Chapter 12 - How Her Father Died
Matteo lunged before the guards expected it.
Not at Giulietta.
At Preston.
Enzo caught him around the chest and slammed him against the sedan.
“You lying little coward,” Matteo snarled.
Preston laughed shakily.
“There he is.”
Giulietta stepped between them.
“Everybody stops.”
No one moved.
She pointed at Preston.
“You delivered a package from Matteo to my father’s doctor.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“How many times?”
Preston hesitated.
Giulietta’s hand lifted.
“Three.”
Warren looked like he might be sick.
“You told me those trips were for betting debt.”
“They were supposed to clear debt.”
“By poisoning a man?”
“I didn’t know!”
Matteo snapped, “Because there was no poison in those packages.”
Giulietta faced him.
“Then what?”
“Cash. Files. Medical records.”
“For what?”
“To identify who was altering Vincent’s treatment.”
Preston barked a laugh.
“That is not what you told me.”
“Because you were a drunk kid being used as a courier.”
Giulietta raised both hands.
“Stop talking over each other.”
She looked at Matteo.
“If you were investigating Dad’s poisoning, why did his recording say you moved against him?”
Matteo’s eyes dropped.
“Because I did.”
The words landed hard.
Giulietta’s pulse thudded once.
Matteo continued.
“Not to kill him. To remove him from operational control. He was trying to dismantle half the organization overnight. Men were going to revolt.”
“So you planned a coup.”
“I planned a vote.”
“You contacted Hales.”
“I contacted Warren’s father.”
Warren flinched.
“My father died nine years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then Preston?” Giulietta asked.
Matteo pointed at him.
“He inserted himself. Debt. Ambition. Ego. Someone else found him useful.”
Giulietta’s phone vibrated.
An alert from Enzo’s system.
SERVICE DOOR OPEN - LEVEL B2.
Enzo turned.
“Who’s on B2?”
Before anyone answered, the lights in the garage went out.
Darkness swallowed them.
A body hit concrete.
Someone shouted.
Giulietta drew her weapon and moved by memory.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Matteo’s guards were down.
His cuffs lay open on the ground.
The service door swung slowly shut.
Then the fire alarm screamed through the hotel.
Giulietta’s phone rang.
MATTEO.
She answered.
His voice was calm.
“Come downstairs alone.”
“Where is Luca?”
A metal clang echoed behind him.
“Alive for now.”
Giulietta turned.
The medic’s chair beside the sedan was empty.
Luca was gone again.
Matteo continued.
May you like
“Bring nobody, or I burn Vincent’s original ledger with your brother inside the room.”
