Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO KNEW WHERE NORA SLEPT
Matteo arrived at the penthouse at 7:10.
He did not know Victor had seen the photograph.
Thirty-six.
Younger by five years.
Charming where Victor was controlled.
Family favorite at weddings.
The uncle who bought premature twins ridiculous designer blankets because he had no idea what infants actually needed.
He hugged Victor.
“What happened?”
Victor watched him.
“Nora left.”
Matteo’s face changed.
“What?”
“With the twins.”
“Jesus.”
He looked genuinely shocked.
Maybe.
“Kidnapped?”
“No.”
That answer confused him.
“She left me.”
Matteo looked at Victor’s coat.
Then smelled something.
His expression shifted.
“You idiot.”
Victor almost laughed.
Even now.
Then:
“Do you know Sylvia?”
Matteo frowned.
“Marketing Sylvia?”
Interesting.
“You know her.”
“She did the Bellini gala.”
“So yes.”
“What does she have to do with Nora?”
Victor ignored the question.
“South Harbor Warehouse 14.”
Matteo went still.
Tiny.
Enough.
“What about it?”
Victor showed the photograph.
Matteo stared.
“That’s old.”
“Three weeks.”
“I inspect facilities.”
“You don’t run that facility.”
“No.”
“Why were you there?”
Matteo sighed.
“Daniel asked me to witness a damaged medical shipment.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Why you?”
“Because I’m family.”
Bad answer.
Then Victor placed the duplicate manifests down.
Matteo’s face changed again.
“Where did you get these?”
“My wife.”
He looked genuinely surprised.
“Nora?”
“Yes.”
“She found this?”
“Yes.”
Then Matteo sat.
Not defensive.
Worried.
“Victor, I need you to listen before you decide I’m part of it.”
That sentence would once have angered him.
Now Victor remembered Nora’s notebook.
Facts.
Not men.
“Talk.”
Matteo had suspected Daniel for months.
Rinaldi Medical Logistics showed inexplicable inventory losses.
Matteo went to Warehouse 14 because an employee contacted him privately.
The duplicate medical shipments were real.
But they did not contain drugs.
They contained luxury pharmaceuticals stolen from manufacturers.
High-cost oncology medication.
Rare biologics.
Resold through gray markets overseas.
Victor felt sick.
Not because crime shocked him.
Because the scheme used sick people’s supply chains.
Infant medicine.
Cancer drugs.
Medical need as camouflage.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Matteo looked at him.
“You were not exactly available.”
There it was.
“You were either at the hospital, screaming about numbers, or disappearing at night.”
Victor said nothing.
Matteo continued.
“I was collecting proof.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Someone above him.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Who is above Daniel?”
Only Victor.
Unless—
Family office.
Board chair.
Their mother.
No.
Then Matteo said:
“Not above him organizationally.”
“Financially.”
A silent partner.
Someone funding the stolen-medication network.
Matteo had traced payments.
But Daniel discovered the inquiry.
That was when Nora’s medicine shipments began getting duplicate labels.
Daniel likely realized someone in the penthouse had seen something.
Then Matteo asked:
“Where’s Nora?”
“I don’t know.”
“Good.”
Victor stared.
Matteo leaned forward.
“If Daniel thinks you don’t know, Nora has a chance.”
Then:
“But if he thinks she took the records, he’ll search places connected to her.”
Victor’s blood went cold.
“What places?”
Family.
Friends.
Hospitals.
Then Matteo asked:
“Where would Nora go if she wanted somewhere you’d never think to look?”
Victor knew immediately.
Not a hotel.
Not a relative.
Nora had spent six weeks before the twins’ birth living near Northwestern’s NICU after doctors put her on bed rest.
There had been a family housing residence for high-risk mothers.
A place Victor visited exactly once.
Because he hated hospitals.
Nora had noticed.
Then his phone rang.
The residence.
A staff member.
“Mr. Rinaldi?”
“Yes.”
“We have an emergency contact card for Mrs. Rinaldi.”
Victor stopped breathing.
“She’s there?”
“I can’t confirm residency.”
Good policy.
Then:
“But someone came here twenty minutes ago asking for her.”
Victor’s stomach dropped.
“Who?”
“A man who said he was her husband.”
May you like
Victor was standing in his own penthouse.
Someone else was using his name.
