Chapter 3 - The Brother Beside the Car
Gabriel stared at Matteo’s face until the photograph blurred.
His younger brother was thirty-six.
Charming.
Impulsive.
Infuriating.
He loved Leo.
Had adored Elena.
Or Gabriel thought he had.
Dominic said carefully:
“A photograph doesn’t prove sabotage.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“I know.”
Claire noticed how much effort those two words cost.
They inserted the memory card into an isolated laptop.
One audio file.
Recorded by Elena.
Timestamp: six hours before the crash.
Gabriel put on headphones.
Then removed one side and handed it to Claire.
He didn’t know why.
Maybe because she was already inside the secret.
Elena’s voice.
Clear.
Alive.
“If you find this, I hope I’m being dramatic.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Claire looked away.
Elena continued.
“I found transfers from Moretti Relief into accounts controlled by Matteo and Uncle Salvatore.”
Gabriel opened his eyes.
Salvatore Moretti.
His father’s older brother.
Family consigliere.
The man who had advised Gabriel since he inherited the organization at twenty-seven.
Elena continued.
“I don’t think Gabriel knows.”
Claire glanced at him.
He didn’t.
“I confronted Matteo.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“He said I misunderstood.”
Then:
“This morning I saw him near my car.”
Photograph.
Elena had taken it.
She continued.
“I checked the garage camera. Eleven minutes are missing.”
Gabriel whispered:
“Jesus.”
Elena’s voice became quieter.
“I’m taking Leo to my mother’s tomorrow.”
He felt struck.
She planned to leave the estate temporarily.
Not him.
Maybe.
Then:
“I need time to decide how to tell Gabriel without starting a war.”
Gabriel almost laughed.
Elena knew him.
The recording continued.
“If something happens, look at the foundation accounts.”
Then stopped.
That was all.
Claire removed the headphone.
“Matteo.”
Gabriel stood.
“Not yet.”
Claire looked surprised.
“You just heard—”
“I heard suspicion.”
“You saw him at the car.”
“I saw a photograph.”
“You’re defending him?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“I am refusing to become the kind of man who kills his brother because a photograph tells the story I’m angriest enough to believe.”
Claire stared.
That was not what she expected from a Mafia Boss.
Neither was it what Gabriel expected from himself.
Seven months of fatherhood without Elena had changed something.
Or broken something useful.
They returned to the Moretti estate before sunrise.
Matteo was already there.
He entered the breakfast room carrying Leo.
The baby was laughing.
Gabriel stopped.
Matteo smiled.
“There he is.”
Then saw Claire.
His expression changed.
Very slightly.
Gabriel saw.
“Who is she?”
Claire saw that too.
“You know me?”
Matteo recovered.
“No.”
Gabriel walked closer.
“Put Leo down.”
Matteo frowned.
“What?”
“Give him to Rosa.”
The nanny took the baby.
Matteo looked between them.
“What happened?”
Gabriel placed the photograph on the table.
Matteo’s face emptied.
Silence.
Claire watched.
Dominic closed the doors.
Gabriel asked:
“What were you doing beside Elena’s car?”
Matteo sat.
Not because he was told.
Because his knees seemed suddenly unreliable.
“She found it.”
“What?”
“The transfer.”
“What transfer?”
Matteo looked at the photograph.
Gabriel slammed his hand on the table.
“What transfer?”
Matteo flinched.
“Uncle Salvatore’s money.”
Gabriel went still.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
Gabriel’s voice became quiet.
“And you said nothing.”
Matteo looked ashamed.
“I was trying to fix it.”
Claire almost laughed.
Men always seemed to say that after secrecy failed.
“What were you doing to the car?”
Matteo looked at her.
“Who are you?”
“Anna Bennett’s sister.”
His face changed.
Claire saw it.
“You know Anna.”
Matteo stood.
“Where is she?”
Gabriel grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Matteo looked terrified now.
“Gabriel, where is Anna?”
“Missing.”
“Since when?”
“Six days after Elena died.”
Matteo cursed.
Then:
“Salvatore.”
Gabriel’s blood cooled.
“What about him?”
Matteo moved toward the door.
Dominic blocked him.
“Talk.”
Matteo turned.
“I wasn’t sabotaging Elena’s car.”
“Then?”
