Chapter 5 - THE FIRST TIME NICO LET ME MAKE THE PLAN
The envelope stayed in my hoodie.
Nobody touched it.
Nico wanted to put it in a safe.
Vincent wanted to move it to another building.
I said no to both.
“If Matteo doesn't know we have it, then the safest thing we can do is keep him believing it's missing.”
Nico paced once across the room.
“He may attack again.”
“He'll attack anyway.”
“Ava.”
I looked at him.
“You told me to stop treating ignorance like protection.”
“Yes.”
“So don't start treating control like protection either.”
His jaw worked.
Then he nodded.
“Fine.”
Vincent looked between us.
“This new communication style is deeply uncomfortable to witness.”
I would have laughed if I weren't so tired.
Lila was asleep against my chest.
She had no idea three adults were arguing over the geopolitical consequences of the envelope ten feet from her bassinet.
“What did Matteo say after he asked for it?” Nico asked.
“He wants to exchange Gerald Shaw for the envelope.”
“Location?”
“He'll call back.”
Nico's expression hardened.
“He won't get near you.”
“I agree.”
That surprised him.
“I just gave birth. I'm not attending a hostage exchange.”
“Good.”
“But he thinks I might.”
Nico stared.
I continued.
“So let him.”
Vincent's eyes sharpened.
Nico's did too.
“No.”
“You don't even know the plan.”
“I know enough.”
“That's the old Nico talking.”
“This is the father of a six-hour-old baby talking.”
I looked down at Lila.
That almost worked.
Almost.
Then I said, “Good. Her father can listen.”
Nico sat.
I explained.
Matteo believed I had the envelope.
He also believed I was angry with Nico.
Both were true.
He had just watched my message detonate the Moretti family chat.
He had probably seen the Bellario's photograph.
Everybody had.
“What if we let him believe I'm willing to make a separate deal?”
Nico stared at me.
“You want to pretend you're betraying me.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo knows you.”
“Exactly.”
“He knows you're loyal.”
“To who?”
The question silenced the room.
I looked directly at Nico.
“For seven years, everyone around you assumed I would always choose you.”
His face changed.
“I did too.”
My voice softened despite myself.
“That is why this works.”
Vincent leaned forward.
“What would she supposedly want?”
“Control of Lila's trust,” I said.
Nico frowned.
“You already have legal standing as her mother.”
“But Matteo doesn't know what I know about the trust.”
I looked at Vincent.
“You said the family attorney's verification matters.”
“Yes.”
“So I tell Matteo I'm afraid Nico will use his acknowledgment to control everything.”
Nico's mouth tightened.
“Realistic.”
I gave him a pointed look.
“Yes.”
He accepted that.
“I tell Matteo I'll trade the envelope if Gerald signs something giving me exclusive control over Lila's share.”
Vincent nodded.
“He'll believe greed before loyalty.”
“Especially after the photograph.”
Nico looked at me.
The shame in his face was almost enough to make me stop.
Almost.
“This uses what happened at Bellario's,” he said.
“Yes.”
“I hate that.”
“So do I.”
Silence.
Then Nico surprised me.
“Do it.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
“You're learning.”
Nico ignored him.
When Matteo called forty minutes later, I was ready.
He sounded almost amused.
“Have you found your mother's letter?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
That mattered.
Then: “Where?”
“Somewhere Nico can't take it.”
Matteo laughed.
“He's there with you.”
“Not anymore.”
I looked at Nico.
He stood three feet away.
His face remained perfectly still.
“Interesting,” Matteo said.
“I want a deal.”
“With me?”
“You wanted that envelope badly enough to send someone to my hospital room.”
“Carlo acted without permission.”
“That's a weak lie.”
“You're sharper today.”
“I had a baby. It clarified things.”
Nico's eyes closed briefly.
Matteo said, “What do you want?”
“Lila's share.”
“That belongs to her.”
“I want control until she's twenty-five.”
Nico looked at me as if seeing someone new.
Good.
I needed Matteo to hear that kind of ambition.
“I don't want Nico using our daughter to keep me trapped.”
Matteo was silent.
Then he said, “The photograph hurt.”
I let my breath catch.
