Chapter 5 - What Mateo Buried
Nico read the message twice.
Then he looked at Mateo.
The room seemed to contract around them.
Leo was crying behind me, but neither man moved toward him.
"What did you do?" Nico asked.
Mateo's face went blank in the careful way faces do when the truth has been waiting years to be dragged into daylight.
"Boss."
"Do not call me that."
Nico's voice was terrifyingly quiet.
"Answer me."
Mateo looked at the shattered window.
"We need to move first."
"Answer me."
"There may be a second shooter."
"Mateo."
That single word carried more threat than shouting could have.
Mateo finally met his eyes.
"I signed the identification release on Bianca's body."
Nico stopped breathing.
I felt Leo's small fingers clutch the back of my hospital robe.
"You what?"
"The coroner would not release the remains without a family representative."
"I was the family representative."
"You were in the ICU after the crash."
Nico stared at him.
"You told me the identification was complete before I woke up."
"It was supposed to be."
"Supposed to be?"
Mateo's jaw tightened.
"Vittorio brought the DNA comparison sample."
Nico's expression changed.
"From where?"
"He said it came from Bianca's hairbrush."
"You did not verify it."
"No."
The word fell like a stone.
Nico crossed the room in two strides.
He hit Mateo once.
The punch snapped Mateo's head sideways.
Leo gasped.
I stood despite the pain.
"Nico."
He ignored me.
Mateo did not defend himself.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"You let me bury a stranger."
"I believed it was her."
"You let my son mourn his mother for four years."
"I believed it was her."
Nico grabbed his shirt.
"You stood beside me at the funeral."
Mateo's eyes finally flashed.
"Because I thought we were burying Bianca."
"You did not verify the sample."
"No."
"Why?"
Mateo looked toward Leo.
Then toward me.
"Because Vittorio said there had already been one attempt on the boy that week."
Nico released him.
The rage did not leave his face.
It sharpened.
"What attempt?"
Mateo swallowed.
"A nanny found Leo's bedroom window unlocked."
Nico's voice dropped.
"I was never told."
"Vittorio said telling you would make you irrational while Bianca was missing."
"He was right about one thing."
Nico's hands curled.
"I am becoming irrational now."
I stepped between them before I could think better of it.
Both men looked at me.
"Someone just fired into a room with Leo in it."
I pointed at the message.
"And the shooter brought up a secret designed to make you turn on the man protecting your son."
Nico's eyes burned.
"He lied to me for four years."
"Yes."
"You are defending him?"
"No."
I looked at Mateo.
"I think what he did was unforgivable."
Mateo accepted that without flinching.
"But whoever sent that message wanted this exact conversation."
Silence followed.
Nico looked toward the window.
The bullet hole in the wall sat inches above Leo's abandoned daybed.
"Move everyone," he said.
Mateo nodded.
"Where?"
Nico did not answer immediately.
Then he said the last place I expected.
"My house."
I stared at him.
"Bianca specifically warned you about your house."
"She warned me about people who were there four years ago."
"That sounds worse."
"The estate has a hardened underground level, independent power, and forty cameras."
"The safehouse was supposed to be secure too."
"The safehouse was known to seven people."
His gaze moved to Mateo.
"Now I know at least one of those seven cannot be trusted completely."
Mateo absorbed the accusation in silence.
Nico looked at me.
"At the estate, I control the ground."
"Unless Vittorio controls it."
His face hardened.
"Then I will find out."
We left fifteen minutes later.
The convoy changed vehicles twice before sunrise.
Leo sat between Nico and me in the back seat.
He did not speak.
He held his green dinosaur in one hand and my fingers in the other.
Nico kept glancing at him.
Each time, Leo looked away.
I wished there were something I could say that would not make things worse.
There was not.
Some hurts needed truth before comfort.
The Valenti estate rose behind stone walls north of the city.
It was not a house.
It was a warning with windows.
Three stories of pale limestone overlooked the lake behind iron gates taller than my apartment building's first floor.
Security cameras tracked our vehicles as we approached.
Armed men checked the undercarriages before allowing us through.
I stared out the window.
"Subtle."
Nico looked at me.
"You preferred the brownstone?"
"The brownstone had fewer snipers."
"That you could see."
"Comforting."
Leo finally made a tiny sound that might have been a laugh.
Nico heard it too.
His face softened.
Then the front doors opened.
A tall older man walked down the steps before our SUV fully stopped.
He had silver hair, a beautifully tailored navy coat, and the kind of smile that appeared expensive before it appeared kind.
Nico's entire body changed beside me.
"Vittorio," he said.
The older man reached the vehicle.
"Nico."
His eyes moved immediately to Leo.
"Thank God."
Leo did not reach for him.
Vittorio opened the rear door.
"My little lion."
Leo pressed closer to me.
The older man's gaze shifted.
For a fraction of a second, the warmth vanished.
Then it returned.
"And this must be the brave young woman."
I disliked him instantly.
Not because of the words.
