Chapter 7 - The Father Who Was Never Gone
"Because your father has been alive this entire time..."
The words stayed in Matteo's mind long after the call ended.
He stood inside the old warehouse, holding the phone against his ear even though the line had already disconnected.
Nobody spoke.
Not Daniel.
Not Harper.
Not the woman who had spent years protecting the secrets of his family.
Everyone watched Matteo.
Waiting for his reaction.
But Matteo Rossi had no reaction.
Not because he wasn't shocked.
Because his entire understanding of his life had just collapsed.
"My father is alive."
The words came out quietly.
Almost like he was testing whether they sounded real.
Daniel looked down.
Harper closed her eyes.
And that was enough.
Matteo noticed.
They weren't surprised.
They had known.
"You all knew."
Nobody answered.
Matteo turned toward them.
"You all knew my father was alive."
His voice became colder.
"And you let me believe he was dead."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Matteo..."
"No."
He raised his hand.
The same gesture that had stopped entire rooms from speaking.
But this time, nobody stopped.
Because they weren't afraid anymore.
That realization hurt more than he expected.
"You don't get to explain this."
Matteo looked at the photograph again.
His father.
Standing beside Norah.
Alive.
"Where is he?"
Harper spoke softly.
"He wanted you to find him when you were ready."
Matteo laughed once.
Bitter.
"Ready?"
He looked at her.
"You think I was supposed to be ready to discover my dead father was hiding for years?"
Harper didn't respond.
Because there was no defense.
Matteo looked at Daniel.
"Why did he leave?"
Daniel's expression changed.
Because that was the question everyone had avoided.
"The night your father disappeared..."
Daniel stopped.
Matteo waited.
"Someone tried to take control of the Rossi empire."
Matteo frowned.
"My father was powerful."
"Power doesn't protect people from betrayal."
The answer was immediate.
Daniel continued.
"Your father discovered that someone close to him was planning to use you."
"Me?"
"Yes."
Daniel looked at him.
"You were young. Angry. Determined to become exactly like him."
Matteo looked away.
Because that was true.
After his father's disappearance, Matteo had spent years rebuilding everything.
He convinced himself he became stronger.
But maybe he had only become the person his father feared.
"Who was it?"
Daniel was silent.
Then Harper spoke.
"Your uncle."
Matteo froze.
"My uncle died before my father."
"That's what you were told."
Another secret.
Another lie.
Matteo felt anger rising.
His entire life was built on things people decided he couldn't handle.
His father.
His family.
Norah.
Everyone had protected him by keeping him blind.
He hated that part most.
Not the lies.
The fact that everyone believed he needed them.
His phone vibrated.
A message.
From Norah.
He opened it.
Only one sentence.
"I need you to understand before you see him."
Then a location appeared.
An old private property outside the city.
The place where Matteo's father used to take him as a child.
His childhood home.
The one that had been sold after his father's disappearance.
Matteo stared at the address.
Harper saw it.
"She's there."
Matteo looked at her.
"With him?"
Harper nodded.
"Yes."
He walked toward the exit.
Daniel followed.
"Matteo."
He stopped.
"What?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Don't go there looking for revenge."
Matteo turned slowly.
"Why?"
"Because that's what everyone expected you to do."
Daniel's voice became quieter.
"Your father didn't disappear because he was weak."
A pause.
"He disappeared because he knew exactly what you would become if you found out the truth too early."
Matteo said nothing.
Because that sentence stayed with him.
What would he have become?
A man who destroyed everyone who lied to him?
A man who chose power over family?
A man exactly like the person he thought he was trying to escape?
The old Rossi property looked smaller than Matteo remembered.
When he was a child, it felt like a castle.
Now it looked like a place full of ghosts.
The gates were open.
Nobody stopped him.
That frightened him more.
He walked through the front door.
Inside, everything was preserved.
The furniture.
The paintings.
The photographs.
Like someone had been waiting.
Then he saw her.
Norah.
Standing in the old living room.
One hand resting on her stomach.
The other holding a folder.
For a second, Matteo forgot everything else.
The anger.
The betrayal.
The secrets.
Because she was safe.
That was the only thing that mattered.
"Norah."
She looked at him.
Her expression was complicated.
Not hatred.
Not forgiveness.
Something between them.
Something broken.
"You came."
He nodded.
"Of course I came."
She looked down.
"I wasn't sure."
That hurt.
More than he expected.
"I would always come for you."
Norah looked at him.
"That's the problem, Matteo."
He became still.
"You always came after things were already broken."
The words were quiet.
But they were true.
She walked toward the table.
Placed the folder down.
"I didn't leave because of Harper."
Matteo swallowed.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She opened the folder.
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Records.
Everything.
"I left because I found out your father spent years trying to protect us from the same people who were supposed to protect you."
Matteo looked at the papers.
"Who?"
Norah looked toward the hallway.
"Ask him yourself."
Matteo turned.
A figure appeared at the end of the corridor.
Older.
Different.
But familiar.
A face he had seen in every childhood memory.
A face he had buried.
The man stepped into the light.
Matteo couldn't move.
His father looked at him.
And for the first time in decades...
Matteo Rossi heard the voice of the man he thought he lost forever.
"Son."
The room went silent.
Matteo's eyes filled with questions.
Anger.
Pain.
Everything he had buried.
"You let me think you were dead."
His father's expression broke.
"I know."
"Why?"
The older man looked at Norah.
Then at the folder.
Then back at Matteo.
"Because if I came back too soon..."
A pause.
"...they would have killed you."
Matteo stepped closer.
"Who?"
His father looked toward the window.
His face changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
Something Matteo had never seen on him before.
Then his father whispered:
"The person you trusted the most has already found you."
Matteo turned toward the front door.
May you like
Because at that exact moment...
Someone knocked.
