Chapter 18 - Ten Minutes Before Midnight
The photograph did not come from Victor.
That was Luca’s conclusion after forty-eight hours.
Different printer.
Different paper.
Different method of delivery.
Elena was exhausted by mysteries.
“I would like one week,” she announced, “where nobody anonymously mails me anything.”
Mateo sat across from her at the same marble table where she had fed him chocolate cake weeks earlier.
The restaurant had reopened after renovations.
“Ambitious.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She pointed her fork at him.
“If this turns out to be another criminal mastermind, I’m moving to Vermont.”
“You’d last three days.”
“I like Vermont.”
“You like delivery food.”
“They have delivery.”
“Not where you’d move.”
“How do you know where I’d move?”
“You’d choose something with an old house and unreliable heating because you found it charming.”
Elena narrowed her eyes.
“That was disturbingly accurate.”
Mateo drank his coffee.
His legal situation had stabilized.
He would avoid prison under a cooperation agreement, but the price was enormous.
He relinquished control of several companies.
Submitted to years of financial monitoring.
Agreed to testify in related prosecutions.
Marco had entered his own plea discussions.
Adrienne had not spoken to her father since the warehouse.
Victor remained in custody.
The Romano organization, at least as it once existed, was finished.
And Mateo looked younger.
Not happier exactly.
But lighter.
The anonymous photograph still bothered him.
“Elena.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“You were going to tell me to be careful.”
“I was going to ask whether you wanted dessert.”
She blinked.
“Oh.”
Mateo almost smiled.
“Chocolate cake?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes.”
The waiter brought it.
Elena broke off a bite and held it toward Mateo.
He stared at the fork.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re remembering.”
“The first night.”
“When I discovered you were actually a mafia boss.”
“Former.”
She laughed.
“You really want that distinction officially recognized?”
“Yes.”
“Former Mafia Boss sounds worse.”
“How?”
“It sounds like you were fired.”
Mateo laughed.
Still rare.
Still one of Elena’s favorite sounds.
She held the fork closer.
“Eat.”
He did.
She smiled.
A man approached the table.
Mateo noticed first.
His posture changed subtly.
The man stopped several feet away.
“Ms. Carter?”
“Yes?”
“My name is Thomas Reed.”
Elena waited.
“I worked with your father.”
Mateo stood.
Thomas raised both hands.
“I’m not armed.”
Mateo’s voice was cold.
“That wasn’t the first question.”
Elena touched his wrist.
“Sit.”
He looked at her.
She gave him the look.
Mateo sat.
Thomas joined them only after Elena agreed.
He was in his sixties.
Tired face.
Nervous hands.
“I sent the photograph.”
Elena stared.
“Why anonymously?”
“Because I didn’t know who survived Victor’s network.”
“What do you want?”
“To give you something Daniel asked me to keep.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
Thomas produced a small envelope.
Mateo inspected it before Elena opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Her father’s handwriting.
Elena’s eyes filled before reading a word.
Ellie,
If Thomas gives you this, then you’ve probably discovered more about my life than I ever wanted you to know.
First: I’m sorry.
Second: do not waste your life being angry at me.
Elena laughed through tears.
“That sounds like him.”
Mateo remained silent.
She continued.
Daniel wrote about Mateo.
Not by name.
He called him “the younger Romano.”
He said he had met a man trapped inside a family legacy he had not chosen.
A man still deciding whether power would make him cruel or whether responsibility might make him better.
I don’t know which man he’ll become, Daniel wrote.
People decide that every day.
So do you.
Elena looked at Mateo.
He had read the line.
His eyes were wet.
She pretended not to notice.
Thomas explained he had helped Daniel duplicate the archive.
“Why wait eight years?”
“Daniel told me to stay invisible unless Victor resurfaced.”
“Did you know about the necklace?”
“No.”
“Then who told Victor?”
“Marco.”
That aligned with everything they had learned.
Elena exhaled.
“So there’s no mysterious second organization?”
Thomas looked confused.
“No.”
“No hidden killer?”
“No.”
“No secret betrayal?”
“Not that I know of.”
Elena leaned back.
“Thank God.”
Mateo laughed.
Thomas smiled.
Before leaving, he said one final thing.
“Your father was proud of you.”
Elena’s eyes filled again.
“You didn’t know me.”
“No.”
Thomas stood.
“But he never stopped talking about you.”
After he left, Elena and Mateo sat quietly.
The restaurant slowly emptied.
At 11:50 p.m., Elena checked the time.
Mateo noticed.
“Ten minutes.”
She smiled.
“Ten minutes before midnight.”
“Significant?”
“One month ago at almost exactly this time, my life exploded.”
“You slapped me.”
“You deserved it.”
“Debatable.”
“Not remotely.”
Mateo reached across the table.
“Elena.”
Something in his voice changed.
Serious.
Vulnerable.
She looked at him.
“I sold the estate.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“The Romano estate.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want it.”
“That’s enormous.”
“Yes.”
“Where are you going?”
He did not answer immediately.
Her heart sank.
The old fear returned.
He was leaving.
Again.
Mateo took something from his pocket.
Her stolen-watch day had begun with Elena taking something from him.
Now he placed a small brass key on the table.
“What’s that?”
“Apartment key.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
She stared.
“I bought a place downtown.”
“Why downtown?”
“You’re downtown.”
Her heart stopped.
Mateo looked deeply uncomfortable.
Elena almost laughed.
“Are you asking me something?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
The feared Mateo Romano, who had commanded rooms full of dangerous men without raising his voice, appeared completely incapable of finishing one sentence.
Elena leaned closer.
“Use your words, Mafia Boss.”
“Former.”
“Mateo.”
He exhaled.
“Stay.”
Her smile faded.
“What?”
“With me.”
His voice became quieter.
“Not tonight because you’re in danger. Not because I promised your father anything. Not because I think I can protect you.”
He held her gaze.
“Stay because I want you there.”
The clock changed.
11:51.
Nine minutes before midnight.
Elena said nothing.
Mateo’s confidence disappeared a little more with every second.
It was magnificent.
She let him suffer.
For at least ten seconds.
Then she said, “You’re going to have to do better.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Better?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you expect?”
Elena smiled.
“A man who used to run half of New York can figure it out.”
Mateo stared.
May you like
Then, for the first time in his adult life, Mateo Romano realized power was useless when the answer he needed belonged entirely to someone else.
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