Chapter 6 - Victor’s Last Bargain
Emma dropped the phone.
Matteo caught it before it hit the floor.
“What happened?”
The caseworker’s voice trembled through the speaker.
“Fire alarm. We evacuated. One of the officers told me Milo was being moved to another vehicle.”
Ortiz grabbed the phone.
“What officer?”
“I don’t know. He showed identification.”
“Description.”
The caseworker gave it.
Ortiz’s face tightened.
She ended the call.
“Victor.”
Adrian stumbled forward.
“He took my son?”
Matteo caught his shoulders.
“We’re getting him back.”
Adrian looked ready to collapse.
Emma stepped in.
“Milo is smart.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“He trusted me.”
“He still does.”
Emma took his hand.
“And he knows we’re coming.”
Matteo looked at the address on the card.
Victor’s restaurant.
8:00 PM.
Sixteen minutes.
“This is the bargain,” he said.
Ortiz nodded.
“Ledger for Milo.”
Adrian’s voice broke.
“Give him the ledger.”
Matteo did not hesitate.
“Yes.”
Ortiz looked at him.
“That ledger could dismantle Victor’s network.”
“I don’t care.”
Adrian stared.
Matteo continued.
“A child is worth more than evidence.”
Emma watched him.
For the first time, she understood exactly why Sofia had risked contacting him.
Maybe Teresa had been right all along.
Matteo was different.
The restaurant sat along the river in a restored brick building.
Victor Sarto owned it through three companies.
By 7:58, police surrounded adjacent blocks discreetly.
Victor had demanded Matteo enter with Emma and Adrian.
No police.
No Luca.
No weapons.
Matteo agreed.
Ortiz hated every part of it.
“You have three minutes after entry before we move.”
“No,” Matteo said.
“Excuse me?”
“If Milo is visible, you wait.”
“Matteo—”
“You rush Victor and he panics.”
Ortiz stared at him.
“You’re asking me to trust your judgment.”
“No. I’m asking you to protect the boy.”
She exhaled.
“Five minutes.”
They entered.
The restaurant was empty.
Lights dim.
Tables untouched.
Victor sat alone near the windows.
Milo sat beside him.
Emma’s heart stopped.
“Milo.”
He turned.
“Emma!”
Victor placed a hand on his shoulder.
Milo froze.
Matteo’s expression became lethal.
“Take your hand off him.”
Victor smiled.
He was in his sixties.
Elegant.
Gray-haired.
The kind of man who could have been mistaken for a retired judge.
“Still impulsive.”
“Let him go.”
“Ledger.”
Matteo lifted the leather folder.
“Here.”
Victor looked at Adrian.
“So.”
His smile changed.
“Sofia’s little mistake grew up.”
Adrian lunged.
Emma grabbed him.
“Don’t.”
Victor chuckled.
“You have her temper.”
Matteo placed the ledger on a table.
“Release Milo.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“What else?”
“The recordings.”
“They’re with police.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“You always were careless.”
“No. I finally learned.”
Victor stood.
“You think this makes you righteous?”
“I think it makes me tired.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
Victor stared.
Matteo continued.
“My father spent his life teaching me family meant obedience.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“He built everything you have.”
“No.”
Matteo looked directly at him.
“Sofia did.”
Victor’s face changed.
Just enough.
Emma noticed.
So did Matteo.
“You found the accounts,” Victor said.
“Yes.”
“Then you know your sister was never innocent.”
“I know she discovered what you were doing.”
“She was going to destroy the family.”
“She was going to expose you.”
Victor laughed.
“The distinction is meaningless.”
“To you.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“Not to me.”
Milo watched.
Emma slowly shifted toward him.
Victor noticed.
“Stay.”
Emma stopped.
He reached inside his jacket.
Matteo moved.
Victor produced not a gun but a phone.
“One message,” he said, “and men you haven’t found yet visit everyone connected to this.”
Emma felt cold.
