Chapter 7 - Leo’s Missing Father
Massimo moved before the gun cleared the seat.
He seized the passenger’s wrist.
The shot went through the roof.
Alessandra ducked.
The SUV swerved.
Marco shouted.
“Stop!”
Massimo slammed the gunman against the window.
Alessandra grabbed the emergency brake.
The vehicle spun.
Metal screamed.
They struck a barrier.
Massimo pulled Alessandra out.
Marco emerged from the driver’s side with both hands raised.
“I wasn’t betraying you.”
“You locked the doors.”
“Because there’s a sniper behind us!”
A bullet struck the SUV.
Massimo dragged Alessandra down.
Marco fired toward a rooftop.
They escaped into an underground parking structure.
“Explain,” Massimo ordered.
“Vanessa contacted me yesterday,” Marco said. “She told me your communications were compromised.”
“You should have told me.”
“She said the leak was someone beside you.”
Massimo’s eyes hardened.
“You suspected me?”
“I suspected everyone.”
Massimo almost hit him.
Alessandra stepped between them.
“Later.”
Both men looked at her.
“My son is still missing.”
That ended it.
Vanessa sent coordinates.
They led to an abandoned church in Queens.
Alessandra entered first.
“Leo?”
“Mommy!”
He ran toward her.
She dropped the ledger and caught him.
For a full minute nothing else existed.
She checked his face.
Hands.
Arms.
“Did anyone hurt you?”
“No.”
Vanessa stood near the altar.
“Nobody touched him.”
Massimo entered.
Leo saw him.
“Massimo!”
Something flashed across Massimo’s face.
Relief.
Leo ran to him too.
Massimo caught the child awkwardly.
Then naturally.
“You okay, little man?”
“They didn’t have pancakes.”
Massimo nodded gravely.
“Unacceptable.”
Alessandra laughed through tears.
Vanessa watched them.
“You understand now.”
“Understand what?” Alessandra asked.
“Why Salvatore is afraid.”
“Of Leo?”
“Of that.”
She pointed at Massimo holding him.
“A family he cannot control.”
Vanessa revealed the truth.
She had spent seven years investigating Salvatore’s network.
Matteo discovered it independently.
When he tried to expose his uncle, Salvatore captured him.
Vanessa kept Matteo alive because he knew account codes she needed.
“You imprisoned him too,” Alessandra said.
“Yes.”
“Why should I see you as different?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“I chose the investigation over people. More than once.”
“Where is Matteo?”
Vanessa gave Massimo an address.
“Salvatore moved him this morning.”
“To where?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
Massimo looked at the ledger.
“Why there?”
Vanessa answered quietly.
“Because that’s where Marcello died.”
Massimo froze.
His father’s death had officially happened in a car explosion in New Jersey.
Vanessa shook her head.
“The explosion was staged.”
“What happened?”
“Marcello confronted Salvatore at Pier Seventeen.”
“And?”
“Salvatore shot him.”
Massimo’s face became terrifyingly blank.
Vanessa continued.
“Matteo saw it.”
Massimo closed his eyes.
A lifetime of lies collapsed in silence.
Alessandra approached him.
She touched his hand.
His fingers closed around hers.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something more basic.
A promise that neither stood alone.
Leo placed his small hand on top of theirs.
Massimo looked down.
Three hands.
His bruised one.
Alessandra’s.
Leo’s.
Then Vanessa’s phone chimed.
She read the message.
Her face drained.
“What?”
She turned the screen.
A live video showed Matteo chained to a chair.
Behind him stood an older man.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
Salvatore Costa.
He smiled at the camera.
May you like
“Hello, Massimo.”
Then he reached down and placed a gun against Matteo’s head.
