Chapter 4 - THE COUSIN WHO WANTED A FAMILY
Matteo Ricci called me himself.
No voice changer.
No threat.
Almost polite.
“Elena Brooks.”
“Matteo.”
“You know who I am.”
“My cousin.”
Silence.
He had not expected word.
“Yes.”
“Where is Lucia?”
“You call her Lucia?”
“What should I call a woman who abandoned me?”
“Your mother.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You sound like Maria.”
I tightened grip.
“You knew her?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
My stomach dropped.
Matteo met my mother eighteen years ago.
He had been twenty-seven.
He found Maria through private investigator.
He expected traitor.
Instead found librarian with two children.
“She made me dinner.”
Of course.
“What happened?”
“She told me my mother was alive.”
“And?”
“I called her liar.”
Maria showed letters.
Matteo burned them.
Rage.
Carlo had shaped him too deeply.
“Why come after me now?”
“Because Lucia stole my inheritance.”
“She changed her trust.”
“It belongs to Ricci blood.”
“I am Ricci blood too, apparently.”
“You're DeLuca.”
“So are you.”
Silence.
Family labels as weapons.
Then Matteo said:
“Marry Adrian.”
I almost laughed.
“There it is.”
“If you marry him, trust can be reorganized.”
“For you?”
“For both.”
“And then Adrian dies?”
Long silence.
He knew plan exposed.
“Who told you that?”
“Your mother.”
A lie? Lucia’s video.
He cursed softly.
“She should have stayed dead.”
Cold.
“Is she alive now?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“No.”
He laughed.
“I wasn't asking.”
Then:
“You think Adrian protects you because he cares?”
“I think I can protect myself with police and lawyers.”
“That’s Maria talking too.”
“Maybe she raised me well.”
Matteo’s voice hardened.
“Your mother destroyed two families.”
“No. Men who treated women like contracts did.”
Silence.
Then:
“You have forty-eight hours. Sign trust reconciliation. Come alone.”
“No.”
“You didn't hear terms.”
“No.”
“You are brave because Moretti stands beside you.”
“No. I’m saying no because I don't want what you want.”
He hung up.
Adrian stared.
“You antagonize professionally?”
“Event planning.”
He almost smiled.
Then FBI traced? Call routed through burner, no location.
Lucia finally agreed surface.
She had been hiding in Maine.
She came under federal protection.
Seeing her was like watching mother age differently.
Same face.
Different posture.
Lucia cried when saw me.
I did not hug.
Not immediately.
“Why did Mom never tell us?”
“She wanted you ordinary.”
“That worked beautifully.”
She smiled sadly.
“No.”
Noah met her.
He hugged faster.
Then stepped back.
“You left your son.”
Direct.
Lucia flinched.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Fear.”
Noah:
“Everyone says that.”
Exactly.
She explained failed attempts to contact Matteo.
Carlo threatened him.
She waited too long.
Then Matteo stopped wanting her.
“I abandoned him first,” she admitted.
Important.
“I thought distance protected him. It also taught him I chose safety over him.”
Did not excuse Matteo’s threats.
But family drama.
Lucia had amended trust after learning Matteo planned use DeLuca funds to expand criminal network.
She wanted money away.
“Why me?”
“Maria’s children built ordinary lives.”
I laughed.
“Currently questionable.”
“You did.”
Then she looked at Adrian.
“And because Moretti has been trying to dismantle his father’s business.”
I looked at him.
“Have you?”
“Yes.”
Slowly.
Not saint.
Adrian had inherited organization at twenty-nine after father death.
He expanded at first.
Violence.
Money.
Then five years ago a teenage cousin died in retaliation shooting.
He began moving operations legitimate.
Still feared because history.
“Why not tell me?”
“You met me yesterday.”
Fair.
Lucia:
“Matteo believes Adrian stole future from him by making peace with rival families.”
So fake engagement had multiple goals:
Force Adrian into DeLuca trust dispute.
Create impression Moretti controlling Maria branch.
Trigger war.
Then Matteo could rally old factions.
It wasn't romance.
It was political bait.
I had been placed in bedroom like matchstick.
Celeste Ward confessed after arrest.
