Chapter 10 - BLOOD DOES NOT MAKE FAMILY|
The gun remained pointed at Matteo's chest.
Gabriel's security team held position outside the room, waiting for a signal. Catherine watched from the corridor, protected by a guard who had been instructed not to let her approach the confrontation.
Daniel Cross looked thinner than Matteo, with a narrow face and a scar near his temple. Yet the resemblance was undeniable.
Same gray eyes.
Same straight nose.
Same expression when anger threatened to become grief.
Matteo raised his hands.
"I didn't know you existed."
Daniel laughed.
"That must have been convenient."
"It wasn't a choice I made."
"You benefited from it."
Matteo had no answer.
Daniel stood, keeping the gun steady.
"My adoptive parents died when I was nineteen. I spent years trying to find my birth family. Every record led nowhere. Then a woman from Arden Strategic showed me a photograph of Rose Mercer and told me I had a brother who inherited everything."
"Celeste?"
"She said you were the reason I was erased."
Matteo took one careful step forward.
"Enzo did it. My father helped him."
"Your father gave you the company."
"And I accepted it without asking questions."
Daniel's hand trembled.
"You still have everything."
"No. I have a family name built on lies, a company full of people who fear me, and a wife who has every reason to leave me."
He glanced toward the corridor.
"I have a child I almost lost before I learned how to be a father."
Daniel's eyes flickered.
"Your wife is pregnant?"
"Yes."
"Then you should understand why I'm here."
"I understand that someone used your pain to turn you against me."
"Don't pretend you know anything about my pain."
"I don't. But I know what it means to be abandoned."
Matteo told him about Rose's gardenias, the promise he had made as a boy, and the letter he had kept for years without understanding it.
Daniel listened, his expression shifting.
When Matteo finished, Daniel lowered the gun slightly.
"Did she really look for me?"
"Until she died."
A tear moved down Daniel's cheek.
He looked away, furious with himself for letting it happen.
Then a voice came from the speakers overhead.
"How touching."
Enzo Balori.
A security monitor flickered on.
Enzo appeared on the screen, seated in a leather chair with a glass of water beside him.
"Both nephews in one room. How sentimental."
Matteo turned toward the camera.
"You're finished."
"Am I? The trust vote is in six hours. By the time the trustees learn about your brother, the waterfront assets will already belong to Arden Strategic."
"Where's Celeste?"
"Not your concern."
Daniel raised the gun again.
"You erased me."
"I protected the family."
"You stole my life."
"I gave you a chance to live outside the ugliness of this world."
"You sold me to strangers."
Enzo's expression hardened.
"Your mother was weak. Your father was sentimental. Someone had to make difficult decisions."
Matteo stepped toward the monitor.
"You threatened my wife."
"Your wife is an obstacle."
The words stripped away the last of Matteo's restraint.
He looked at Gabriel.
"Get the original recordings."
Gabriel nodded.
Enzo smiled.
"You think you can expose me? Half the trustees owe me favors. The other half are afraid of what happens when the Balori family loses control."
"Then they can choose between fear and prison."
The screen went black.
A siren sounded outside.
Daniel looked at Matteo.
"What did you do?"
"I sent the evidence to federal investigators."
Daniel's face twisted.
"You brought the police here?"
"Yes."
"You think they'll protect us?"
"No. I think the truth deserves a chance to survive."
A loud crash echoed from the far side of the mill.
Gabriel ran into the room.
"We have to move. Enzo's men are coming through the loading bay."
Matteo turned toward the exit.
Daniel caught his arm.
"Why should I trust you?"
Matteo looked at him.
"You shouldn't. Not yet."
He held out his hand anyway.
"Come with me."
After a long moment, Daniel accepted it.
They reached the vehicle just as armed men emerged from the loading bay.
The escape was chaotic but brief. Gabriel's team secured the road, and the brothers reached safety before the police arrived.
Catherine waited at the medical clinic.
When Matteo entered, she noticed blood on his cuff.
"Are you hurt?"
"No. It's Daniel's."
Her face tightened.
"Is he alive?"
"Yes."
She exhaled.
Then Daniel appeared behind him.
He looked at Catherine's abdomen.
"You're carrying the next heir."
Catherine met his gaze.
"No. I'm carrying my child."
For the first time, Daniel looked ashamed.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me for what someone did to you," she said. "But don't let them turn you into the person who does it to someone else."
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Then a federal agent entered the room with a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was the missing memory card.
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And attached to it was a note in Celeste's handwriting.
Enzo has already moved the money. The only person who knows where it went is Matteo's wife.
