Chapter 9 - Leonardo's Missing Hour
Matteo stared at the wheelchair.
For one impossible second, nobody moved.
Then Gemma saw drag marks.
“They took him.”
A hidden service elevator led underground.
Matteo followed without waiting.
Gemma went too.
The tunnel ended near a garage.
A black sedan was leaving.
Matteo fired at a tire.
Missed.
Daniel shouted the license number.
Within minutes, every Ferraro contact in the city was looking for the vehicle.
But Leonardo had already prepared for this.
His phone transmitted from inside his orthopedic brace.
Gemma remembered something.
“The brace.”
Matteo looked at her.
“He hid a tracker in it after Russo.”
Matteo found the signal.
They followed.
Enzo had taken Leonardo to the old bridge where the crash occurred.
When Matteo arrived, Enzo stood behind Leonardo with a gun.
Leonardo was seated in an ordinary chair.
His wheelchair lay several feet away.
Enzo smiled.
“Seven years ago, I failed.”
Matteo lowered his weapon.
“Take me.”
“I tried.”
“No. You wanted Carlo's heir.”
Enzo looked between them.
“And which are you?”
Matteo said, “Me.”
Leonardo shouted, “Don't.”
Matteo stepped forward.
“I was born first.”
Enzo aimed at him.
Leonardo suddenly laughed.
Everyone froze.
“You still don't understand.”
Enzo frowned.
“The trust doesn't go to the firstborn.”
Leonardo looked at Matteo.
“It goes to both.”
Teresa had lied about the wording to protect them.
Carlo's estate could only transfer if both sons were alive.
Killing either one destroyed Enzo's claim permanently and transferred the assets to charity.
Enzo's entire seven-year plan had been meaningless.
His face collapsed.
Police sirens approached.
Enzo grabbed Leonardo.
Gemma moved.
She threw Leonardo's wheelchair down the slope.
Enzo instinctively looked.
Matteo lunged.
The gun fired.
Enzo fell.
Police surrounded him.
Alive.
Leonardo was safe.
For the first time, the Ferraro brothers had the truth.
But Gemma did not.
She turned to Daniel.
“Seven years.”
He lowered his head.
“Gemma—”
“No.”
She backed away.
“You don't get to say my name like you missed me.”
“I did.”
“You chose evidence over your daughter.”
“I chose keeping you alive.”
“Everyone in this family says that when they lie.”
Daniel flinched.
Gemma walked away.
Leonardo called after her.
She kept walking.
At sunrise, she returned to her apartment.
Her old life felt impossibly small.
She removed her uniform.
Put the canvas bag on the table.
Then noticed something inside its torn lining.
A second envelope.
It had not been there before.
Daniel must have slipped it inside when they embraced.
Gemma opened it.
One sentence.
I DIDN'T DISAPPEAR TO HIDE FROM ENZO.
She turned the page.
May you like
The next sentence made her sit down.
I DISAPPEARED TO HIDE FROM MATTEO.
