Chapter 7 - The Man Behind the HospitalThe Enemy Had Been Standing Ten Feet Away
The hospital went into lockdown.
No one entered.
No one left.
Matteo Bellandi turned the building upside down.
Doctors were questioned.
Nurses searched.
Security footage disappeared.
By midnight, they found the man.
Not in a room.
Not in the parking structure.
Inside the hospital chapel.
He was kneeling beneath a wooden crucifix as though he had been waiting for someone.
Silver hair.
Gray suit.
Silver watch.
Scar beneath the jaw.
Matteo entered alone.
Sophia watched through a glass panel.
The old man didn't turn.
"You took your time."
"Salvatore."
Matteo closed the chapel doors.
"Where is Elena?"
Salvatore smiled.
"You always ask the wrong question."
"Where is she?"
"You still think she's waiting to be rescued."
"She isn't?"
"No."
Matteo stepped closer.
"What did you do to her?"
"I gave her a choice."
"Which was?"
"Disappear forever, or watch her children die."
Matteo's expression became murderous.
"You threatened children."
Salvatore finally turned.
"You killed men when you were eighteen."
"I was defending my family."
"So was I."
"Don't compare us."
Salvatore laughed.
"You still don't understand."
Matteo pointed his gun.
"Explain."
Salvatore reached into his coat.
Sophia saw Matteo tighten.
But the old man removed only a photograph.
He held it out.
Matteo took it.
His fingers went cold.
It showed Elena.
Older.
Thirty-something.
Standing in front of a house in Marseille.
Beside her stood Luca.
And Sophia.
Both children.
Both alive.
Both older than when Sophia had last seen her mother.
Sophia entered the chapel.
"Where?"
Salvatore looked at her.
"Your mother asked me to keep you hidden."
"You knew her."
"I served her."
Matteo turned sharply.
"You worked for Elena?"
"Before I worked for your father."
Sophia felt dizzy.
"Who are you?"
Salvatore smiled sadly.
"The man your mother trusted when she stopped trusting Matteo."
She looked at the photograph.
"When was this taken?"
"Eleven years ago."
Sophia's chest tightened.
"Then she was alive."
"Yes."
"Where is she now?"
Salvatore looked at Matteo.
"Ask him."
Matteo's eyes darkened.
"What did you tell her?"
"The truth."
"Which truth?"
"That you were becoming your father."
Silence.
Sophia looked at Matteo.
"Did you?"
"I don't know."
Salvatore spoke softly.
"She knew."
He turned to Sophia.
"Your mother loved Matteo."
"I know."
"But she feared what he was becoming."
Sophia stared.
"Then why send me to him?"
Salvatore's smile disappeared.
"Because she didn't send you."
"What?"
"Someone else did."
The chapel doors slammed shut.
A phone rang.
Matteo's.
He answered.
Listened.
Then his face changed.
"Who?"
The voice on the other end spoke.
Matteo turned pale.
Sophia had never seen him look frightened.
Not angry.
Not controlled.
Frightened.
"What happened?"
He slowly lowered the phone.
"Someone just broke into my private archive."
"Who?"
"Nobody."
"What do you mean?"
Matteo looked directly at Sophia.
"They didn't steal anything."
"Then why are you afraid?"
"They left something."
"What?"
A photograph.
Matteo handed it to her.
It showed Elena.
Alive.
Standing outside the hospital.
Taken exactly six minutes earlier.
On the back were five words:
BRING HER TO THE HOUSE. ALONE.
Sophia looked up.
"What house?"
Matteo didn't answer.
May you like
Salvatore did.
"The house where your mother disappeared."
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