gunfire cracked through the warehouse.
When emergency lights flickered on, two of Adrian's men were down and Salvatore had rolled behind a crate.
Adrian ran.
I followed.
We burst onto the loading dock.
Snow struck my face.
He turned and fired.
I ducked behind steel.
Then headlights appeared.
A vehicle accelerated toward the dock.
Not ours.
Adrian smiled.
"Halston sends his regards."
The SUV raced toward us.
Before I could move, another vehicle slammed into its side.
Metal screamed.
Both cars spun.
The second vehicle stopped.
The driver's door opened.
Elena climbed out.
My heart nearly stopped.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I saw the SUV leaving the other lot!"
Adrian raised his gun toward her.
Everything slowed.
I fired first.
The weapon flew from his hand.
He collapsed, clutching his shoulder.
Luca's men surrounded him seconds later.
I didn't look at Adrian again.
I ran to Elena.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"You were supposed to stay—"
"I know."
"You drove into a car."
"It seemed like the fastest option."
"You could have died."
"So could you."
My anger disappeared.
She was shaking.
So was I.
I pulled her against me.
Hard.
For the first time since Sofia died, I held someone because I needed to feel that they were alive.
Elena wrapped her arms around me.
Behind us, Adrian laughed weakly.
"You think this ends with me?"
I turned.
His face was pale.
"Halston owns half the people you trust."
Then headlights appeared at both ends of the terminal.
More vehicles.
Far too many.
Luca swore.
Adrian smiled.
"Now you understand."
We hadn't walked into Adrian's trap.
We had walked into Judge Halston's war.