Because of the calculation behind them.
"Emma Hayes," Nico said.
Vittorio offered me his hand.
"Vittorio Valenti."
"I know."
His smile widened.
"Of course you do."
His eyes drifted to the bandages visible above my borrowed shirt.
"What a terrible accident."
Nico stepped between us.
"It was not an accident."
Vittorio's face registered surprise perfectly.
Too perfectly.
"What are you saying?"
"I am saying someone targeted Leo."
Vittorio's gaze snapped toward the boy.
"Then why bring him here?"
"Because I wanted to see your face when I told you."
Silence fell on the front steps.
Mateo came up behind us.
Vittorio noticed the bruise forming along his jaw.
"And what happened to you?"
Mateo said nothing.
Nico walked inside.
We followed.
The foyer looked like a museum curated by people who did not believe in price tags.
Marble stairs curved upward beneath a chandelier larger than my studio kitchen.
Oil portraits lined the walls.
Leo's shoes squeaked on the polished floor.
A woman in a dark dress approached quickly.
"Mr. Valenti, Leo's room is prepared."
"No."
Nico handed her a small bag.
"He stays with me."
The woman looked startled.
"Of course."
Vittorio removed his coat.
A pair of silver cufflinks flashed at his wrists.
Each was shaped like a small eight-pointed star.
My stomach tightened.
I had seen that shape before.
Not on him.
On the envelope Mateo had handed Nico after the collector was caught in my basement.
There had been a faint embossed mark near the flap.
An eight-pointed star.
I looked at Nico.
He was speaking quietly to a guard and did not notice.
Vittorio noticed me noticing.
His eyes dropped briefly to his cufflinks.
Then he smiled.
"Do you like them?"
"They're unusual."
"Family symbol."
"I thought the Valenti crest was a lion."
His smile became thinner.
"You know a surprising amount for a waitress."
There it was.
The first clean cut.
I smiled back.
"Waitresses hear everything because rich people assume furniture is deaf."
Mateo coughed behind me.
Vittorio stared at me for one long second.
Nico turned.
"Problem?"
"None at all."
Vittorio spread his hands.
"I was welcoming your guest."
"Try harder."
The older man's expression chilled.
"Nico, a word."
"Anything you say to me can be said in front of Emma."
That surprised both Vittorio and me.
Vittorio's gaze moved between us.
"Already?"
Nico's voice went cold.
"Careful."
Vittorio smiled faintly.
"You mistake concern for disrespect."
"I rarely mistake disrespect."
Leo tugged my hand.
"I'm hungry."
The tension shattered.
I looked down.
"Finally, a crisis I understand."
Nico told the housekeeper to bring breakfast to the library.
We ate toast and scrambled eggs while armed men searched the estate room by room.
Vittorio disappeared with several guards.
Mateo stood near the window.
Nico had not spoken to him since the safehouse.
I waited until Leo was focused on building a fortress from toast crusts.
Then I leaned toward Nico.
"The cufflinks."
"What about them?"
"Same symbol as the envelope from the collector."
His eyes sharpened.
"You are sure?"
"Yes."
Mateo turned from the window.
"Eight-point star?"
I nodded.
Mateo swore softly.
Nico looked at him.
"You know it."
"It is not a Valenti family symbol."
"Vittorio just said it was."
Mateo's mouth hardened.
"It belonged to Bell Street Exchange."
My fork stopped halfway to my mouth.
"The pawn shop that got my grandmother's ring."
"Yes."
Nico stood.
"Find the ring."
Mateo hesitated.
"Boss."
"Now."
"You told me I was not to leave your sight."
Nico looked at him.
"I changed my mind."
The hurt in Mateo's face was gone almost before it appeared.
"Understood."
He turned toward the door.
"Mateo."
I stopped him.
He looked back.
"Be careful."
His expression softened.
"Always."
He left.
Nico watched the doorway.
"You trust him."
"I think he hates what he did."
"That is not the same thing."
"No."
I looked at Nico.
"But sometimes shame makes people more loyal, not less."
His eyes held mine.
"Experience?"
"David."
"He did not become loyal."
"Exactly."
Nico almost smiled.
A guard entered five minutes later.
"Mr. Valenti."
"What?"
"We found a transmitter."
My pulse jumped.
"Where?"
The guard looked at Leo.
"Inside the boy's dinosaur."
Leo clutched the green toy.
"No."
The guard shook his head.
"Not that one."
He held up a clear evidence bag.
Inside was another dinosaur.
Yellow plastic.
I had never seen it before.
Nico's face changed.
"Where was it?"
"Under Leo's bed."
"Who entered his room before we arrived?"
The guard swallowed.
"Only household staff."
A voice came from the library doorway.
"That is not true."
Vittorio stood there.
His expression was grave.
"Mateo was in Leo's room twenty minutes before your convoy reached the gate."
Nico went still.
I looked toward the driveway.
May you like
Mateo's SUV was already disappearing beyond the trees.
