Chapter 14 - Victor’s Trap
Mateo had not entered alone.
But Elena barely saw his people.
That was the point.
Luca’s team controlled exits before Victor understood the power failure had not been accidental.
Mateo walked toward Elena.
Victor moved between them.
“Stop.”
Mateo stopped.
“You wanted me here.”
Victor smiled.
“I wanted the key.”
“You wanted both.”
Mateo’s eyes shifted toward Elena.
She was standing again.
Safe.
For the moment.
“You used her to pull me out of position.”
Victor applauded softly.
“Finally.”
Elena frowned.
Mateo understood.
The warehouse was not the real target.
His estate was.
He touched his earpiece.
“Luca.”
Static.
Nothing.
Victor’s smile widened.
“Your family spent generations putting everything important behind those walls.”
Mateo’s face changed.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing personally.”
Marco looked suddenly uneasy.
Victor continued.
“But your security network is currently very busy believing its employer is twelve miles away.”
Mateo turned toward his uncle.
“What did you give him?”
Marco said nothing.
“Marco.”
“Access.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Adrienne stared at her father.
“You gave him access to the estate?”
Marco snapped, “You don’t understand.”
“No. I really don’t.”
“Your grandfather promised me—”
“There it is,” Mateo said.
Everyone looked at him.
The old wound.
Inheritance.
Giovanni Romano had chosen Mateo, not Marco, to control the organization.
Marco had spent years pretending to accept it.
Victor had found the resentment and fed it.
“I was older,” Marco said.
Mateo’s voice was flat.
“And less capable.”
Marco lunged verbally before physically.
“You arrogant—”
Victor interrupted.
“Family therapy later.”
The clock read 11:54.
Six minutes.
Elena realized something.
“If the warehouse isn’t the target, why are you still here?”
Victor looked at her.
She continued.
“You said encryption rotates at midnight. If that mattered, you’d be panicking about the fake chip.”
Mateo turned.
Victor’s face became unreadable.
Elena smiled faintly.
“You lied.”
Silence.
“There is no automatic rotation.”
Victor’s eyes chilled.
“The deadline was for something else.”
Mateo understood next.
“The estate transfer.”
Victor’s people needed until midnight to access something at Romano Estate.
But what?
Mateo’s phone vibrated.
A message forced through the interference.
SECURE ARCHIVE BREACH.
The Romano family archive.
Financial records.
Political leverage.
Documents stretching back decades.
Victor wanted Daniel’s key because Daniel had not merely stolen Victor’s secrets.
He had copied something from the Romanos too.
Mateo looked at Marco.
“What’s in the archive Victor needs?”
Marco’s face betrayed him.
Adrienne saw it.
“Dad?”
Marco stepped back.
“What did you do?”
Adrienne whispered.
Victor sighed.
“Families are so exhausting.”
Elena studied him.
He remained too calm.
A man whose plan depended on a remote breach should be monitoring it.
Unless—
“This is still a distraction.”
Mateo looked at her.
“What?”
Elena scanned the warehouse.
Victor had brought only a handful of men.
Too few for someone expecting Mateo Romano.
“Where’s the rest of your team?”
Victor’s smile returned.
Mateo moved instantly.
He grabbed Elena’s hand.
“We leave.”
Victor did not stop him.
That confirmed everything.
Mateo’s blood went cold.
“Adrienne.”
She ran toward them.
Marco hesitated.
His daughter looked back.
“Come with us.”
Victor turned toward him.
Marco stood between two worlds.
For years he had resented Mateo.
For months, perhaps years, he had worked with Victor.
But Adrienne was his daughter.
“Dad.”
Her voice broke.
Marco finally moved toward her.
Victor’s expression hardened.
He reached inside his jacket.
Luca appeared from the darkness.
“Don’t.”
Victor stopped.
No one fired.
No one needed to.
For several seconds, the entire warehouse existed inside a fragile silence.
Then alarms began ringing from Victor’s phone.
His composure cracked.
“What?”
One of his technicians stared at a screen.
“Sir, the archive connection dropped.”
Victor grabbed the computer.
“How?”
Elena looked at Mateo.
Mateo looked back.
Neither knew.
Then Elena remembered the false itineraries.
Different details for different people.
If Marco leaked information, Mateo could leak information back.
“You knew,” she whispered.
Mateo almost smiled.
“I suspected.”
“You let Victor think the estate was vulnerable.”
“Yes.”
“The archive?”
“Decoy.”
Victor heard him.
His face transformed.
For the first time, the elegant businessman disappeared.
Raw fury remained.
“You think this ends here?”
“No,” Mateo said.
“I think this is where it begins.”
Victor’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Then at Elena.
His anger disappeared.
A strange satisfaction replaced it.
“Elena.”
She froze.
Victor turned the screen toward her.
A live video feed.
Her mother’s house in Connecticut.
Someone stood outside.
Victor smiled.
May you like
“You really should stop assuming you’ve found the final trap.”
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