Chapter 9 - The Man Who Looked at the Camera
Elena slapped Mateo.
The sound echoed through the library.
Luca moved instinctively.
Mateo raised one hand.
“Don’t.”
Elena’s palm burned.
Mateo did not touch his face.
He simply looked at her.
“You let me believe it was an accident.”
“Yes.”
“You met my father.”
“Yes.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“And for eight years you said nothing.”
Mateo’s silence hurt more than an excuse.
Elena backed away.
“Tell me.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Then simplify it.”
“I can’t.”
“Try.”
Mateo exhaled.
“Your father called me that night.”
“What time?”
“10:51.”
The photograph showed Daniel at 10:43.
Eight minutes.
“What did he say?”
“That Victor had found him.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Mateo continued carefully.
“He said he was driving north. He wanted me to meet him.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A service road near the old quarry.”
Her father’s accident had happened less than four miles away.
“What happened when you arrived?”
“He wasn’t there.”
“Then why did you say you were there?”
“I found him later.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“Alive?”
Mateo did not answer quickly enough.
“Alive?”
“For a few minutes.”
The room blurred.
Elena grabbed the back of a chair.
“What did he say?”
“Elena—”
“What did my father say?”
Mateo’s composure fractured.
“He said your name.”
Her breath broke.
“He asked whether I had children.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“And?”
“He said that meant I couldn’t understand.”
Mateo looked away.
“He told me a man spends his entire life believing he’s protecting his child by building walls. Then one day he realizes the walls themselves have made enemies.”
Elena cried silently.
“He asked me to make sure nobody used you to finish what they started with him.”
“And you agreed?”
“Yes.”
“So your solution was to disappear?”
“My solution was to remove every known connection between Daniel’s investigation and you.”
“You could have told me he was murdered.”
“I didn’t know for certain.”
“Did you believe it?”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“Then you lied.”
“Yes.”
At least he refused to hide behind technicalities now.
Elena wiped her face.
“Why didn’t Victor come after me eight years ago?”
“We convinced him Daniel had destroyed the key.”
“We?”
“My father.”
That surprised everyone, including Luca.
Mateo continued.
“Giovanni met Victor two days after Daniel died. He told Victor the missing archive had been destroyed in the crash.”
“Was that true?”
“No one knew.”
“Why would your father protect me?”
“He wasn’t protecting you.”
Mateo’s mouth hardened.
“He was protecting the Romano organization.”
Elena almost laughed through the grief.
“Of course.”
“If Victor believed the key remained somewhere, he would have torn through everyone connected to Daniel.”
“So your father lied.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor believed him.”
“For eight years.”
“Why doesn’t he now?”
Mateo looked at the photographs.
“Someone told him otherwise.”
There it was.
The leak.
Not merely today’s schedule.
Someone had reopened Daniel Carter’s secret.
Elena slowly sat.
“The person inside your organization isn’t just telling Victor where you are.”
“No.”
“They told him about my father.”
“Yes.”
“Which means they knew eight years ago.”
Mateo nodded.
Only a small group had known.
The room seemed to shrink.
Elena picked up the photo of Victor staring at the camera.
“He wanted us to see these.”
Mateo looked at her.
“The abandoned car.”
“The photograph of Dad.”
Elena’s thoughts accelerated.
“He could have removed it. Instead he left it behind. He wanted me asking questions.”
“Why?”
“To separate me from you.”
Mateo went still.
Elena looked directly at him.
“The phone call wasn’t about information.”
Luca understood.
“It was about trust.”
“Yes.”
Elena pointed toward Mateo.
“Victor knows you kept secrets from me. He knew that if he gave me one piece at a time, I’d do the rest.”
Mateo’s face changed.
Not because she was wrong.
Because Victor’s plan had worked.
Elena had slapped him.
She had almost demanded to leave.
She hated that realization.
Mateo spoke quietly.
“You have every reason not to trust me.”
“That doesn’t mean I trust him.”
Something passed between them.
Complicated.
Painful.
Real.
Luca received a message.
He checked it.
“We found something else.”
Mateo asked, “What?”
“Victor’s photograph from Wednesday wasn’t taken by one of his people.”
“Who took it?”
“One of ours.”
Silence.
“Which one?”
Luca hesitated.
“Marco’s security detail.”
Adrienne’s father.
Mateo’s uncle.
The same man on the senior-staff list.
Elena felt the story pivot again.
“Does Marco know?”
“We don’t know.”
Mateo picked up his jacket.
“Where is he?”
“His townhouse.”
“Bring him here.”
Luca nodded.
Then another message appeared.
His face tightened.
“Too late.”
“What?”
“Marco’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“Nobody knows.”
Elena looked toward Adrienne’s empty doorway.
Mateo said the name first.
“Where’s Adrienne?”
Nobody answered.
May you like
And for the first time that night, Mateo Romano looked genuinely afraid.
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