Chapter 18 - The Choice of Three Heirs
Rebecca broke in eleven minutes.
Not because Salvatore threatened her.
Because Matteo did something worse.
He walked away.
"You want the archive?" he said. "Find it yourself."
Rebecca stared.
"Our son—"
"Our son survived you."
Her face twisted.
"I spent twenty years looking for him."
"And now you're willing to destroy another child because yours was stolen."
Matteo's voice broke.
"You're Vittorio."
That comparison shattered her.
She gave them the location.
A private medical research facility outside the city.
One of Vittorio's former shell companies.
Salvatore did not wait for a plan.
Carmine forced one on him anyway.
Teams at entrances.
Power cut only after cameras were looped.
No explosives.
No reckless assault with Leo inside.
"You become stupid around the kid," Carmine told him.
Salvatore looked offended.
"You're welcome."
Inside the facility, Leo sat strapped to a medical chair.
A technician prepared a blood collection kit.
Two hired men guarded the door.
Leo's face was pale.
But he was watching.
Counting.
Listening.
Surviving.
One guard's radio crackled.
The lights went out.
Leo smiled.
The guard noticed.
"What?"
"My dad."
"What?"
The emergency lights turned red.
Then the door burst inward.
Carmine struck the first guard.
Salvatore hit the second.
Leo shouted, "I knew it!"
Salvatore cut the restraints.
"You okay?"
"They took blood."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
The technician raised both hands.
"Only enough for sequencing."
Salvatore almost shot him.
Leo grabbed his wrist.
"No."
Salvatore looked down.
"Don't."
The boy's voice was firm.
Salvatore lowered the gun.
Another lesson.
They discovered Rebecca had already transmitted Leo's genetic authentication to the archive system.
The final stage had begun.
The archive would unlock at midnight.
Vittorio's files would become accessible.
To someone.
"Who has the terminal?" Salvatore asked.
Dominic answered.
"My uncle built a secondary control room beneath the old Moretti shipping headquarters."
Carmine cursed.
"That's now federal property."
"Exactly."
Entering meant risking arrest.
Not entering meant Rebecca potentially obtaining the archive through remote access.
They had six hours.
Salvatore looked at Leo.
"No."
Leo rolled his eyes.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were going to."
"I was."
"No."
Matteo crouched beside him.
"He's getting good at this father thing."
Salvatore glared.
Leo smiled.
At eleven thirty, Salvatore, Matteo, Dominic, and Carmine entered the condemned shipping headquarters through an old storm drain.
Leo remained in an armored vehicle with Nathaniel and six guards.
This time he agreed.
Barely.
The underground control room looked like a bunker from another century retrofitted with modern servers.
At the center stood a terminal.
A countdown.
00:24:17.
Dominic connected the ledger.
Matteo inserted Vittorio's ring into a physical slot hidden beneath the console.
The screen lit.
DNA CONFIRMATION ACCEPTED.
SALVATORE MORETTI LINE: CONFIRMED THROUGH LEO MORETTI.
MATTEO MORETTI LINE: CONFIRMED.
SECONDARY DESCENDANTS AVAILABLE.
Three choices appeared.
PRESERVE ARCHIVE.
RELEASE ARCHIVE.
DESTROY ARCHIVE.
Salvatore stared.
Vittorio had left the decision to his descendants.
Dominic spoke first.
"Release it."
Matteo shook his head.
"Thousands of people could be destroyed."
"Criminals."
"Families too."
Salvatore studied the files.
Judges taking bribes.
Police officers covering murders.
Businesses laundering money.
But also confidential witnesses.
People forced into cooperation.
Victims whose identities would become public.
Releasing everything blindly would create chaos.
Destroying everything would bury justice.
Preserving it would maintain the same poisonous leverage Vittorio loved.
"No."
Dominic frowned.
"Which option?"
"None."
"There are only three."
Salvatore looked at the terminal.
"Vittorio always wanted us to play by rules he wrote."
He pulled out his phone.
Called Agent Mills.
Dominic stared.
"What are you doing?"
"Ending the game."
Salvatore offered the archive to federal authorities under negotiated conditions.
Independent review.
Victim protection.
Prosecution based on verified evidence.
No private Moretti control.
No mass public dump.
No destruction.
Matteo slowly smiled.
"Vittorio would hate that."
"Good."
Before the transfer completed, alarms sounded.
Rebecca had activated a remote purge.
"She'll destroy it!" Dominic shouted.
Matteo worked the terminal.
Carmine called security.
Salvatore watched the progress bar.
Archive transfer: 42%.
Purge: 11%.
50%.
27%.
61%.
49%.
It would be close.
Then the screen froze.
POWER INTERRUPTION.
Everything died.
"Backup!" Dominic shouted.
Emergency lights came on.
The terminal remained dark.
A voice came from the doorway.
Rebecca.
Gun raised.
"Move away."
Matteo faced her.
"It's over."
"No."
Her hand shook.
"It can't be."
"Daniel is alive."
"I know."
"Then go to him."
"He won't see me."
The pain in her voice was raw.
Matteo stepped closer.
"Neither will Leo if you kill his father."
Rebecca's gun shifted toward Salvatore.
"He has everything."
Matteo laughed sadly.
"You still think that."
Salvatore understood the irony.
A month earlier, he might have agreed.
Empire.
Money.
Fear.
Power.
Now the most valuable thing he possessed was sitting in an armored SUV complaining about being hungry.
Rebecca fired.
Matteo stepped in front of Salvatore.
The bullet struck his side.
Salvatore fired back.
Rebecca fell.
Not dead.
Wounded.
Carmine kicked away her gun.
Salvatore caught Matteo.
"Why?"
Matteo grimaced.
"Older brother privilege."
Salvatore almost laughed.
Then the terminal rebooted.
Archive transfer: COMPLETE.
Remote purge: FAILED.
Rebecca stared at the screen from the floor.
Twenty years of obsession ended with one word.
Failed.
Federal sirens approached.
Dominic looked toward the exit.
He could run.
Salvatore watched him.
Dominic looked exhausted.
Then he placed his gun on the floor.
"I'm done."
For once, he meant it.
Outside, Leo saw Salvatore emerge supporting Matteo.
He ran.
"You're bleeding!"
"Not mine."
Leo looked at Matteo.
"Are you dying?"
Matteo grimaced.
"Children really have no tact."
Leo grabbed his hand.
"Don't."
Matteo stared down.
"Don't what?"
"Die."
Something in Matteo's face softened completely.
"I'll do my best."
Salvatore wrapped one arm around Leo.
The sky beyond the warehouses began turning pale.
For the first time, there was no hidden ledger left to chase.
No secret archive to control.
But one final danger remained.
May you like
Leo's birthday was four days away.
And the Moretti trust had not yet been dissolved.
