Chapter 6 - Matteo couldn't move.His father stood beneath the emergency light as calmly as if he had just walked in from dinner.
Silver hair.
Black suit.
Gold watch.
The same watch Matteo had placed into the coffin twelve years earlier.
His father smiled.
“You always were difficult to kill.”
Matteo lifted his weapon.
His father shook his head.
“Don't.”
Matteo pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked.
Empty.
He looked down.
His magazine was gone.
His father's men emerged from the darkness.
Sofia grabbed Elena.
Marco stepped in front of Isabella.
Matteo's father laughed softly.
“Still predictable.”
Matteo stared at him.
“How?”
“Because I raised you.”
“You buried me.”
“I gave you a new life.”
“You murdered Marco.”
“No.”
His father smiled.
“Marco was useful.”
Matteo turned toward Marco.
“So you knew.”
Marco's expression remained cold.
“I knew enough.”
The old man walked closer.
“You want the truth?”
Matteo said nothing.
“Fine.”
His father looked at Elena.
“The first child was never supposed to survive.”
Elena froze.
Matteo's fists tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Sofia disobeyed me.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“She means you ordered two babies killed.”
“I ordered one.”
Everyone looked at Isabella.
His father continued.
“Isabella was mine.”
Matteo stared.
“What does that mean?”
His father smiled.
“She's not your daughter.”
Silence.
Then Isabella's face went white.
Matteo looked at her.
“No.”
His father nodded.
“She is Marco's.”
Marco did not move.
Matteo turned slowly.
“Is that true?”
Marco finally spoke.
“Yes.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Marco's eyes filled with pain.
“Because if they knew, they would kill you.”
Matteo's mind raced.
Then his father laughed.
“And Elena?”
He looked at Matteo.
“Elena is yours.”
Matteo exhaled.
“So why separate them?”
“Because Elena inherited your blood.”
Matteo frowned.
“What does that mean?”
His father leaned closer.
“Leadership.”
“You're talking about the empire.”
“No.”
His father's smile disappeared.
“I'm talking about something much bigger.”
He nodded toward Sofia.
“She knows.”
Matteo looked at her.
Sofia said nothing.
“Tell him,” the old man ordered.
Sofia shook her head.
He pointed a gun toward Elena.
“Tell him.”
Sofia's eyes filled with tears.
“The De Luca family is not merely a criminal organization.”
Matteo stared.
“It controls certain governments.”
His father interrupted.
“Not governments.”
Sofia corrected herself.
“People inside them.”
Matteo understood.
Blackmail.
Money.
Judges.
Police.
Contracts.
Wars.
His family had been more than organized crime.
It had been infrastructure.
A private empire hidden beneath legitimate institutions.
His father stepped closer.
“And Elena is the only person alive with the biological markers needed to access the original trust.”
Matteo frowned.
“What trust?”
His father smiled.
“Your grandfather's.”
“Dead for forty years.”
“Exactly.”
His father pulled out a small metal key.
“Your grandfather hid everything behind a biometric vault.”
Matteo stared at the key.
“Where?”
His father smiled.
“Under Bellavita.”
Matteo finally understood the poisoned dish.
The message.
The recipe.
The restaurant.
Everything had been designed to bring him back.
His father looked at Elena.
“All I need is her blood.”
Elena stepped backward.
Matteo moved in front of her.
“No.”
His father sighed.
“You still don't understand.”
He raised the gun.
“I don't need you alive.”
A gunshot exploded.
The old man staggered.
Blood spread across his chest.
Matteo turned.
Marco stood holding a weapon.
His father fell.
For one second nobody moved.
Then the old man smiled from the floor.
“You really thought…”
He coughed.
“…that was me?”
Matteo's eyes widened.
The body began to burn.
A chemical reaction spread across the suit.
Sofia screamed.
“That's not him!”
The face began melting.
A mask.
A synthetic disguise.
The man on the floor was an impostor.
Matteo stared at Marco.
“You knew.”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
Then every phone in the tunnel vibrated simultaneously.
One message.
A photograph of the real Matteo's father sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Beside him was Elena.
May you like
And beneath the photograph:
COME TO BELLAVITA ALONE.
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