Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO RAISED HIM
Matteo had spent his whole life believing his mother was the only person who had never lied to him.
That illusion lasted exactly eleven minutes.
“Where is my mother?”
Arthur answered from the car.
“At the Cape house.”
“Send nobody.”
“Boss—”
“Nobody.”
Matteo drove there himself.
Lucia Rossi sat on the sunroom terrace drinking tea as if her son had not just discovered she might have ordered his father’s death.
“You found Evelyn.”
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Matteo stopped.
“So it’s true.”
Lucia set down the cup.
“Sit.”
“No.”
“Matteo.”
“Did you kill him?”
She looked older suddenly.
“No.”
“You ordered it.”
“No.”
“Thomas Vale wrote your name.”
“Thomas was terrified.”
“Of you?”
“Of Marco.”
Matteo leaned over the table.
“Then explain.”
Lucia exhaled.
His father, Carlo Rossi, had decided to cooperate with federal prosecutors after discovering Marco was trafficking weapons through legitimate shipping routes.
Carlo wanted out.
Lucia wanted out too.
But Marco found out.
He kidnapped Thomas Vale and forced him to redirect the exit fund.
Then he threatened Evelyn and sixteen-year-old Norah.
Lucia secretly helped them disappear.
“Why fake Evelyn’s death?”
“Because Marco knew Thomas had a family.”
“Where was Thomas?”
Lucia’s eyes lowered.
“He stayed.”
“To protect them?”
“Yes.”
Matteo’s anger shifted.
“Then who killed my father?”
“Marco.”
“But Thomas blamed you.”
“Because I told him to.”
Silence.
Matteo stared.
“What?”
“Marco believed I ordered Carlo silenced because I wanted control of the organization. I let him believe it.”
“Why?”
“So he would stop looking for Evelyn and Norah.”
Everything Matteo thought he understood about his childhood cracked.
“You let me hate you for becoming cold after Dad died.”
“I needed you to become strong enough that Marco wouldn’t see you as disposable.”
“You turned me into this.”
Lucia’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
Matteo stepped away.
The words hurt because they were not accusation.
They were confession.
Then he asked:
“Did Norah know?”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
“She knew enough.”
“Then why did Norah marry me?”
Lucia gave him a sad look.
“Because despite everything, she loved you.”
That made the room harder to breathe in.
Then Matteo remembered the flash drive.
“Norah has my offshore routing data.”
Lucia’s face changed.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“No. Matteo. How much information?”
“All contingency accounts.”
Lucia stood so quickly her chair scraped the floor.
“You need to find her before Marco’s people do.”
“Marco is dead.”
Lucia looked at him.
“No.”
Another impossible thing.
“He died in federal prison.”
“No.”
“Mother.”
“The man buried under Marco Rossi’s name was a terminally ill inmate paid to take his identity.”
Matteo stared.
Lucia’s voice dropped.
“Marco has been alive for twelve years.”
May you like
Then she said the words that made Norah’s disappearance suddenly terrifying.
“And if she moved money from Carlo’s old escape accounts, Marco now knows exactly who she is.”
