Chapter 10
The silence in the concrete vault was absolute.
Uncle Matteo. The patriarch of the outer boroughs. The man who had raised Alessandro and Julian after their father was murdered in an alley thirty years ago.
"Matteo..." Victor breathed, shaking his head in disbelief. "No. That's impossible. Matteo loved Julian like his own son."
"Matteo loved Julian's money," Alessandro said, his voice laced with venom.
Everything began falling into place with terrifying precision. Matteo had always controlled the family's European logistics. When Julian vanished three years ago, Matteo had been the first to claim Julian was dead, pushing Alessandro to declare the estate settled. But the Swiss banks had refused to release the Romano trust fund without Julian's body or a verified biological heir.
Matteo didn't want Emily and Zoe safe.
He had placed Emily here so he would always know where Julian's heir was. And tonight, while Alessandro was supposed to be in New York, Matteo had sent Vance to abduct Zoe, extract the DNA sample, liquidate the five hundred million, and blame the entire massacre on a rival syndicate.
"He was going to kill all of us," Emily said, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "He looked me in the eye and swore he was Julian's friend."
Alessandro looked down at Zoe. The little girl had pulled her face away from Emily’s neck and was staring up at him with those deep, familiar brown eyes—Julian’s eyes.
Alessandro reached out. His large, scarred hand gently touched her curly hair.
"He will never touch you again," Alessandro promised her.
Zoe reached out and grabbed his thumb with her tiny hand. Her fingers were still stained with black shoe polish. "You promise, Uncle Alessandro?"
The word hit Alessandro like a hammer against steel. *Uncle Alessandro.*
A rare, warm smile touched his lips for a fraction of a second. "I promise."
He turned back to Victor. The suspicion in Alessandro’s eyes had shifted into cold, strategic calculation. "Victor."
Victor snapped to attention. "Boss."
"Did you call local backup when the alarms went off?"
"No," Victor said. "Per standard black-site protocol, all external communications were routed through the secure family switchboard."
"Which means Matteo is currently sitting in his penthouse, waiting for Vance’s confirmation call," Alessandro said.
A sharp buzz interrupted them. Alessandro pulled the burner phone from his pocket.
The screen lit up with an incoming call from an unlisted Chicago number.
Alessandro tapped the speaker button and held the phone up.
May you like
A raspy, distinguished voice came through the tiny speaker. "Carter? Did you get the girl out of the house? Alessandro’s flight from New York just touched down at O’Hare. You have twenty minutes before he reaches the gates."
It was Uncle Matteo.
