Chapter 4 - THE BRAIDED BRACELET
I screamed.
I couldn’t stop myself. My knees gave out, and I hit the hardwood floor, my hands clutching my head.
Leo. Oh God, Leo.
My twelve-year-old brother, strapped into a wheelchair, unable to walk, trapped in a burning building.
Matteo dropped the phone, ignoring Marcus Sterling’s dark laughter. He dropped to the floor beside me, gripping my shoulders with firm, grounding hands.
“Breathe, Sophie. Look at me!” Matteo commanded, his voice sharp but anchoring.
I couldn’t see him through my tears. My chest was tight, my lungs refusing to take in oxygen. I was hyperventilating, the image of fire consuming my baby brother drowning my senses.
“He’s dead,” I sobbed wildly. “He burned!”
“He is not dead,” Matteo said, giving my shoulders a slight shake. “Listen to me. Marcus is trying to break our focus. If he really killed Leo, he wouldn’t be calling to gloat. He wants me distracted so I don’t go to Eleanor’s house.”
He pulled his phone back up and dialed a number.
“Vince,” Matteo barked into the receiver. “Status on the clinic.”
A gruff voice answered instantly. “Boss, it was a distraction. A dumpster fire in the alley behind the clinic. Pulled the fire alarms, caused a panic. But the kid is secure. I’ve got him in the armored SUV right now. We’re five minutes from the estate gates.”
The breath rushed out of me in a violent sob of relief. I slumped against Matteo’s chest. For a moment, the fearsome mafia boss didn’t push me away. He simply wrapped one strong arm around my back, letting me cry into his expensive suit.
“Keep him safe, Vince,” Matteo ordered softly, his eyes never leaving mine. “Bring him straight to the underground bunker.”
Matteo hung up and helped me to my feet.
“He’s safe,” Matteo promised, his thumb gently wiping a tear from my cheek. It was an incredibly intimate gesture, one that made my breath hitch for a completely different reason.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Matteo said, his expression hardening. “Marcus knows we’re coming for the journal. Which means Eleanor’s house isn’t safe.”
He turned back to the bed. Eleanor had fallen asleep, her breathing finally steady.
“Lock the door,” Matteo instructed me, pulling a sleek black handgun from a holster under his jacket. He checked the chamber. “When Leo arrives, my men will bring him to the panic room. I’ll send a guard to fetch you and Eleanor.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get my mother’s journal.”
“Alone?” I panicked. “Eleanor said there’s a traitor in your crew. You can’t go by yourself.”
“I have to. Keep my family safe, Sophie.”
With that, he slipped out the door.
The next two hours were the longest of my life.
Dr. Evans arrived and stabilized Eleanor, confirming she had suffered a severe panic attack but would recover. Shortly after, heavily armed guards escorted us down into Matteo’s underground bunker.
The moment the steel doors opened, I saw him.
“Sophie!”
Leo was sitting in his wheelchair, looking terrified but unhurt. I ran to him, falling to my knees and burying my face in his neck, sobbing uncontrollably.
“I’m okay, Soph,” Leo said, patting my back awkwardly. “The big guys with the tattoos got me out.”
We waited in the bunker. Three hours passed. Then four.
Finally, the heavy steel door hissed open.
Matteo walked in.
He was covered in dirt, his tailored suit ripped at the shoulder, a thin line of blood trickling down his jaw.
But he was holding a small, charred leather journal.
I stood up quickly. “You found it.”
Matteo didn’t look triumphant. He looked devastated.
He walked over to a metal table and set the journal down. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something else.
It was a braided leather bracelet. Faded, worn, and stained with dirt.
“I found the journal under the floorboards, just like Eleanor said,” Matteo said, his voice hollow. “But the house had already been tossed. Marcus’s men were looking for it. They missed the loose board.”
“Whose bracelet is that?” I asked, stepping closer.
“My mother’s,” Matteo said quietly. “She never took it off. She braided it herself.”
“Why was it at Eleanor’s house?”
“It wasn’t,” Matteo said, his dark eyes lifting to meet mine, filled with a horrific realization. “I found it in the driveway of my own estate. On the gravel, right outside the garage.”
I stared at him, confused.
“My right-hand man, Vince,” Matteo said, his voice turning to ice. “The man who just brought your brother here. I noticed he wasn’t wearing his watch earlier. When I looked in his car…”
Matteo swallowed hard.
“Vince is Arthur’s son. Arthur was my father’s bodyguard thirty years ago. The one who supposedly died trying to save him.”
Matteo picked up the braided bracelet.
“My mother’s bracelet was in Vince’s car, Sophie. He took it tonight. Which means Marcus didn’t just bribe my men.”
Matteo looked toward the heavy steel door of the bunker, suddenly realizing we were locked inside.
May you like
“Vince is the traitor,” Matteo whispered. “And he’s the one controlling the security system to this room.”
Suddenly, the lights in the bunker flickered, and went completely black.
