Chapter 4 - THE DIAMOND BRACELET
I stared at the glittering diamonds in my palm.
Even in the darkness of the closet, the stones caught the faint ambient light, heavy and undeniable.
The security chief's wife had bragged about this bracelet. She had called it an inheritance. But I remembered thinking a security officer’s salary, no matter how generous Matteo was, didn’t buy custom-cut flawless diamonds.
Matteo was watching the crack in the closet door, his gun raised, his body completely rigid.
Three men moved through Leo's bedroom. They were dressed in black tactical gear, armed with suppressed rifles.
"Room's clear," one of them muttered. "The boss said the kid was supposed to be here."
"Check the bathrooms. If we don't bring the boy to Marcus, we don't get paid."
My breath hitched.
Marcus.
Marcus was Matteo's head of security. The man who had stood in the dining room ten minutes ago. The man who had "found" the camera footage exposing Andrew.
I tugged gently on Matteo’s sleeve.
He looked down at me, annoyed by the distraction.
I opened my hand, revealing the bracelet. I leaned up, my lips brushing his ear so I wouldn't make a sound.
"This belongs to Marcus's wife," I breathed. "I found it in the pocket of this coat."
Matteo’s eyes widened. He looked at the coat I had wrapped around Leo. It wasn't a child's coat. It was a woman's designer winter jacket.
Matteo recognized it. I could tell by the way the color drained from his face.
"That was Elena's coat," he whispered, staring at the jacket wrapping his son.
Elena. His deceased wife.
The pieces began to lock together with sickening precision.
Marcus hadn't just betrayed Matteo tonight. If his wife was wearing Elena's jewelry, the corruption went back years. Marcus had engineered the footage in the dining room to make Andrew look like the sole traitor. Marcus had likely signaled the sniper to kill Andrew before Andrew could confess the whole truth.
Because Marcus was the one leading the Moretti hitmen inside the house.
The footsteps in the bedroom moved closer to the closet doors.
"What about in there?" one of the men asked.
Matteo tightened his grip on his gun. He looked at me, his eyes communicating a silent, final order. Protect my son.
He prepared to step out and take them down.
But before the man could turn the closet handle, the radio on his tactical vest crackled to life.
"All units, fall back to the main foyer," Marcus’s voice echoed sharply through the radio. "The police have breached the front gates. We have three minutes to secure the target and extract."
The men swore loudly.
"Copy that. Moving to foyer."
They ran out of the bedroom, their heavy boots fading down the hallway.
We waited in the suffocating silence for a full minute before Matteo finally lowered his weapon.
"They called the police?" I whispered, confused. "Why would Marcus call the police if he's trying to kill you?"
"He didn't," Matteo said, pushing the closet doors open and leading us out. "The estate's automated silent alarms trigger a police response if the perimeter is breached and the security chief doesn't enter the override code."
"So Marcus made a mistake?"
"Marcus doesn't make mistakes," Matteo said grimly. "He let the police come."
He knelt down to Leo's level. "Leo, I need you to be braver than you have ever been. Do you understand?"
Leo nodded, his small hands clutching the heavy coat around him.
Matteo looked at me. "The envelope Andrew had. The one I’ve been searching for. It contains irrefutable proof that the Moretti family bought the city's police commissioner."
I gasped. "The police aren't here to save you."
"They are here to clean up the mess," Matteo confirmed. "Marcus is handing me over to the corrupt cops. If I resist, they shoot me legally. If I surrender, I die in a cell before sunrise. And Marcus takes over my empire as the loyal grieving protector."
"Then we have to hide."
"We can't hide from a police sweep of my own house," Matteo said. He looked at the child's drawing in his hand. The map to the tunnels.
"We take the prohibition tunnel," Matteo decided. "It leads out to the old carriage house past the tree line."
"But the drawing shows Marcus's men already know about it," I argued.
"They know where it starts," Matteo corrected, a dark, dangerous spark returning to his eyes. "They don't know the failsafes I installed."
We moved quickly. Down the back servant stairwell, navigating the dark corridors I cleaned every day. My leg was screaming in agony now, a hot, stabbing pain radiating up my thigh. I leaned heavily on the banister, biting my lip to keep from crying out.
Matteo noticed. He didn't offer pity. He simply wrapped his strong arm around my waist, taking half my weight, pulling me forward while he carried Leo in his other arm.
We reached the wine cellar in the sub-basement.
Matteo moved behind a massive oak wine rack, pressing a hidden switch. The rack slid sideways, revealing a dark, stone-carved tunnel.
We stepped inside, and Matteo sealed the door behind us.
It was pitch black and smelled of damp earth and old brick.
Matteo produced a small flashlight, illuminating the narrow path.
"Keep moving," he ordered.
We walked for what felt like miles. The air grew colder.
Suddenly, the flashlight beam caught a reflection ahead.
A metal door.
But standing in front of the door, holding a suppressed pistol, was a man.
Not a Moretti hitman. Not a corrupt cop.
It was Julian. Matteo's younger brother.
Julian smiled, raising his gun. "You always were predictable, brother."
Matteo froze.
Of all the betrayals tonight, this one hit the hardest.
"Julian?" Matteo's voice broke.
"Marcus sends his regards," Julian said, stepping forward. "He told me you'd use the tunnel. It's time for new management, Matteo."
Julian cocked the hammer of his gun.
But before he could fire, I reached into the pocket of the heavy coat Leo was wearing.
I pulled out an object I had found beneath the diamond bracelet.
May you like
A heavy, antique iron key.
"Wait!" I screamed, holding the key up in the flashlight beam. "Julian, wait!"
