Chapter 12 - The Brother Matteo Failed to Bury
The intruder was not an assassin.
It was Russo.
He had escaped custody during a hospital transfer.
He entered through an old tunnel Vittorio had built beneath the property.
But Russo was injured.
And terrified.
“Lock the gates,” he begged.
Matteo stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Enzo talked.”
“About whom?”
Russo laughed bitterly.
“You still think this was about money.”
Leonardo rolled closer.
“What was it about?”
“Revenge.”
Carlo DeLuca had not simply been murdered over inheritance.
He had once testified secretly against a criminal partner.
That partner lost everything.
His son had spent decades destroying Carlo's bloodline.
Enzo was merely useful.
The real architect was a man named Adrian Vale.
Leonardo froze.
Vale.
The surname he had unknowingly given his fictional detective.
“How do I know that name?”
Russo looked at him.
“Because you met him after the crash.”
Leonardo's memory fractured open.
Hospital.
A man beside his bed.
A soft voice.
“You don't remember the other car.”
Again.
“You don't remember the other car.”
Again.
Leonardo had been heavily medicated.
Adrian Vale had posed as a trauma specialist.
He had spent days shaping Leonardo's memory.
Matteo's guilt and Leonardo's confusion were engineered.
Gemma felt sick.
“Where is Vale?”
Russo looked toward the windows.
“He's been watching this house longer than Matteo has.”
The power died.
Every screen went black.
Emergency generators failed.
Then the old intercom crackled.
A man's voice filled the mansion.
“Hello, Leonardo.”
Leonardo went pale.
He remembered the voice.
Vale.
“Seven years,” the voice said. “And you finally wrote the ending.”
Matteo ordered everyone into the secure room.
Leonardo refused.
“No.”
“Leo.”
“I spent seven years hiding.”
He looked toward the dark camera above the window.
“No more.”
Gemma stood beside him.
Matteo did too.
The three remained in the room.
Vale continued over the speaker.
“You want truth?”
Leonardo answered.
“Yes.”
“Then come to the room your brother never watches.”
Gemma understood.
The surveillance room.
Matteo had cameras everywhere except inside the room where he watched them.
They entered together.
A package sat on Matteo's chair.
No one had placed it there.
At least, no one they had seen.
Inside was a video cassette.
And a note.
YOUR FATHER'S LAST CONFESSION.
Matteo found an old player.
The screen flickered.
Vittorio Ferraro appeared.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If my sons are seeing this, then Adrian Vale has found them.”
Matteo leaned forward.
Vittorio continued.
“And if he has found them, one of the people standing beside them is working for him.”
The recording ended.
May you like
Nobody spoke.
Then Gemma heard the surveillance-room door lock behind them.
