Chapter 5 - Matteo Comes Back Smiling
The Friend Who Should Have Been Dead
Matteo Rinaldi returned to the estate twenty-four hours later.
He walked through the front doors wearing a dark suit and carrying no weapon.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
“I heard there was trouble,” he told Dante.
Dante sat in his office.
“What kind?”
Matteo smiled.
“The kind involving people trying to kill us.”
Dante poured whiskey.
“You were unreachable.”
“My phone was destroyed.”
“Convenient.”
Matteo laughed.
“You think I arranged the ambush?”
“I think Carmela did.”
The smile vanished.
Dante slid the black notebook across the desk.
Matteo looked at it.
His expression barely moved.
“Where did you get this?”
“You know where.”
Matteo opened it.
He read the names.
Then closed it.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
Dante leaned back.
“What question should I ask?”
“Why would Carmela leave this for you?”
Dante's fingers tightened.
“Because she knew you'd betray us.”
Matteo stared at him.
Then smiled again.
“No.”
He tapped the notebook.
“She left this because she knew you would eventually become exactly what she feared.”
Dante stood.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your wife didn't trust your judgment.”
The door suddenly opened.
I stepped inside.
Sophia was asleep in my arms.
Matteo looked at her.
His smile disappeared.
“That's the child?”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“What child?”
“The one who knows about the room.”
Silence.
My skin went cold.
“How do you know that?”
Matteo didn't answer.
Dante stepped forward.
“Who told you?”
Matteo stared at Sophia.
“She was always observant.”
“What do you mean always?”
Matteo's eyes flickered.
Then Dante saw it.
A small red mark beneath Matteo's wrist.
The same number tattoo.
Dante pulled his gun.
Matteo moved.
Three guards stormed in.
Dante ordered them to stop.
“Don't shoot.”
Matteo lifted his hands.
“I didn't kill Carmela.”
“You knew about Dock 17.”
“Yes.”
“You deleted the records.”
“Yes.”
“You knew someone was coming for Sophia.”
“Yes.”
Dante's voice became deadly.
“Then why are you still alive?”
Matteo looked at him.
“Because Carmela asked me to protect you.”
Dante froze.
I stared.
“What?”
Matteo nodded.
“Carmela knew she was going to die.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
“She knew there was a traitor in your inner circle. She also knew that if she told you, you'd kill everyone around you until you found the wrong man.”
Matteo reached into his coat.
Dante's gun lifted.
Matteo slowly removed a small envelope.
“Carmela gave me this three days before she died.”
He placed it on the desk.
Dante opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Dante and Carmela at their wedding.
On the back, in Carmela's handwriting:
WHEN HE FINALLY TRUSTS THE WOMAN WITH THE CHILD, GIVE HIM THIS.
Dante looked at me.
I felt my stomach twist.
“Why does that say woman with the child?”
Matteo's eyes remained fixed on me.
“Because Carmela met you before you worked here.”
My heart stopped.
“I've never met her.”
Matteo shook his head.
“You don't remember.”
Dante's expression darkened.
“Explain.”
Matteo looked directly at me.
“Six years ago, Rosa Bennett saved Carmela Falcone's life.”
I stared at him.
“That isn't possible.”
Matteo's voice lowered.
“She was pregnant with Sophia's older brother.”
I felt the room tilt.
I had never told Dante I had ever been pregnant before Sophia.
Because there had been no older brother.
There had only been one pregnancy.
One child.
Sophia.
And then Matteo said the words that shattered everything.
“Your daughter is not Carmela's mystery.”
May you like
He looked at Dante.
“She is the reason Carmela was murdered.”
