Chapter 4 - The Secret in Mateo’s Blood
For several seconds, none of us spoke.
My father’s recorded face remained frozen on the laptop.
Vittorio believes Mateo is his grandson.
I looked at Sofia.
She looked as stunned as I felt.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
Dominic restarted the video.
My father continued.
“Years ago, Vittorio had a son named Marco.”
I remembered Marco.
Barely.
He was older than me.
Wild.
Violent.
He disappeared when I was nineteen.
My father had said he left the country.
“Marco became obsessed with Sofia long before Luca married her.”
Sofia’s face drained.
“I never knew.”
My father continued.
“Vittorio convinced himself Mateo belonged to Marco.”
I stood.
“That’s impossible.”
Sofia nodded.
“Completely impossible.”
“Then why—”
“Because Vittorio needed to believe it,” my father said from the video.
Almost as though answering me.
“He wanted an heir he could control.”
The recording explained more.
Marco had died years earlier after betraying the family.
Vittorio had never accepted it.
When Sofia became pregnant, rumors began circulating.
Manufactured rumors.
Vittorio paid people to claim Sofia and Marco had been involved.
They had never been.
DNA records were altered.
Medical documents forged.
Vittorio built a lie so convincing that even some of his own men believed it.
My father discovered the scheme only after Mateo’s accident.
“He wasn’t trying to kill Mateo,” Sofia whispered.
“No.”
I understood.
“He wanted me dead so he could take him.”
Dominic nodded.
“And raise Mateo as his own bloodline.”
Disgust rolled through me.
My father’s video continued.
“If Vittorio has Mateo, do not argue with his belief. Use it.”
Dominic smiled faintly.
“Smart man.”
The video ended with coordinates beneath my estate.
I stared.
“What is that?”
Dominic knew.
“The old wine tunnels.”
My estate had been built during Prohibition.
The original owners had used hidden tunnels to move alcohol.
Most entrances had supposedly been sealed.
Apparently not all.
I understood my father’s plan.
Vittorio controlled the gates.
He did not control what he did not know existed.
We moved fast.
Sofia stayed behind despite protesting.
Dominic and I took one vehicle to an abandoned chapel half a mile from my property.
Beneath the chapel floor was a rusted iron hatch.
My father’s coordinates were exact.
We descended.
The tunnel smelled of damp earth and old stone.
Dominic checked his watch.
“We have two minutes.”
“Then stop talking.”
We moved.
The passage ended beneath the mansion’s library.
A narrow staircase led upward.
I heard voices.
Two guards.
Dominic held up two fingers.
We moved together.
Fast.
Quiet.
Within seconds, both men were unconscious.
I took one of their guns.
“Office.”
We crossed the corridor.
Gunfire erupted somewhere outside.
Dominic smiled.
“Our people realized the cameras were looped.”
Good.
Chaos would divide Vittorio’s attention.
I reached the office.
The door was open.
Elena sat exactly where I had seen her.
Hands tied.
Mateo in her arms.
The gunman behind her turned.
Too late.
I fired once into the wall beside him.
He dropped his weapon.
Dominic tackled him.
“Elena.”
Her eyes widened.
“Luca.”
“Mateo?”
“Fine.”
I crossed the room.
Then applause came from behind me.
Slow.
Mocking.
Vittorio stepped from the side doorway.
He held a gun.
Pointed at my chest.
“You always were dramatic.”
I turned.
“Let them go.”
He smiled.
“Look at you.”
“What?”
“You finally look alive again.”
I wanted to kill him.
But Mateo was five feet away.
I could not risk a shot.
Vittorio glanced at the baby.
“He has Marco’s eyes.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“No?”
“He has mine.”
His smile faded.
“You were always arrogant.”
“And you were always delusional.”
Dominic tensed.
Vittorio shifted the gun toward Elena.
“Careful.”
I stopped.
“Mateo is not Marco’s son.”
“I have proof.”
“You have forged proof.”
His face twitched.
I continued.
“My father knew.”
“Your father lied.”
“He recorded everything.”
That hit.
“You’re bluffing.”
“I know you bribed Romano.”
Silence.
“I know you altered medical records.”
His eyes changed.
“And I know Marco never touched Sofia.”