Ricci intermediary paid her to direct me west wing, where another operative had drugged Adrian? Wait he was awake? How did they ensure both in bed? Let's uncover: Adrian returned late, found Elena asleep. Why did he climb in? Maybe security threat forced him to stay in bedroom and he recognized camera sabotage? We need explain arm around waist. Adrian admitted:
“At 3:40 I found you asleep. There had been attempted breach alarm. I didn't want move you through hallway because I suspected surveillance.”
“So you got into bed?”
“I sat beside you.”
“And arm?”
“You had nightmare and grabbed me.”
I stared.
“You're blaming me?”
“You pulled me down.”
Serafina later found.
A setup partially, but arm incidental.
Good romantic misunderstanding.
Then hidden camera in corridor captured photo intentionally by compromised guard.
That guard arrested, worked Ricci.
Everything staged to manufacture scandal.
But Adrian chose fiancée label himself.
He admitted:
“I could have said protected witness.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because I panicked.”
The mafia boss panicked.
“About reputation?”
“About someone taking you before I understood why.”
He looked directly.
That landed.
“Why care?”
He hesitated.
“You asked for replacement tablecloth at Seaport event two weeks ago.”
“What?”
“You yelled at donor who grabbed waitress.”
I remembered.
Man squeezed server’s wrist.
I stepped in.
Adrian saw.
“I noticed you.”
Oh.
Not stranger entirely.
“You knew my name.”
“Yes.”
“Then morning—”
“I recognized you immediately.”
I felt heat.
“And still slept beside me.”
“I was tired.”
“Convenient.”
He smiled.
First real.
Then alarms.
Marco entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Attack on Noah’s apartment.”
My heart stopped.
“He's here.”
“Yes. They hit empty apartment.”
Firebomb?
Need not provide operational details. Say incendiary device thrown, building evacuated, no injuries.
A message painted on wall:
ONE FAMILY. ONE BLOOD.
Matteo escalating.
Lucia began crying.
“He’s becoming Carlo.”
Adrian said:
“No.”
We looked.
“He’s becoming himself.”
Important.
Parents shape; adults choose.
FBI obtained warrant on Ricci properties.
Matteo disappeared.
Then phone message came to Lucia.
Video showed abandoned warehouse.
Matteo standing.
He said:
“Mother, bring Elena. Bring trust book. Or Boston burns.”
Grandiose.
But behind him, a man sat tied to chair.
My manager.
Celeste Ward.
The woman who planted me.
Matteo kidnapped own accomplice.
She had cooperated.
He was cleaning witnesses.
Now she needed rescue despite betrayal.
Adrian looked at me.
“Stay here.”
I stared.
He stopped.
Right.
“Sorry.”
“Better.”
FBI handled operation.
But Matteo demanded Lucia and me.
We did not go alone. Authorities planned controlled surrender? We can say negotiators.
Lucia wanted.
“I owe him.”
“No,” I said. “You owe truth, not your life.”
She looked.
Maria would say same.
Then Celeste video changed.
She shouted before someone silenced:
“Matteo isn’t after trust money!”
We froze.
“He wants the recording!”
What recording?
Lucia turned pale.
“The confession.”
Vittorio’s?
“No.”
“Carlo’s.”
There was another recording in red prayer book not in locker?
She had kept it.
Carlo Ricci admitting he—not Maria—started warehouse fire? Wait Vittorio did. Maybe Carlo ordered murder of Matteo's older brother? Let's create shocking secret: Matteo had older brother, Daniel, died as child, Carlo caused? Too much.
Better recording proved Carlo deliberately prevented Lucia from returning to Matteo and forged letters claiming she rejected him. Matteo’s entire hatred built on lie.
Lucia had hidden to protect him? She should have shown earlier.
Why not?
Because tape also implicated Lucia in financial crime? Hmm.
Let's say Carlo confessed he threatened to kill Matteo if Lucia contacted him and intercepted her letters. Matteo believed abandonment; tape could shatter worldview.
Lucia kept because feared hearing father's cruelty would destroy son.
Again protection through silence.
Now silence made him dangerous.
I looked at her.
“You have to give him truth.”
She nodded.
May you like
The next confrontation would not be about $430 million.
It would be about whether Matteo Ricci could survive learning the father he worshiped had built his entire life on a lie.
