Chapter 15 - The Betrayal Inside the Romano Family
Elena stopped hearing the warehouse.
Her mother’s front porch filled the phone screen.
The camera angle came from across the street.
Her mother’s kitchen light was on.
A shadow moved behind the curtain.
“No.”
Mateo reached for Victor’s phone.
Victor stepped back.
“One instruction.”
“What?” Mateo asked.
“The real key.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“My mother knows nothing.”
“That is usually how leverage works.”
Mateo’s expression became lethal.
“Touch her and there will be nowhere—”
Victor laughed.
“There he is.”
Elena grabbed Mateo’s arm.
Not because she disagreed.
Because Victor wanted rage.
Again.
Always.
“Call her,” Elena said.
Victor looked at her.
“My mother.”
“No.”
“If you actually have someone there, prove she’s inside.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Elena continued.
“You’ve been using photographs and videos all night. That footage could be recorded.”
Mateo looked at the timestamp.
No visible time indicator.
Victor remained silent.
Elena felt hope.
“You don’t have her.”
Victor smiled.
“Would you gamble her life?”
Elena’s stomach twisted.
No.
That was the cruelty.
He didn’t need proof if doubt was enough.
Mateo touched his earpiece again.
This time Luca’s voice came through.
“Connected.”
Mateo spoke quickly.
“Connecticut team?”
“Already moving.”
Elena stared at him.
“You have people near my mother?”
“I put them there after the first phone call.”
Her eyes widened.
Mateo had anticipated it.
Victor heard.
His smile weakened.
Luca continued through the earpiece.
“Local unit is ninety seconds out.”
Victor’s jaw clenched.
Elena saw it.
“You do have someone there.”
Victor threw the phone to the floor.
Then everything moved.
He turned toward a side exit.
Luca’s men intercepted.
Marco stepped into Victor’s path.
“Enough.”
Victor stared at him.
“You?”
“You involved my daughter.”
“You delivered your daughter.”
Marco flinched.
Adrienne’s face crumpled.
The truth landed.
Victor had not kidnapped Adrienne against Marco’s wishes.
Marco had helped create the situation.
Maybe he told himself she would never be harmed.
Maybe he believed he could control it.
Betrayal often began as a compromise.
“You knew I’d be taken?” Adrienne asked.
Marco faced her.
“I knew they would bring you here.”
Her voice broke.
“And you let them?”
“I was never going to let anyone hurt you.”
“You already did.”
Marco’s shoulders fell.
Mateo looked away.
Elena understood why.
Some injuries were too private even in a crowded room.
Luca received an update.
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“Your mother is safe.”
Her knees weakened.
Mateo caught her.
“Safe?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Team is inside the house. One surveillance vehicle fled. Police were notified anonymously about a suspicious intruder nearby.”
Elena covered her face.
Relief came so hard she nearly sobbed.
Mateo kept one hand at her back.
She let him.
Across the warehouse, Victor watched.
“You see?” he said.
Elena lowered her hands.
“What?”
“How easily he inserts himself into your life.”
“Mateo saved my mother.”
“Mateo’s world endangered her.”
The sentence struck.
Mateo’s hand dropped.
Victor saw the damage and continued.
“Your father understood eventually.”
Mateo moved toward him.
“What does that mean?”
Victor smiled.
“You still don’t know.”
Marco suddenly said, “Victor.”
A warning.
Victor looked delighted.
“Ah.”
Mateo turned toward his uncle.
“What don’t I know?”
Marco’s face went gray.
Adrienne whispered, “Dad?”
Victor answered for him.
“Daniel Carter wasn’t killed because of my archive.”
Elena’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“He was killed because he discovered who originally sold Romano financial records to me.”
Everyone looked at Marco.
Elena’s mouth went dry.
“No.”
Victor nodded toward him.
“Your loyal uncle began working with me twelve years ago.”
Mateo stared.
Marco looked defeated.
Victor continued.
“Daniel found the payments.”
“And you killed him,” Elena said.
Victor smiled.
“I ordered pressure.”
“What does that mean?”
“Men were supposed to stop the vehicle.”
Mateo lunged.
Luca intercepted him.
“Boss.”
Victor’s satisfaction grew.
“You see, Elena? Mateo wants to believe I personally destroyed your father.”
Elena’s eyes stayed on Marco.
“But it was him.”
Marco shook his head.
“I never ordered Daniel’s death.”
“You gave Victor his location.”
“I didn’t know—”
“You knew enough.”
Adrienne backed away from her father.
Marco looked at her desperately.
“I made mistakes.”
She laughed through tears.
“Mistakes?”
Elena thought of her father’s final minutes.
The car.
The road.
Mateo arriving too late.
Eight years of lies.
She expected rage.
Instead she felt devastating clarity.
“You were the leak then.”
Marco looked at her.
“And you’re the leak now.”
He said nothing.
Elena continued.
“You told Victor about the necklace.”
“No.”
That answer was immediate.
She believed it.
“Then who did?”
Nobody knew.
Victor smiled again.
Elena’s stomach dropped.
There was still another person.
Another leak.
Marco had betrayed Mateo.
But he had not restarted the hunt for Daniel’s key.
Someone else had.
May you like
And that person was still inside Romano Estate.
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