Chapter 4 - The Name Matteo Couldn't SayDante spent the next hour trying to understand five words.
Luca was helping me.
Nothing about them made sense.
The ledger implicated Luca.
Money had moved through companies connected to him.
Evan had messaged him.
And Luca had disappeared.
Yet Matteo had used his first conscious words to defend him.
Nina refused to allow further questioning.
“He just regained consciousness.”
“I need one answer.”
“You need patience.”
“Someone inside this house tried to kill him.”
“And interrogating a brain-injury patient isn't going to fix that.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
Nina did not blink.
Finally, he stepped back.
Matteo watched him.
His brother looked fragile in a way Dante had never imagined.
Growing up, Matteo had always been the stronger one.
When Dante was twelve and boys twice his size cornered him behind school, Matteo appeared.
When their father’s temper filled the house, Matteo positioned himself between Dante and the shouting.
When their mother died, Matteo sat beside his younger brother all night without speaking.
And three weeks ago, when danger came again, Matteo protected him.
Dante took his hand.
“I'm here.”
Matteo’s eyes closed.
This time, sleep did not look like disappearance.
It looked like sleep.
That distinction meant everything.
By dawn, Marco had found no sign of Luca or Evan.
But he discovered something strange.
Luca’s vehicle remained outside.
His wallet remained in his room.
So did his coat.
“Maybe he didn't leave voluntarily,” Elina said.
Dante looked at her.
She sat with Mia sleeping against her chest.
“What makes you say that?”
“If you were running away, wouldn't you take your phone?”
Luca’s phone was found under his bed.
Dante frowned.
Unless Luca had been taken.
They searched again.
At 6:12 a.m., a muffled banging came from beneath the wine cellar.
Marco opened an old storage room.
Luca was inside.
His wrists had been bound.
A cloth covered his mouth.
He was furious.
The moment Marco freed him, Luca shoved past him.
“Where's Matteo?”
Dante blocked him.
“Start talking.”
“Move.”
“The ledger.”
Luca stopped.
“You found it?”
“Your name is everywhere.”
“Of course it is.”
“Evan messaged you.”
“What?”
Dante showed him the phone.
Luca read the message.
Then laughed bitterly.
“You think that's my number?”
Dante looked.
The contact simply said Luca.
No number had been checked.
Marco pulled up Luca’s actual number.
Different.
Someone had saved another number under his name.
Dante’s stomach dropped.
“Who?”
Luca rubbed his wrists.
“The person Matteo and I were trying to expose.”
“Who?”
Luca looked toward Elina and Mia.
“Not here.”
They moved into Dante’s office.
Luca closed the door.
“Matteo came to me six weeks ago. He believed someone was stealing from the family companies.”
“You?”
“At first.”
Luca smiled bitterly.
“That's why my name appears. He followed transactions through my accounts.”
“Why were they there?”
“Someone used shell companies registered under my authority.”
“Who had access?”
“Several executives.”
Dante waited.
Luca hesitated.
Then said:
“Marco.”
Silence.
Dante stared.
“Careful.”
“I knew you'd react like that.”
“Marco has been with me fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“He saved my life.”
“Maybe once.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
Luca leaned forward.
“That's exactly why Matteo didn't tell you.”
The words landed heavily.
“He knew you'd never believe him.”
Dante thought of the road ambush.
Marco had selected the route.
Marco had controlled security.
Marco had investigated the shooting.
Marco had found the ledger.
Marco had been beside Dante through everything.
Too close.
Dante stepped into the hallway.
Marco was gone.
His radio lay on a table.
Dante ran toward Matteo’s room.
Nina stood outside.
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Marco.”
“He was here five minutes ago.”
Dante entered.
Matteo was asleep.
Mia stood beside the bed.
She looked at Dante.
“The angry man came.”
His heart stopped.
“Who?”
“The man with the watch.”
Marco wore a distinctive silver watch.
“What did he do?”
Mia pointed toward Matteo’s IV line.
“He touched that.”
Dante shouted for Nina.
She checked everything.
One line had been disconnected.
Nothing harmful had entered Matteo’s system.
But a syringe lay beneath the bed.
Nina picked it up carefully.
“This isn't mine.”
Dante’s face turned cold.
Marco had not come to check Matteo.
He had come to make sure Matteo never spoke again.
Security footage showed Marco leaving through the garage four minutes earlier.
Dante wanted to pursue him.
Luca stopped him.
“That's what he wants.”
Dante turned.
“He tried to kill my brother.”
“And he wants you angry enough to stop thinking.”
Dante hated that Luca was right.
Police were contacted.
Evidence was preserved.
For the first time, Dante stopped treating the crisis as a private family matter.
By afternoon, investigators arrived.
The estate became a crime scene.
And Matteo slowly grew stronger.
That evening, he spoke again.
Dante sat beside him.
Mia colored quietly nearby.
Matteo opened his eyes.
“You look terrible,” he whispered.
Dante laughed.
“You nearly die and that's your opening line?”
“Still... true.”
Dante’s laughter became something dangerously close to tears.
Matteo squeezed his hand weakly.
“Marco?”
“Gone.”
“Ledger?”
“Safe.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“Good.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“You trusted him.”
“I would've trusted you.”
Matteo looked at him.
“Would you?”
Dante had no answer.
Matteo continued.
“Marco knew routes. Accounts. Security. Everything.”
“The ambush?”
Matteo nodded slightly.
“He planned it.”
“Why?”
“Money first.”
“And then?”
“Control.”
Dante frowned.
Matteo looked toward Mia.
“Send her out.”
Elina took Mia into the hall.
Matteo waited.
Then whispered:
“Marco wasn't working alone.”
Dante felt cold.
“Who?”
Matteo swallowed painfully.
“I never proved it.”
“Tell me.”
“The person funding him had access to our father's old accounts.”
Dante stared.
Only a handful of people had ever possessed that access.
Most were dead.
Matteo watched his brother understand.
“One isn't,” he whispered.
Dante stood.
“No.”
Matteo nodded.
Dante walked backward.
“No.”
The name felt impossible.
Their father had been dead seven years.
But their father's former attorney was alive.
Samuel Vescari.
The man who had handled the Moretti family finances for thirty years.
The man Dante called Uncle Sam.
The man who had attended their mother’s funeral.
The man who had taught Dante how to tie his first necktie.
And the man who, according to security records, had entered the Moretti estate thirty minutes earlier.
Dante looked toward the window.
A black sedan was parked below.
May you like
Samuel Vescari was already inside the house.
And he had just asked a staff member where Mia Ruiz was.
Related Stories
