Chapter 10 - The Man Across the Street
The building opposite Salvatore's penthouse contained thirty-four apartments.
By noon, Moretti men had entered every one.
The apartment aligned with Leo's bedroom was empty.
Cash lease.
Fake identity.
No fingerprints.
No cameras.
Nothing.
Except a coffee cup.
Still warm.
Matteo had left minutes before.
Salvatore stood at the window, looking directly into his own home.
From this angle, Leo's bed was perfectly visible.
A rage unlike anything he had ever felt rose inside him.
Not hot.
Cold.
Personal.
Carmine joined him.
"He wanted you to find this."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To show me he can reach Leo whenever he wants."
Carmine looked uncomfortable.
"He could've taken the shot."
Salvatore turned.
"Don't."
"I'm saying he didn't."
"That isn't mercy."
"No."
Carmine studied the empty room.
"It's a message."
Salvatore knew.
The message was simple.
Matteo wanted something more than Leo dead.
He wanted Salvatore afraid.
That evening, Leo refused to sleep in a bedroom.
He chose the interior movie room with no windows.
Salvatore dragged a mattress inside.
Leo stared.
"What's that?"
"I'm sleeping here."
"You have a bedroom."
"So do you."
Leo looked at him for several seconds.
"You don't trust the windows either."
"No."
Leo climbed onto the mattress.
"Okay."
At midnight, Salvatore's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Hello, little brother."
Salvatore's entire body tightened.
Matteo.
The voice sounded familiar.
Older.
But somewhere underneath the rasp was Anthony Vale.
The man who had once taught Salvatore how to disarm a knife attacker.
"Where are you?"
Matteo laughed.
"Still direct."
"What do you want?"
"What should have been mine."
"The trust?"
"The family."
"You abandoned it."
"I was removed."
"You murdered Vittorio."
Silence.
Then a sigh.
"You've been talking to ghosts."
"Domenico."
"Poor Dom."
"Did you kill him?"
"I tried."
Salvatore glanced toward Leo, sleeping twenty feet away.
"What do you want with my son?"
"Your son."
Matteo sounded amused.
"Do you know what Vittorio said when he learned Elena was pregnant?"
Salvatore said nothing.
"He said, finally, a Moretti worth saving."
Salvatore's jaw tightened.
"He preferred an unborn child to both of us."
"Why?"
"Because Leo hadn't disappointed him yet."
Matteo's voice became darker.
"He hated me because I wanted legitimacy. He hated you because you wanted independence."
"And he loved Leo?"
"No."
Matteo laughed bitterly.
"Vittorio didn't love people. He invested in them."
"What do you want?"
"The ledger."
"You already searched my house for it."
"And failed."
Salvatore looked toward the locked safe.
The ledger from Box 317 was inside.
"What happens if I give it to you?"
"You and the boy walk away."
"From what?"
"The Moretti empire."
Salvatore almost smiled.
"You think I'm going to run?"
"I think fatherhood changes men."
Salvatore's eyes moved toward Leo.
Matteo had struck closer than he realized.
"Meet me."
"Where?"
"Old Saint Agnes Church. Tomorrow. Noon."
"Alone?"
"No."
Matteo paused.
"Bring Leo."
Salvatore's voice became lethal.
"No."
"Then I'll visit him myself."
The line went dead.
Salvatore did not sleep.
At nine the next morning, Dominic arrived with new information.
"Anthony Vale had a wife."
Salvatore frowned.
"I remember."
"Do you remember her name?"
"Rachel."
"Rebecca."
Salvatore froze.
Dominic placed a photograph on the table.
Rebecca Vale.
Twenty years younger.
The same woman now known as Rebecca Sloan.
Matteo's attorney.
"They were married," Dominic said.
"Are they still?"
"No divorce record."
Salvatore stared.
The custody case had never been about legal guardianship.
It was pressure.
A way to force Salvatore into public scrutiny while Matteo operated unseen.
"Why would he invite Leo to the church?" Carmine asked.
Salvatore looked at the file.
"Because something is there."
Old Saint Agnes had been Vittorio's church.
He donated the restoration.
Paid the priest's debts.
Held private meetings in the basement.
Salvatore called Nathaniel.
"What did my father own beneath Saint Agnes?"
The lawyer was silent.
"How do you know?"
"Answer."
"A private archive room."
Salvatore closed his eyes.
The hidden files.
Matteo needed Leo because Vittorio's system required the grandson's bloodline confirmation.
The church was the vault.
Salvatore understood the plan.
"He doesn't need the ledger alone."
Dominic nodded.
"He needs Leo."
"And me?"
"Probably dead."
Salvatore looked toward the movie room.
Leo stood in the doorway.
He had heard enough.
"I want to go."
"No."
"If he needs me, he won't kill me."
"No."
"Salvatore."
"No."
Leo clenched his jaw.
"You keep saying you're my father."
"I am."
"Then listen."
Salvatore stopped.
"My mom spent eight years hiding me."
Leo's voice shook.
"She still died."
The room went silent.
"Hiding doesn't make people safe."
Salvatore stared.
It was something Elena might have said.
Something she had taught him through their son without ever knowing it.
Leo continued.
"If Matteo keeps looking, he'll find us. So stop him."
Salvatore crouched.
"This isn't a game."
"I know."
"You could die."
Leo nodded.
"So could you."
Salvatore had no answer.
At eleven forty-five, three black SUVs arrived at Old Saint Agnes.
Salvatore stepped out first.
Leo followed wearing a bullet-resistant vest beneath his jacket.
Carmine and Dominic remained outside with teams positioned around the block.
Inside, the church was empty.
Candles burned near the altar.
Matteo stood beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Silver hair.
Dark suit.
No cane.
He smiled.
For the first time, Salvatore saw it.
Their father's eyes.
"Little brother."
Salvatore put himself between Matteo and Leo.
"Open the archive."
Matteo shook his head.
"You misunderstand."
He looked at Leo.
"The boy opens it."
A metal door behind the altar slid aside.
Inside stood a biometric scanner.
Leo looked at Salvatore.
Matteo smiled.
"All we need is one drop of blood."
Salvatore drew his gun.
Matteo did not move.
"You can shoot me."
His smile widened.
"But if I die, a file automatically goes to federal authorities."
"What file?"
"The one proving Elena Bellini murdered Vittorio Moretti."
Leo gasped.
Salvatore's pistol remained steady.
Matteo looked at the boy.
"Your mother wasn't the woman you thought she was."
Leo's face went white.
Matteo reached into his pocket and placed a photograph on the altar.
Elena.
Vittorio.
A gun in her hand.
May you like
Blood on Vittorio's shirt.
And suddenly even Salvatore didn't know what to believe.
