Chapter 5 - The Price of Protecting a Child
“Elias paid the man who attacked Rebecca.”
Celia said the words slowly, as if she needed to hear them aloud.
Matteo didn't respond.
He was studying the authorization date.
The first payment to Sonoran Protective Consultants had been approved six days before the attempted abduction.
This hadn't been a last-minute arrangement.
Someone had planned it.
“Call the police,” Celia said.
“We will.”
“Matteo, that man tried to take your son.”
“I know exactly what he tried to do.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
Matteo turned the phone toward her.
“The invoice proves Elias authorized a payment. It doesn't prove he ordered Oliver taken. If I accuse him without enough evidence, he'll know what we've found.”
Celia looked at him.
“You still want to believe he's innocent.”
Matteo's silence answered her.
Elias had been his closest friend.
After Elena died, Elias had sat beside him through sleepless nights.
He had carried Oliver when the boy cried for his mother.
Matteo remembered once hearing Oliver call him Uncle Elias.
The thought made him sick.
He forwarded the financial records to Denise and instructed her to preserve the originals.
Then he asked his independent attorney to arrange an examination of the company's accounts.
No one from family security was to participate.
When Matteo returned to the mansion, the house was quiet.
Rebecca sat outside Oliver's bedroom.
Her injured wrist rested on a folded towel.
“Is he asleep?” Matteo asked.
She nodded.
“He asked if the black car could come through his window.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“What did you tell him?”
“That his daddy was making sure nobody could take him.”
She hesitated.
“I hope I didn't promise too much.”
“You didn't.”
Rebecca tried to stand, but pain crossed her face.
Matteo noticed.
“Have you seen a doctor?”
“Tomorrow. Oliver didn't want me to leave.”
“I can arrange someone to come here.”
“Mr. Valenti, I don't need special treatment.”
“This isn't special treatment. You were hurt protecting my child.”
Rebecca looked away.
“Your mother thinks I'm lying.”
“My mother knows you're not.”
The answer surprised both of them.
Matteo sat opposite her.
“Rebecca, why didn't you tell me when the threats started?”
She stared at her hands.
“Because the first message said my dad would lose his rehabilitation care if I spoke.”
Her father, Thomas Collins, was recovering from a serious stroke.
Rebecca had spent nearly two years helping him regain his speech and mobility.
His treatment depended on a combination of insurance, savings, and an assistance program.
She had already sold her car to cover expenses.
“I thought if I stayed quiet, they'd leave him alone,” she admitted.
Matteo felt ashamed.
Rebecca had fought a stranger while injured.
Then she'd returned to work, frightened of losing the only income keeping her father in treatment.
“And my mother used those injuries to humiliate you.”
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“She knew I couldn't just quit.”
Matteo looked toward Oliver's closed door.
“I won't ask you to forgive her.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“I'm not asking for revenge. I just want the truth.”
Before Matteo could answer, her phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Her face went white.
“What is it?”
She turned the screen toward him.
NOTICE: REHABILITATION COVERAGE UNDER REVIEW. NONESSENTIAL SERVICES TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.
Rebecca stood so quickly that her chair scraped across the floor.
“No. His physical therapy starts tomorrow morning.”
“Rebecca—”
“He finally walked twelve steps without help yesterday.”
Her voice broke.
“If they stop now, he could lose everything he's worked for.”
Matteo offered to call the facility.
Rebecca stepped back.
“Please don't make this another favor I owe your family.”
He froze.
She looked horrified by her own words.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't apologize.”
He spoke quietly.
“You've had enough people using what you love to control you.”
Downstairs, Margaret was waiting in the morning room.
She sat beside an old blue coat that had belonged to Elena.
Matteo recognized it immediately.
Elena had worn that coat on chilly evenings while walking Oliver around the garden.
Margaret looked up.
“Did you find Celia?”
“Yes.”
“And Beatrice?”
“Yes.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Then you know.”
“Not nearly enough.”
Matteo placed the payment record on the table.
“Who arranged Oliver's visit to the white house?”
“I did.”
“Who arranged the black sedan?”
Margaret hesitated.
“I was told transportation would be provided.”
“By whom?”
“Through security.”
“Elias?”
She looked down.
“I believed he was acting on instructions from someone protecting the family.”
Matteo stared at her.
“Mother, you approved access to a car you didn't recognize, driven by a man you didn't know.”
“I was afraid.”
“For whom?”
“For Oliver.”
Margaret suddenly began crying.
“You don't understand what it was like after Elena died. Every time you left the house, I wondered if someone would bring you home in a coffin too.”
Matteo softened for one painful second.
Then he remembered Rebecca's bruises.
“Fear doesn't give you the right to hurt innocent people.”
Margaret wiped her face.
“I thought if I made Rebecca leave, she'd be safe.”
“By accusing her of hurting Oliver?”
“I was told she had become a target. That keeping her close would make everything worse.”
“Who told you?”
Margaret looked toward the doorway.
But she didn't answer.
Matteo knew enough to stop asking.
He removed her access to the estate's security system.
Until the matter was resolved, she would not take Oliver anywhere alone.
Margaret accepted the decision without arguing.
Later that evening, Matteo called Elias into his office.
He didn't show him the financial records.
Instead, he asked about Sonoran Protective Consultants.
Elias looked mildly surprised.
“A small firm we've used to watch outside contractors.”
“Who hired them?”
“I approved the contract.”
“For what purpose?”
“Checking vulnerabilities around the estate.”
Matteo leaned back.
“Did you recognize the man in the black sedan?”
“No.”
“His company received one of those payments.”
Elias's expression barely changed.
“Then someone at the company was compromised.”
“You don't sound surprised.”
“Nothing surprises me when your family is involved.”
The remark stung because there was truth in it.
Matteo dismissed him.
For several minutes, he sat alone, thinking about Elena's photograph.
Then Rebecca appeared at his office door.
She was shaking.
“The rehabilitation center called,” she whispered.
Matteo stood.
“What happened?”
“My father's coverage wasn't just suspended.”
She handed him her phone.
A facility employee had sent her a copy of a discharge-transfer authorization.
Thomas Collins was being moved to an undisclosed care arrangement.
Rebecca pointed to the signature.
“Someone approved the transfer without telling me.”
Matteo read the name.
Elias Grant.
He looked up.
Rebecca was crying now.
“They're not just threatening my father anymore.”
May you like
Her voice dropped.
“They're taking him.”