“Rebecca. Ortiz. Luca. The boy’s caseworker. Even your charming singer.”
Matteo’s voice lowered.
“You touch Emma—”
Victor smiled.
“There he is.”
Emma looked at Matteo.
Victor had found the nerve he wanted.
“Interesting,” Victor continued. “All this for a woman you met this afternoon.”
Matteo said nothing.
Emma’s heartbeat changed.
Victor looked amused.
“That Bellandi weakness. Always a woman.”
Adrian snapped.
“My mother wasn’t a weakness.”
Victor turned.
“She ruined everything.”
“No,” Adrian said. “She survived you.”
Victor’s smile vanished.
Then a voice came from behind him.
“And I kept surviving.”
Everyone froze.
A door near the kitchen opened.
A woman stepped into the restaurant.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Thin.
Scar along one cheek.
Matteo stopped breathing.
“Sofia.”
This time, there was no mistake.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Same eyes.
Same chin.
Same way of holding her shoulders when angry.
Victor went pale.
“You.”
Sofia looked at her brother.
Matteo could not speak.
She turned to Milo.
“Come here, sweetheart.”
Victor grabbed Milo.
Matteo moved.
Victor pulled a gun.
Everything stopped.
Emma’s breath caught.
Police waited outside.
Too far.
Milo began shaking.
Sofia’s face remained calm.
“Victor.”
“Don’t.”
“You lost.”
“Not yet.”
“You did eighteen years ago.”
Victor pressed the weapon lower, not directly at Milo but close enough to terrorize everyone.
Emma watched Milo’s breathing.
Too fast.
His eyes found hers.
She understood.
The song.
Emma began humming.
Victor looked at her.
“Stop.”
She continued.
Softly.
The same melody from the museum.
Milo’s breathing slowed.
Emma sang.
“Dormi, dormi, piccolo mio…”
Victor’s attention shifted.
Only for a second.
But Milo remembered what Emma had taught him.
Four slow breaths.
He inhaled.
Then suddenly dropped to the floor.
Matteo moved.
Adrian lunged.
Sofia shoved the table.
Victor fired.
Glass shattered.
Police stormed through both entrances.
Emma pulled Milo behind the overturned table.
Adrian covered them.
Matteo wrestled Victor’s gun arm toward the ceiling.
Another shot.
Then Ortiz hit Victor from the side.
The gun slid across the floor.
Luca kicked it away.
Victor was pinned.
Handcuffed.
Finished.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Milo began crying.
Emma hugged him.
Adrian crawled toward them.
“Milo.”
“Daddy!”
Father and son collided.
Adrian held him so tightly both began sobbing.
Emma turned.
Sofia stood five feet from Matteo.
Brother and sister stared at each other across eighteen stolen years.
Matteo’s eyes filled.
“You were alive.”
Sofia’s lips trembled.
“I’m sorry.”
He crossed the distance.
They embraced.
Not carefully.
Not politely.
Matteo held his sister like someone trying to recover eighteen years in one moment.
Emma looked away.
Ortiz led Victor toward the exit.
As he passed Emma, he stopped.
“You think this ends because I’m arrested?”
Ortiz pushed him forward.
Victor smiled.
“The ledger has names Matteo doesn’t recognize.”
Matteo released Sofia.
“What names?”
Victor looked over his shoulder.
“One of them has been beside you all day.”
Luca stiffened.
Ortiz stopped.
Everyone looked at everyone else.
Victor laughed.
“You still don’t know who betrayed Sofia.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“Who?”
Victor was dragged toward the door.
He called back:
“Ask the man who knew about locker 314 before Emma ever mentioned it.”
Silence.
Emma slowly turned.
Earlier in her apartment, before she had explained the key, Luca had recognized the storage system.
Luca’s face drained.
Matteo looked at his oldest bodyguard.
His closest friend.
“Luca?”
May you like
Luca stepped backward.
Then reached inside his jacket.
