Chapter 12 - The Father Behind the Locked Door|
Norah stared at the photograph until she could no longer see the room around her.
The man in the picture looked older than the one from the airport footage. His hair had begun to gray at the temples, and exhaustion had carved deep lines around his mouth. But his eyes were unmistakable.
She had seen them in her own reflection every morning.
“Is that Nathaniel?” she whispered.
Matteo nodded.
“It's possible.”
“Possible?”
“We don't know who took the photograph or when it was taken.”
Norah snatched the phone from his hand.
“Then we're going to find out.”
Matteo placed a hand on the desk, blocking her path without touching her.
“Not without a plan.”
She looked at him with furious disbelief.
“My father might be alive, and you want to talk about a plan?”
“I want you to reach him alive.”
“Do you know what it feels like to spend your entire life believing the person who loved you most is buried in the ground, only to discover that someone may have kept him alive somewhere? Do you know what that does to a person?”
Matteo said nothing.
“No. You don't. Because every time someone you love disappears, you send armed men to find them. I have never had that luxury.”
Her voice broke on the final word.
Matteo stepped aside.
“You're right. I don't know what that feels like.”
Norah looked away, fighting tears.
“But I can help you find him,” he continued. “And I won't make the decision for you.”
She nodded once.
“Then let's go.”
The old hospital stood in a neglected neighborhood near the river. It had been closed for years after a financial scandal, and its upper floors had suffered extensive fire damage. According to Gabriel, the building was owned by a company linked to Vincent Falcone.
Matteo suspected it had been used as a temporary holding site.
They arrived shortly before eleven, leaving most of their security team several blocks away. Gabriel remained in contact through discreet earpieces.
The main entrance was chained, but a side door stood open.
Inside, the corridors smelled of mildew and disinfectant. Emergency lights cast long red shadows across the walls.
Norah followed Matteo toward the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs, they found a steel door with a keypad.
A handwritten message had been taped to it.
NORAH BENNETT ONLY.
Matteo examined the lock.
“Someone wants you alone.”
“Then someone doesn't understand me.”
She took the small key from her pocket, the one marked with her father's initials.
It fit into a narrow opening beneath the keypad.
A click sounded.
The door unlocked.
Beyond it was a room containing a metal table, two chairs, and a surveillance monitor. A man sat with his wrists secured to the chair.
He lifted his head.
Norah forgot how to breathe.
“Nathaniel?”
The man stared at her.
Then his expression crumpled.
“Norah.”
She crossed the room and dropped to her knees beside him.
“It's really you?”
He nodded, tears filling his eyes.
“I thought I'd never see you again.”
She reached for his face, then stopped just short of touching him, afraid that the image might vanish.
“Why didn't you come back?”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“Because I was told you were dead.”
Norah recoiled.
“What?”
“Elizabeth was told you had been killed in an accident when you were a baby. I was told she had died. We were both given false information. By the time I learned the truth, you had disappeared.”
“You're saying you spent twenty-four years believing I was dead?”
“Not all of them. I found out you were alive eleven years ago.”
Her face hardened.
“Eleven years?”
Nathaniel looked down.
“I tried to reach you.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because the people who killed Adrian were watching you. Every time I got close, someone threatened to hurt you. I thought staying away was the only way to protect you.”
Norah stood slowly.
“You thought leaving me alone was protection.”
“I know how that sounds.”
“No. You know how it feels to say it. You don't know what it felt like to be me.”
Nathaniel lowered his head.
For several seconds, she could not look at him.
Then she noticed the bruises around his wrists and the blood on his sleeve.
“Who did this?”
“Vincent's men.”
“Where is he?”
Nathaniel glanced toward the ceiling.
“Not here. But he knows you're coming.”
Matteo moved to the door.
“Gabriel, we have him. Get the vehicles ready.”
Static answered.
Then a voice came through the earpiece.
“Boss, we have a problem. The street is blocked. Multiple vehicles. They're not police.”
Matteo looked at Nathaniel.
“Can you walk?”
“With help.”
Norah cut the restraints with a small blade Matteo had given her. Nathaniel stood unsteadily, leaning against her shoulder.
As they reached the corridor, the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted from the stairwell.
Matteo pushed them behind a concrete pillar and returned fire. A smoke canister rolled across the floor, filling the corridor with gray haze.
“Move!” he shouted.
They ran toward a service exit.
At the end of the passage, a figure stood waiting.
Vincent Falcone.
He held a pistol at his side.
“Matteo,” he said calmly. “Step away from the girl.”
Matteo raised his weapon.
“Let us leave.”
“You have no idea what you're carrying out of this building.”
“A man you tried to bury twice.”
Vincent's eyes shifted to Nathaniel.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Nathaniel straightened despite his injuries.
“You should have let me finish the work.”
Vincent laughed.
“You were an accountant. You believed a stack of papers could defeat an empire.”
“No,” Nathaniel said. “I believed the truth could defeat a coward.”
Vincent's smile vanished.
He raised his gun.
Norah moved between them.
“Don't.”
For a moment, Vincent looked almost surprised.
Then he lowered the weapon slightly.
“You really don't know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Why your father was kept alive.”
Norah glanced at Nathaniel.
Vincent continued.
“It's not because of the trust. It's not because of the money. Your father knows the identity of the man who ordered Adrian's death.”
Matteo's jaw tightened.
“Salvatore?”
Vincent shook his head.
“Salvatore carried out the orders. He didn't give them.”
“Then who did?”
Vincent looked directly at Matteo.
“Your father.”
The words hung in the corridor.
Matteo's face became unreadable.
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
“It's true,” he whispered.
Norah looked between them, unable to understand how the man who had spent his life hiding from a conspiracy could now confirm that its roots reached into the family Matteo had sworn to protect.
Vincent stepped backward.
“You can shoot me, Matteo. You can arrest me. But the moment you do, every captain in this city will learn that your father ordered his own son's death.”
Matteo's gun remained steady.
“Then they'll learn.”
Vincent's expression changed.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
He turned and disappeared through a side door as the security team breached the building from the opposite corridor.
Matteo wanted to pursue him.
Instead, he looked at Norah.
“Your father needs medical attention.”
Norah nodded, still struggling to process what she had heard.
As they escaped through the service exit, Nathaniel caught Matteo's arm.
“There's something else.”
Matteo stopped.
Nathaniel leaned closer.
“Adrian didn't survive the fire by accident. Your father knew where he was. He arranged the rescue.”
Matteo stared at him.
“Why would he save Adrian and then tell me he was dead?”
Nathaniel's answer was barely audible.
“Because Adrian agreed to disappear in exchange for one promise.”
“What promise?”
May you like
Nathaniel looked at Norah.
“That the daughter of Nathaniel Vale would never become the heir to the Falcone empire.”
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