Chapter 6 - Blood Does Not Make Family
Vittorio looked nothing like a monster.
That was what made him dangerous.
Silver hair.
Tailored camel coat.
Calm smile.
He resembled the beloved uncle who had brought Lucia handmade toys from Italy and taught Matteo how to choose wine.
Six armed men surrounded him.
“Daniel,” Vittorio said. “Eleven years. You have been remarkably inconvenient.”
Daniel moved Elena behind him.
Matteo stepped forward.
“You killed my father.”
Vittorio sighed.
“Salvatore killed himself with sentiment.”
“And Sofia?”
A pause.
That was enough.
Matteo's face changed.
Vittorio saw it.
“She should have stayed out of business.”
Matteo raised his pistol.
Every weapon in the clearing followed.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Listen to the maid, Matteo.”
Matteo's eyes remained on his uncle.
“She has a name.”
“Yes. Daniel's daughter. The girl whose existence caused more trouble than she could possibly understand.”
Daniel said, “You never found the accounts.”
“No.”
“And you never will.”
Vittorio's smile disappeared.
“I don't need them anymore.”
He looked at Matteo.
“I have something more useful.”
Matteo's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Lucia's crying filled the line.
“Daddy?”
Everything inside Matteo stopped.
“Lucia.”
“Daddy, Uncle Vittorio's friend says—”
The phone was taken.
A man's voice replaced hers.
“Come home quietly.”
Matteo stared at Vittorio.
Vittorio smiled again.
“You see? Family.”
Matteo lowered his weapon.
Vittorio ordered Daniel to hand over the ledger and Sofia's flash drive.
Daniel refused.
Vittorio shrugged.
“Then Lucia dies.”
Elena stepped forward.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You want the key to Salvatore's accounts.”
Vittorio's eyes narrowed.
“I know where it is.”
Daniel stared at his daughter.
“Elena.”
She ignored him.
“The brass key opened more than the locker.”
That was a lie.
Matteo knew it.
Vittorio didn't.
“Where?”
“I'll show you. But Lucia goes free.”
Vittorio laughed softly.
“You're bargaining with me?”
“Yes.”
“Your father tried that once.”
“And you still couldn't break him.”
The smile vanished.
Matteo looked at Elena differently.
The frightened maid from the breakfast room was gone.
In her place stood Daniel Carter's daughter.
Vittorio agreed.
They returned to Chicago.
Lucia was being held in an unused Falcone warehouse.
Elena spent the drive creating a plan with Matteo through nothing more than glances and fragments of conversation Vittorio wouldn't understand.
At the warehouse, Lucia sat tied to a chair.
She saw Matteo.
“Daddy!”
He nearly lost control.
Vittorio's man pressed a gun near her.
Elena stepped forward.
“Release her first.”
“No.”
“You promised.”
“I lie.”
Elena smiled.
“So do I.”
Vittorio frowned.
Daniel suddenly dropped to the floor.
Marco killed the lights.
Matteo moved.
Three gunshots.
A scream.
Glass breaking.
Elena ran toward Lucia.
Someone grabbed her.
She drove her elbow backward.
The grip loosened.
She reached Lucia and cut the plastic restraint with a piece of broken metal.
“Run!”
Lucia refused.
“Not without you!”
A gunman appeared.
Elena shielded the child.
A shot exploded.
The gunman fell.
Matteo stood behind him.
“Take her!”
Elena carried Lucia toward the exit.
Police sirens rose outside.
Vittorio froze.
He had controlled enough Chicago officers to assume police would never come.
But Matteo had quietly sent copies of Daniel's ledger to a federal prosecutor before entering the warehouse.
Vittorio realized it too late.
He ran.
Daniel intercepted him.
The two older men crashed into a table.
Vittorio pulled a knife.
Matteo raised his gun.
Daniel shouted, “No!”
Vittorio lunged.
Daniel stepped aside.
The knife clattered away.
Federal agents stormed the building.
Vittorio was forced to his knees.
He stared at Matteo.
“You'd let strangers put a Falcone in prison?”
Matteo looked at Lucia clinging to Elena.
Then at Daniel.
Then at his uncle.
“Blood doesn't make family.”
Daniel heard his own words.
Vittorio's expression changed.
Matteo finished quietly.
“Choice does.”
Agents dragged Vittorio away.
For the first time in eleven years, Daniel Carter was free.
But the victory lasted less than thirty seconds.
Elena looked down.
Blood covered her dress.
Matteo's face went white.
“Elena?”
She swayed.
Lucia screamed.
May you like
“Miss Elena!”
Elena collapsed into Matteo's arms.
