Chapter 10 - The Man in the Accident Report
Gemma returned to the mansion carrying the letter.
Matteo read it.
His expression hardened.
“I never threatened Daniel.”
Daniel stood across the room.
“No. Your father did.”
Vittorio had learned Daniel possessed the recording.
He feared the footage would reveal the twins' true parentage and trigger a war.
So he ordered Daniel to disappear.
Matteo knew nothing.
Daniel had blamed him anyway.
“I saw what your family did,” Daniel said.
“You saw my father.”
“I saw Ferraro.”
Matteo's voice went cold.
“I am not him.”
Leonardo interrupted.
“Enough.”
Everyone stopped.
For years Leonardo had been the quietest person in every room.
Now they listened.
“No more inherited guilt.”
He looked at Matteo.
“You are not guilty because Vittorio lied.”
Then Daniel.
“Gemma is not responsible for your fear.”
Then Gemma.
“And you don't owe us forgiveness because you helped us.”
Gemma's eyes filled.
Leonardo continued.
“We tell the truth now. Even when it costs us.”
That became the new rule.
It immediately cost Matteo millions.
He turned over financial records linking Ferraro companies to corrupt officials.
He cooperated with investigators.
He closed illegal operations inherited from Vittorio.
Men who had feared Matteo began calling him weak.
He didn't care.
Leonardo left the estate for the first time in seven years.
Gemma went with him.
They visited a bookstore.
No guards inside.
Leonardo bought a blank notebook.
“What happened to the tablet?” Gemma asked.
“Evidence.”
“So Michael Vale is homeless.”
“He needed a new story.”
“Does he still have a brother?”
Leonardo looked through the window at Matteo waiting outside.
“Yes.”
Gemma smiled.
Weeks passed.
Leonardo began physical therapy outside the mansion.
Not because anyone promised he would walk.
Nobody did.
His goal was independence.
Transfers.
Strength.
Travel.
Choice.
Matteo learned to ask before helping.
Sometimes Leonardo said yes.
Often he said no.
Both were progress.
Then federal investigators called.
Enzo had offered a deal.
He claimed another person had financed the crash.
Someone closer to the twins than Russo.
Someone still inside the Ferraro organization.
Matteo requested the name.
The prosecutor refused over the phone.
He came personally.
He placed a sealed document on the table.
Leonardo opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Gemma recognized the face.
So did Daniel.
Matteo did not.
“Who is she?”
Daniel whispered, “Sofia.”
Matteo stared.
Their mother.
Supposedly dead for eighteen years.
The photograph had been taken three days earlier.
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And beneath it was an address in Westchester.
Only twelve miles from the mansion.