That part didn't require acting.
“You have no idea.”
“Oh, I think I do.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What does Bianca get?”
“Bianca always wants more than she deserves.”
Not partners, then.
At least not equal ones.
Useful.
“I bring the envelope. Gerald verifies it. He writes the trust so Nico can't touch Lila's share.”
“You think Gerald can do that?”
“I think with a gun pointed at him, he'll become creative.”
Matteo laughed.
“Perhaps you really are becoming a Moretti.”
I almost hung up.
Instead I said, “Where?”
“Old Moretti Produce Terminal. Newark waterfront. Noon.”
“No.”
“Ava—”
“I am not taking a newborn to a warehouse.”
“You don't bring the child.”
“I don't go anywhere without her.”
That was true.
Matteo paused.
“Then perhaps we choose somewhere safer.”
He gave me an address.
An abandoned Moretti medical clinic in Weehawken.
Closer.
Smaller.
More controllable.
After the call ended, Nico immediately said, “You're not going.”
“I know.”
He looked suspicious.
“Then who is?”
“Someone Matteo will believe is me.”
Vincent sighed.
“We're not dressing Nico in a wig.”
For the first time in twenty-four hours, I laughed hard enough to hurt.
Even Nico smiled.
The plan was simpler.
A vehicle matching mine would arrive.
A woman of similar height would remain in the rear seat beneath a hood.
Matteo's cameras would see what he expected.
Meanwhile, police officers Vincent trusted—not Moretti men—would move toward Gerald.
“No organization security,” I said.
Nico nodded.
“Agreed.”
“Matteo built your security system.”
“Agreed.”
“Bianca?”
“I'll handle Bianca.”
My face hardened.
Nico saw it.
“Not by meeting her alone.”
He almost argued.
Then caught himself.
“Fine.”
Vincent looked amused again.
The exchange began at noon.
I watched through a secure video feed.
Nico stood beside me.
For once, he wasn't on the front line.
He hated every second.
The decoy vehicle entered the clinic garage.
Matteo appeared.
He looked exactly as he had when he drove me to the hospital.
Dark suit.
Calm face.
No visible weapon.
That almost made it worse.
Gerald Shaw was brought out moments later.
His lip was split, but he was walking.
Vincent's voice came through the earpiece.
“Visual confirmed.”
The decoy driver stepped out.
Matteo approached the rear door.
Then stopped.
He looked directly into one of his own hidden cameras.
And smiled.
Nico swore.
Matteo lifted his phone.
Mine rang.
I answered.
“You really think I taught Nico's security for twelve years and wouldn't recognize a decoy?”
My stomach dropped.
On the screen, Gerald was dragged backward.
“Matteo—”
“No more games.”
Nico reached for the phone.
I moved away.
“What do you want?”
“I want the real envelope.”
“You don't even know what it contains.”
“I know exactly what it contains.”
“Then why do you need Gerald?”
Silence.
I had him.
“You don't know how to use it.”
Matteo's voice hardened.
“Bring it.”
“No.”
“You have thirty minutes.”
“For what?”
He smiled into the camera.
Then another feed appeared on my screen.
My Hoboken apartment.
The nursery.
Someone was inside.
A woman in a red dress stood beside Lila's empty crib.
Bianca Falcone.
She looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Then she lifted a small white stuffed rabbit from the crib.
The rabbit Nico had bought three months earlier.
She held it by one ear.
Matteo said, “Bianca has placed enough explosives in your apartment to take out the entire floor.”
Nico went rigid.
I stared at the screen.
“The apartment is empty.”
“Yes.”
“So blow it up.”
Matteo's smile vanished slightly.
Good.
I continued.
“Do you think I care about furniture right now?”
“Ava.”
“You don't understand mothers very well.”
Nico looked at me.
Neither did he, once.
Maybe now he did.
Matteo's voice became colder.
“Thirty minutes.”
“For what?”
“To bring the envelope.”
“And if I don't?”
The video changed again.
This time I stopped breathing.
Teresa Moretti.
Nico's mother.
She was tied to a chair in my kitchen.
Nico made a sound beside me that I had never heard before.
May you like
Matteo smiled.
“Now we understand each other.”
