Chapter 8 - Two BrothersNobody moved.
Matteo stood in the doorway with six armed men behind him.
Salvatore slowly lowered his weapon.
Not because he trusted him.
Because he needed answers.
"How old are you?"
Matteo laughed.
"That's your first question?"
"I've waited thirty years."
Matteo walked inside.
He looked at Adelaide.
"You should have told him sooner."
She stared at him.
"I thought you were dead."
"I was."
The words landed heavily.
"For twenty-six years."
Salvatore stared.
"Then how are you here?"
Matteo looked toward Luciano.
"Our father kept me alive."
Luciano nodded weakly.
"I couldn't save both of you."
"Why did they take you?"
Matteo's expression darkened.
"Because they believed I was the heir."
"And I wasn't?"
"You were the public son."
Matteo stepped closer.
"I was the key."
Salvatore frowned.
"The key to what?"
"The vault."
Adelaide closed her eyes.
Matteo continued.
"Your grandfather created the network. Our father inherited it. Then he tried to destroy it."
Salvatore looked at Luciano.
"You betrayed them."
Luciano said:
"I refused to serve them."
Matteo nodded.
"So they took me."
"Why not kill you?"
"Because they believed I could open the vault."
Salvatore asked:
"Can you?"
"No."
"Then why are they still after you?"
Matteo smiled.
"Because they believe I can."
A gunshot erupted.
One of Matteo's men fell.
The ceiling lights shattered.
Everyone ducked.
Security teams poured into the corridor.
The clinic had become a war zone.
Salvatore grabbed Adelaide and pulled her behind a concrete wall.
Matteo disappeared.
Luciano shouted:
"THE BASEMENT!"
Salvatore looked at him.
"What?"
"Get your mother to the basement!"
"Why?"
"Because the people attacking us aren't here for me."
Salvatore's blood ran cold.
"Who are they here for?"
Luciano answered:
"Adelaide."
A blast shook the building.
The doors buckled.
Salvatore looked at his mother.
"Why you?"
She whispered:
"Because I know the combination."
"What combination?"
"The vault."
Salvatore stared.
"You said you didn't know where the key was."
"I don't."
"Then what do you know?"
Adelaide swallowed.
"The key isn't metal."
Salvatore froze.
She looked at him.
"The key is a person."
He remembered Ella's words.
Think blood, not name.
"Me?"
Adelaide shook her head.
"No."
Matteo appeared beside them.
"Not you."
He looked toward the hallway.
"Her."
Ella stood there.
Holding her rabbit.
Salvatore's heart stopped.
"How did she get here?"
Matteo looked at the child.
"Because she is the only one who can open it."
Adelaide began crying.
Salvatore stared.
"She's four."
"I know."
"What makes her special?"
Matteo whispered:
"Her blood."
Salvatore looked at Adelaide.
His mother nodded.
"She was born with the Moretti bloodline from both sides."
"Both sides?"
"Her mother was Luciano's daughter."
"And Nolan's wife?"
"Yes."
Salvatore finally understood.
Ella wasn't simply Nolan's daughter.
She was the granddaughter of Luciano.
The child had inherited both branches of the family.
She was the blood key.
A siren sounded.
The basement door opened.
Then a figure stepped through.
Hattie.
She was holding a gun.
She aimed it at Ella.
Everyone froze.
Hattie smiled.
"Now we know why they kept her alive."
Salvatore stepped between them.
"You'll have to go through me."
Hattie shook her head.
"No."
She looked at Matteo.
Then at Adelaide.
"You still don't understand."
She smiled.
"I'm not working for Nolan."
Salvatore stared.
"Then who are you working for?"
Hattie lowered her gun.
And said one name.
"Your grandmother."
May you like
Salvatore went completely still.
His grandmother had been dead for fifteen years.
