Chapter 4 - The Dead Men Around Him
Rafael Serrano had been buried with military honors.
Mateo remembered every detail.
Luca had been twenty-one.
Mateo twenty-four.
Rafael had worked for Mateo’s father for decades.
He was disciplined.
Quiet.
Loyal.
He died protecting both young men during an ambush in Queens.
Or so they had believed.
Now Rafael Serrano was standing beside Arya beneath an overpass.
Alive.
Mateo called Luca.
Silence.
“Say something.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You recognize him.”
“Yes.”
“Could the image be altered?”
“I’m checking.”
Mateo entered the elevator.
“Where’s Adrian?”
“Still at the gala. Valente security has him under observation.”
“Don’t touch him.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“You were.”
“Maybe a little.”
Mateo almost appreciated the answer.
“Watch him.”
“What are you doing?”
“Finding your father.”
The image contained enough information.
Streetlights.
Concrete supports.
A faded municipal sign.
Luca isolated the location.
“Brooklyn.”
An address arrived.
Mateo drove.
He remembered Rafael teaching them to box.
Rafael showing Luca how to repair an engine.
Rafael telling Mateo that power mattered only when people trusted the man holding it.
Now every dead person in Mateo’s life seemed inconveniently alive.
Elena.
Rafael.
He wondered who would walk out of a grave next.
The overpass was empty.
An abandoned warehouse stood nearby.
Mateo entered through a side door.
“Arya?”
Nothing.
He moved carefully.
A light glowed ahead.
Rafael Serrano sat at a table.
Older.
Gray-haired.
A scar crossed one side of his face.
But alive.
“Mateo.”
Mateo stopped ten feet away.
“Where is she?”
Rafael smiled faintly.
“You still begin with the important question.”
“Where is Arya?”
“Safe.”
“I decide that.”
“No. She does.”
Mateo’s expression hardened.
“You kidnapped her.”
“I removed her from Adrian’s transport.”
“He was taking her to the research center?”
“No.”
Mateo waited.
Rafael leaned back.
“He was going to kill her.”
Silence.
“He forged the procedure authorization to create a medical explanation if her body was found.”
Mateo’s jaw tightened.
“Where is she?”
“She asked me not to tell you.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“Because everyone around you has spent years protecting you from truths you would have destroyed yourself trying to fix.”
Mateo stepped forward.
“I am finished being protected.”
Rafael studied him.
“You sound like your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“At this point, I require documentation.”
Rafael laughed once.
Mateo did not.
“Why fake your death?”
“Because your father ordered me to.”
Mateo became still.
“Explain.”
“Fifteen years ago, we discovered someone was laundering money through Valente charities.”
“The same network Elena found.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Rafael looked at him.
“Your uncle.”
Mateo felt the room narrow.
Vittorio Valente.
His father’s younger brother.
The charming uncle who taught Mateo how to play chess.
The man who sat beside Mateo at Elena’s funeral.
The man who currently chaired three Valente Foundation boards.
“Vittorio?”
“He built the hospital network with Adrian years later. Medical trials gave them leverage. Desperate families are easy to control.”
Mateo’s voice became dangerous.
“Why is Vittorio not in prison?”
“Because we could never prove enough.”
“Elena found proof.”
“And nearly died.”
“Where is she?”
“Hidden.”
“And Arya?”
Rafael hesitated.
Mateo walked toward him.
“Do not make me ask again.”
A door opened behind Rafael.
Arya stepped out.
Mateo stopped.
She was pale.
Exhausted.
But alive.
He crossed the distance instinctively, then stopped before touching her.
“You’re hurt?”
“No more than before.”
“Did they drug you?”
“Adrian did.”
Mateo looked at Rafael.
“He intercepted the transport before they could give me the full dose,” Arya said.
Mateo returned his eyes to her.
“You knew Rafael was alive?”
“Three weeks.”
“You knew Elena was alive?”
“Three months.”
“What else?”
Arya looked down.
“Too much.”
Mateo laughed softly.
There was no humor in it.
“I appear to be the last person invited into my own life.”
“That’s why I wanted to tell you.”
“You had eleven months.”
“I had eleven months of knowing you would burn the city down if someone threatened me.”
“I would not burn the city.”
Rafael raised an eyebrow.
Mateo looked at him.
“Stay out of this.”
Arya almost smiled.
Almost.
Then her expression became serious again.
“I needed evidence, Mateo.”
“You needed help.”
“I needed choice.”
That stopped him.
Arya met his eyes.
“Adrian already controlled where I went, who I spoke to, what doctors treated my family, whether my brother kept his residency. If I told you and you immediately took control of everything, how would that be different?”
Mateo absorbed the blow.
It hurt because it was fair.
He lowered his voice.
“It would be different because I would never hurt you.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because being protected without being asked can still feel like being owned.”
Mateo looked away.
He had built an empire by controlling outcomes.
Arya was asking him to do something harder.
Trust her.
“What do you want?”
“I want to finish this.”
“How?”
“Adrian keeps the real surgical records offline.”
“Where?”
“Private suite beneath the research center.”
“Can you access it?”
“I stole his key.”
Mateo remembered the broken tag.
“4B7.”
“That was the copy Elena made.”
“What do we need?”
“A ledger.”
Rafael stood.
“Patient names. Procedure codes. Payments. Deaths Adrian concealed.”
Mateo looked between them.
“And Vittorio?”
“He receives percentages,” Arya said.
Mateo’s expression became cold.
“Then we expose both.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“It never is.”
“Vittorio knows Elena survived.”
Mateo went still.
“How?”
“He sent her a message this morning.”
Rafael placed a phone on the table.
Mateo read it.
TONIGHT ENDS THE GAME.
Below was an image.
Elena sitting in a parked car.
Taken through a sniper scope.
Mateo looked at Rafael.
“Where is my sister?”
“We moved her.”
“Where?”
Before Rafael could answer, the warehouse lights died.
A gunshot shattered a window.
Mateo pulled Arya down behind the table.
Rafael drew a weapon.
Another shot.
Then another.
Glass exploded.
Mateo covered Arya with his body.
“You said this place was safe.”
“It was.”
Rafael fired toward the window.
Arya grabbed Mateo’s sleeve.
“Mateo.”
“I’ve got you.”
“No.”
She pointed toward the open side door.
A figure stood there.
Not attacking.
Watching.
A woman.
Mateo knew her silhouette before she stepped into the emergency light.
“Elena.”
His sister looked directly at him.
Tears filled Mateo’s eyes before he could stop them.
Elena lifted one finger to her lips.
Then she whispered:
“He’s here.”
Footsteps sounded behind Mateo.
Slow.
Calm.
Familiar.
May you like
And Uncle Vittorio said:
“Hello, nephew.”