“I was removing a tracker.”
Silence.
“What tracker?”
“A GPS unit under the rear wheel well.”
“Whose?”
“Salvatore’s.”
Gabriel stared.
“How do you know?”
“I put it there for him.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
Matteo lifted his hands.
“Months earlier.”
“Why?”
“He said Elena was meeting journalists.”
Gabriel almost hit him.
Matteo continued quickly.
“I believed she might expose the family.”
“She was my wife.”
“I know.”
“You tracked her.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel walked away.
Needed distance.
Matteo whispered:
“Then I learned why she was meeting people.”
“The foundation?”
“Yes.”
“Salvatore stealing?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Over eighty million.”
Dominic swore.
Claire stared.
Charity funds.
Hospitals.
Housing programs.
Money stolen from people who needed it.
Matteo continued.
“I confronted him. He told me to stay out.”
“So you warned Elena.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I thought I could recover it first.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
Pride.
Always pride.
Matteo added:
“The morning of the accident, I saw Salvatore’s tracker was still active.”
“So you removed it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena told me she was leaving town with Leo.”
Gabriel looked up.
“She told you?”
“Yes.”
“But not me.”
“She said she needed one night.”
That hurt.
Not because Elena was wrong.
Because she had trusted Matteo enough to say it.
“What happened after you removed the tracker?”
“I went to Salvatore.”
“And?”
“He already knew.”
“How?”
Matteo shook his head.
“Another tracker.”
Gabriel felt cold.
“What?”
“He laughed at me. Said I was sentimental.”
Claire whispered:
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Car?”
“Maybe phone.”
“Then the crash.”
Matteo’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Gabriel asked:
“Did Salvatore order it?”
“I never proved it.”
“What about Anna?”
Matteo looked toward Claire.
“Anna called me the day after Elena died.”
Claire went still.
“What?”
“She found my number in Elena’s phone.”
“What did she want?”
“To meet.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Claire stepped toward him.
“You met my sister?”
“Yes.”
“And then she disappeared.”
“Six days later.”
“What did she give you?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“I swear.”
“What did she tell you?”
Matteo looked at Gabriel.
“She said Elena survived the crash long enough to say one more thing.”
Gabriel’s chest tightened.
“What?”
“‘The baby isn’t safe with Salvatore.’”
Silence.
Leo.
Gabriel felt every protective instinct ignite.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Matteo’s face crumpled.
“Because Salvatore knew about my involvement.”
“What involvement?”
“The tracking.”
“He threatened to make it look like I arranged Elena’s death.”
Gabriel stared at his brother.
“So you protected yourself.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was ugly.
Real.
Claire whispered:
“And Anna?”
“I arranged somewhere safe for her.”
Her breath stopped.
“What?”
Gabriel turned.
“You said she disappeared.”
“She had to.”
“Where is she?”
Matteo looked terrified again.
“I don’t know anymore.”
Claire grabbed his jacket.
“Where did you send her?”
“A safe apartment in Philadelphia.”
“When?”
“The night she vanished.”
“So she wasn’t kidnapped?”
“Not then.”
“What happened?”
“I checked two weeks later.”
“And?”
“Empty.”
Claire released him.
Hope and fear collided across her face.
“She was alive.”
“Yes.”
“When you last saw her?”
“Yes.”
Claire started crying.
Not grief.
Not relief.
Something between them.
Gabriel asked:
“What did Anna have that Salvatore wanted?”
Matteo shook his head.
“She never told me.”
Then Leo began crying upstairs.
Everyone stopped.
Claire’s face changed first.
She tilted her head.
“That cry is different.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“What?”
“He sounds scared.”
They ran.
The nursery door was open.
Rosa, the nanny, lay conscious on the floor beside the crib, dazed but breathing.
Leo was gone.
On the mattress sat one black envelope.
Gabriel opened it.
Inside:
THE CHILD FOR THE CARD.
Claire went white.
Gabriel stared.
Memory card.
Elena’s evidence.
Someone knew.
Someone inside the house.
Then Dominic looked at the security monitor.
All nursery cameras had gone dark exactly three minutes earlier.
Matteo whispered:
“Salvatore.”
Gabriel’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“No.”
May you like
Everyone looked at him.
“He didn’t do this alone.”