Vittorio’s hand shook.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Dominic noticed.
So did I.
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
Vittorio looked at Mateo.
For the first time, doubt entered his expression.
Then anger replaced it.
“If he isn’t Marco’s…”
He raised the gun.
I understood instantly.
The fantasy had protected Mateo.
Without it, my son became expendable.
I moved.
The shot exploded.
Elena screamed.
Dominic fired.
Vittorio staggered backward.
I hit the floor beside Mateo.
For half a second, I felt nothing.
Then pain burned through my shoulder.
Blood.
My blood.
But Mateo was unharmed.
He cried loudly.
Alive.
Dominic kicked Vittorio’s gun away.
Guards rushed in.
My men.
Vittorio lay against the desk, bleeding from his leg.
Alive.
Unfortunately.
Elena untied herself.
“Luca!”
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t.
But I could breathe.
I pulled Mateo into my good arm.
He pressed against my chest.
His crying softened.
Vittorio watched.
Something hateful filled his face.
“You think this is over?”
I looked at him.
“It is for you.”
He laughed weakly.
“No.”
Blood spread beneath him.
“Romano still has the proof.”
“What proof?”
He smiled.
“The proof that will destroy your precious reunion.”
Dominic grabbed his collar.
“What proof?”
Vittorio looked at me.
“Ask Romano why the boy is eight months old.”
Silence.
I looked at Mateo.
Elena froze.
Eight months.
The story suddenly didn’t make sense.
Mateo had been two when he disappeared.
Three years had passed.
He should have been five.
Not an infant.
My mind recoiled.
No.
The resemblance.
The birthmark.
Elena’s confession.
My father’s video.
Nothing aligned.
I turned toward Elena.
Her face had gone white.
“Elena.”
She began shaking.
“What does he mean?”
She looked at Mateo.
Then at me.
And I saw guilt.
A different kind of guilt.
“What does he mean?”
Vittorio laughed.
“That baby isn’t Mateo.”
My world stopped.
“No.”
“Elena?”
She began crying.
“I was going to tell you.”
I stepped backward.
The wound in my shoulder suddenly felt distant.
“Tell me what?”
She held her hands out.
“Please.”
“Who is he?”
Vittorio answered.
“Your grandson.”
Dominic went completely still.
I stared at the baby in my arms.
“My what?”
Elena sobbed.
“Luca…”
“Explain.”
She looked at Mateo.
“Your son survived the accident.”
“Yes.”
“He grew up.”
My throat tightened.
“Where?”
“With people who kept moving him.”
“And?”
“Two years ago, I lost contact with him.”
“No.”
“I searched.”
“Where is my son?”
“I don’t know.”
My voice cracked.
“Where is Mateo?”
Elena pointed to the baby.
“This is his son.”
My knees nearly failed.
“Mateo has a son?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was much older than the records said.”
I stared.
“What?”
Then another lie broke open.
Sofia had always claimed Mateo was two.
Apparently he had been older.
Much older.
“Why?”
Elena whispered.
“For protection.”
I could barely follow.
“How old is my son?”
“Twenty-one.”
The room went silent.
Impossible.
Then memory twisted.
My marriage to Sofia.
Her pregnancy.
The boy I had raised.
Had I been lied to about his age too?
Vittorio smiled through his pain.
“Your father hid more than you ever knew.”
I stared at Elena.
“Where is Mateo now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who brought this baby to you?”
“A man.”
“What man?”
She looked at Vittorio.
“Marco.”
Vittorio’s smile vanished.
Everyone froze.
Marco.
The son supposedly dead.
Another ghost.
Elena continued.
“He gave me the baby six months ago and said Mateo was in danger.”
I looked at Vittorio.
For the first time, the old man looked truly frightened.
“Marco is alive?”
Elena nodded.
“And he knows where Mateo is.”
My heart pounded.
I had thought finding the baby would end my nightmare.
Instead, it had opened a deeper one.
My son was alive.
Twenty-one years old.
Missing.
And somewhere beyond the mansion walls, a man everyone believed dead held the only trail leading to him.
May you like
The child in my arms had not brought Mateo back to me—but he had proven that somewhere out there, my son had survived long enough to become a father.
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