“The Gala Comes First,” Mafia Boss Insisted—His Pregnant Wife Cost Him More Than a Vote

Matteo arrived at Gabriel's office before dawn.

He had not slept. His tie was missing, his shirt collar was open, and the controlled expression that usually frightened his employees had been replaced by something raw.

Catherine stood when he entered.

For a moment, neither spoke.

He looked at her face, then at the hand resting over her abdomen.

"Are you all right?"

"Physically."

His eyes closed briefly.

"I deserve that."

"You deserve more than that."

"I know."

He did not approach her.

It was the first time Catherine had seen him respect a boundary without being forced to.

Gabriel placed the photograph of Daniel Cross on the desk.

"Your brother has been taken."

Matteo stared at it.

"My brother is dead."

"That's what your family told you."

"Rose never said there was another child."

"She wrote a letter."

Gabriel handed him the hospital bracelet and the adoption record.

Matteo read the documents in silence.

Then he sat down.

"My mother spent her final year asking me to forgive my father for something I didn't understand."

He rubbed a hand over his face.

"She said there was a boy who should have grown up beside me. I thought she meant a cousin."

Catherine sat across from him.

"Did you ever ask?"

"Once. My father told me never to mention it again."

"And you obeyed."

"Yes."

The honesty in his answer was painful.

Matteo had built an empire on the belief that control could prevent loss. He controlled his employees, his business partners, his enemies, and the emotions he permitted himself to feel.

Now he was discovering how many lives had been damaged by the things he had chosen not to question.

Gabriel spread the financial records across the table.

"The trust vote is scheduled for tomorrow. Enzo needs Matteo to remain isolated from the firstborn heir until the vote is complete."

"Then we find Daniel tonight."

Matteo turned to Catherine.

"I want you to come home."

She held his gaze.

"Why?"

"Because you're my wife."

"That was not enough when I asked you to leave the gala."

He absorbed the words without defending himself.

"You're right."

"Don't ask me to return because you're frightened. Don't ask me to return because another man has threatened your family. And don't tell me you love me just because you finally understand what you might lose."

Matteo's face tightened.

"I won't."

"Then why are you here?"

He looked at the ultrasound photograph she had placed on the table.

"Because I want to be the kind of father who shows up before his child has to learn what absence feels like."

Catherine said nothing.

"I cannot undo what I did at the gala," he continued. "I cannot ask you to forget Celeste or pretend that I didn't choose the vote over you. But I can stop making decisions that require you to carry the consequences alone."

"That would be a beginning."

He nodded.

Gabriel interrupted.

"We have a location."

A signal from the memory card's partial data had led them to an abandoned textile mill outside Asheville. Daniel's captors were using an old security system connected to a company controlled by Enzo.

Matteo stood.

"I'm going."

"So am I," Gabriel said.

Catherine rose too.

"No."

Both men turned toward her.

"I am not going into a building full of armed men," she said. "But I am not sitting here while you decide what happens to my future."

She opened her laptop and displayed the ownership records.

"The textile mill is held by a company that defaulted on a loan from Bennett Freight. My father transferred the debt before he died. I may still have the legal authority to access the property."

Matteo stared at her.

"You can get us inside?"

"I can get us inside legally."

For the first time that morning, something like respect replaced guilt in his eyes.

They left within the hour.

At the mill, the main doors stood open.

Inside, a single light illuminated a chair.

Daniel Cross sat in it, his hands free.

He looked up as Matteo entered.

Then he smiled without warmth.

"So you're the brother who got the life I was supposed to have."

Matteo stopped.