Chapter 6 - What Ruth Buried
Oregon greeted them with rain.
Nia had not returned in 6 years.
The mountains looked exactly as she remembered them, dark green beneath low clouds, while the narrow road toward her grandmother’s property disappeared between towering fir trees.
Matteo sat beside her in the SUV.
Carlo was being held at a separate location by Enzo’s men.
Enzo had wanted Nia nowhere near the abandoned property until his security team cleared it.
Nia refused.
Matteo supported her.
Enzo called both of them idiots.
The old house appeared shortly before noon.
Nia’s chest tightened.
Paint peeled from the porch. Moss covered the roof. The greenhouse behind the house had lost several glass panels.
She stepped from the SUV.
For a moment, she was 12 again.
Her grandmother was alive.
Her mother was laughing in the kitchen.
Nothing had been poisoned yet.
Matteo approached quietly.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He nodded.
No empty reassurance.
No pretending.
Nia appreciated that.
They entered the greenhouse.
Dead vines twisted around rusted frames.
Seven long planting beds ran from north to south.
“Floor 7,” Nia whispered.
She walked toward the seventh bed.
Beneath an overturned pot, she found a small brass lock embedded in the concrete.
The key fit.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a waterproof metal case.
Nia’s hands trembled as she lifted it.
Matteo crouched beside her.
“You open it.”
Inside were photographs, research files, cassette tapes, and several sealed envelopes.
One bore Matteo’s name.
He stared at it.
The handwriting was his mother’s.
His hands began shaking.
Nia quietly moved away.
“No.”
She looked back.
“Stay.”
She sat beside him.
Matteo opened the letter.
He read silently.
Halfway through, tears filled his eyes.
Nia had never imagined Matteo Costa crying.
She pretended not to notice until he handed her the page.
Elena had discovered that Carlo was secretly selling Project Eden research to criminal intermediaries. Vittorio had initially refused to believe his nephew could betray him.
Then Elena gathered proof.
Carlo learned what she was doing.
The final lines were for Matteo.
If you are reading this, I may have failed to stop him. Do not become your father’s anger. Do not become Carlo’s hunger. Power is only useful if you can put it down when it begins owning you.
Matteo folded the letter.
“My whole life,” he whispered, “I thought my mother died because my father’s enemies wanted to hurt him.”
Nia touched his hand.
“Now you know.”
“I built everything around the wrong lesson.”
“What lesson?”
“That if I became dangerous enough, nobody could take anyone from me again.”
He laughed bitterly.
“And Carlo was sitting at my table the whole time.”
Nia looked at Elena’s letter.
“You were 19.”
“I’m 38 now.”
“You don’t get to blame a 19-year-old forever.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You make forgiveness sound like an insult.”
“Sometimes it is.”
He smiled faintly.
They searched the remaining evidence.
Project Eden had never created a magical undetectable poison. It had documented botanical compounds, medical applications, toxic interactions, and diagnostic limitations.
Carlo had weaponized fragments of that knowledge.
More importantly, the files contained financial records.
Names.
Accounts.
Payments.
Proof tying Carlo to multiple murders and to the Luces organization.
Enough to destroy him without Matteo firing a shot.
Enzo called.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Carlo escaped again.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“You’re joking.”
“I wish.”
“How?”
“Inside help.”
“Who?”
“Still finding out.”
Nia looked toward the greenhouse door.
Then she saw movement.
“Matteo.”
A figure stood outside.
Matteo turned.
The first bullet shattered glass.
He threw Nia to the ground.
More shots ripped through the greenhouse.
Security returned fire.
Nia crawled behind the concrete planting bed, clutching Elena’s evidence case.
Matteo covered her with his body.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Glass.”
Blood ran from his temple.
“Stay down.”
The gunfire stopped.
Then smoke began pouring through the greenhouse.
“They set the house on fire!” someone shouted.
Flames climbed the dry wooden frame.
Nia stared in horror.
History was repeating itself.
Another greenhouse.
Another fire.
Carlo was destroying Eden again.
“This way!” Matteo shouted.
They crawled toward the rear door.
A burning beam collapsed.
Matteo shoved Nia through the opening but became trapped behind falling timber.
“Matteo!”
“Go!”
“No!”
“Nia!”
She ran back.
Heat scorched her face.
Together with one of the guards, she lifted the beam enough for Matteo to crawl free.
They stumbled outside.
The greenhouse collapsed behind them.
Nia fell onto wet grass.
The evidence case was still against her chest.
Matteo dropped beside her.
“You came back.”
“Don’t make a big thing out of it.”
“You ran into a burning building.”
“You stepped in front of bullets.”
“Technically glass.”
Nia started laughing.
She could not stop.
Shock.
Exhaustion.
Relief.
Matteo laughed too.
Then their eyes met.
The laughter faded.
He touched her cheek.
Slowly.
Giving her time to move away.
She did not.
Their kiss was brief.
Almost uncertain.
Nothing like the violent world surrounding them.
When they separated, Nia whispered, “This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably.”
“You’re my employer.”
“I can fire you.”
“That makes it worse.”
“Then quit.”
“I already tried.”
Matteo smiled.
A vehicle roared somewhere beyond the trees.
Enzo ran toward them.
“Romance later. Carlo just made his move.”
Matteo stood.
“What move?”
Enzo held out his phone.
News footage showed police vehicles surrounding multiple Costa properties on the East Coast.
Carlo had released documents portraying Matteo as responsible for everything.
Murders.
Money laundering.
Project Eden.
The evidence was partly genuine.
Partly fabricated.
But it was convincing.
Matteo watched his empire begin collapsing on live television.
Nia expected rage.
Instead, he looked strangely calm.
“Good,” he said.
Enzo stared at him.
“Good?”
Matteo looked at Elena’s letter in Nia’s hands.
“My mother told me power was useful only if I could put it down.”
May you like
He turned toward Nia.
“Maybe it’s time.”
