Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER BURIED ALIVE
Alessandro became someone else after seeing Matteo's photograph.
Not colder.
More dangerous.
Sophia watched him plan the shipyard operation with brutal precision.
Routes.
Snipers.
Extraction teams.
Emergency vehicles.
No hesitation.
But his hand shook once when he thought nobody was looking.
Sophia saw.
“Tell me about him.”
Alessandro continued loading a magazine.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because talking changes nothing.”
“It changes you.”
His hands stopped.
“Matteo was nineteen when he disappeared.”
“What happened?”
“He followed me.”
“Where?”
“To a meeting with Vale.”
Sophia understood.
“You blame yourself.”
“I don't blame myself.”
“You absolutely blame yourself.”
His eyes lifted.
“I told him to stay home.”
“That sounds suspiciously like blaming yourself.”
“He wanted to prove he belonged in the family.”
“And?”
“I wanted him nowhere near it.”
Alessandro looked away.
“He was better than me.”
Sophia moved closer.
“Maybe he still is.”
At midnight, they entered the shipyard.
Sophia wore a wire.
Alessandro hated every second of it.
“If I say run—”
“I know.”
“You run.”
“Yes.”
“You don't argue.”
She looked at him.
“Let's not become unrealistic.”
His mouth tightened.
Then Sophia kissed his cheek.
Both of them froze.
She hadn't planned it.
Neither had he.
Sophia stepped backward.
“For luck.”
Alessandro touched the place she'd kissed.
“Sophia.”
“Later.”
She walked into the warehouse before he could answer.
Raymond waited inside.
Matteo sat bound to a chair.
Alive.
Sophia approached.
“Let him go.”
Raymond smiled.
“You really are Thomas's daughter.”
“Apparently everyone keeps saying that.”
“You have the ledger?”
“Yes.”
She lifted the bag.
“And Vale?”
“Coming.”
Sophia stopped.
“You work for him.”
“Worked.”
Raymond's expression hardened.
“For twenty-six years, I cleaned up Vale's mistakes. Your father wanted morality. Vittorio wanted power. I wanted survival.”
“And now?”
“Now I want Vale dead.”
“Why?”
“Because he killed my daughter.”
Sophia stared.
“I didn't know you had one.”
“No one did.”
Raymond's face changed.
For the first time, grief appeared.
“She found his trafficking records. He made an example of her.”
“So you helped murder my father and now suddenly you've discovered a conscience?”
Raymond flinched.
Fair hit.
“I didn't kill Thomas.”
“You betrayed him.”
“Yes.”
“Marie did too.”
“Yes.”
“And Alessandro?”
Raymond looked toward the darkness.
“He arrived too late.”
Sophia's pulse changed.
“So he didn't kill my father.”
“No.”
“Why tell me he did?”
“To separate you.”
“Why?”
“Because Vale fears Alessandro only when Alessandro has something to lose.”
Sophia almost laughed.
“You thought turning me against him would make him weaker?”
“Yes.”
“You don't understand him at all.”
Raymond studied her.
“Maybe you do.”
A gunshot shattered the overhead light.
Darkness swallowed the warehouse.
Men shouted.
Sophia dropped.
Alessandro's voice came through her earpiece.
“Stay down.”
Gunfire exploded.
Sophia crawled toward Matteo.
She cut his restraints with a piece of broken metal.
“Can you walk?”
“Try me.”
He stood shakily.
A man appeared behind Sophia.
Matteo knocked him down with the chair.
“Seven years,” he muttered. “I've imagined that.”
Sophia almost smiled.
Then Vale's voice came over the warehouse speakers.
“Touching reunion.”
Floodlights switched on.
Vale stood on the upper catwalk.
Marie was beside him.
Again.
But this time she wasn't a hostage.
She held a gun.
Sophia stared.
“Aunt Marie?”
Marie aimed at Vale.
Then fired.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Chaos erupted.
Raymond tackled Vale.
Both men crashed through the catwalk railing.
Raymond caught the edge.
Vale landed on the platform below.
Alessandro emerged from the shadows.
“Matteo!”
His brother looked at him.
Seven years disappeared from Alessandro's face.
“Alex.”
Alessandro crossed the warehouse.
The brothers embraced.
Sophia had never seen Alessandro lose control.
He did now.
His shoulders shook.
Matteo clutched him.
“You took your time.”
Alessandro laughed and cried simultaneously.
Then Matteo's expression changed.
“Alex.”
A red laser appeared on Alessandro's chest.
Sophia saw it first.
“DOWN!”
She shoved Alessandro.
The rifle fired.
Pain exploded through Sophia's side.
She fell.
Alessandro caught her before she hit the floor.
His hands immediately found blood.
“No.”
His voice broke.
“Sophia.”
She tried to breathe.
Couldn't.
Alessandro pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
She looked at him.
Strangely, she wasn't afraid.
“Did I save you?”
His face crumpled.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Sophia, don't close your eyes.”
She smiled weakly.
“You're very bossy for a husband I didn't agree to marry.”
“Sophia.”
“Alessandro?”
“Yes.”
She touched his face.
May you like
“I think I might have chosen you anyway.”
Then everything went black.
