Chapter 4 - The Photograph Matteo Left Behind
Stefano didn't raise his voice.
That frightened Alice more than shouting would have.
He simply held the photograph and looked at Danny.
Seven years of grief lived inside that silence.
Nero stood beside Stefano, alert but calm.
Danny stared at the image.
"I can explain."
Stefano laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Everyone says that right before they explain nothing."
"Stefano—"
"Why were you with Carmine and Leonard the night Matteo died?"
Alice looked at the photograph.
Three men stood outside a warehouse.
The time stamp was two hours before Matteo's crash.
Danny rubbed both hands across his face.
"Because Matteo called me."
Stefano didn't move.
"He knew?"
"Part of it."
"Did you?"
"No."
"Try again."
Danny's eyes hardened.
"I said no."
For the first time, anger appeared.
"I didn't know Carmine was behind anything. Matteo asked me to meet him because he'd found irregular payments. Voss was there because Matteo believed someone had been drugging your father before he died."
Stefano's face changed.
Alice felt cold.
"Your father too?"
Danny nodded.
"Carmine arrived ten minutes later."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Matteo must have contacted him before he understood."
"What happened?"
"Matteo accused him."
Stefano gripped the photograph.
"And?"
"Carmine laughed."
Danny's voice became distant.
"He told Matteo the numbers didn't mean what he thought. Told us both to go home."
"You believed him."
"Yes."
"Of course you did."
Danny accepted the insult.
"Two hours later Matteo crashed."
Stefano walked away.
Alice followed with her eyes.
He stopped at the end of the dock.
Morning light turned the water silver.
Nero followed him.
Alice remained beside Danny.
"Why didn't you tell him?"
Danny looked exhausted.
"Because I spent seven years wondering whether I caused Matteo's death."
"You didn't cut the brakes."
"No. But I told Carmine where Matteo was going."
Alice understood.
"Because you trusted him."
"Everybody trusted him."
Not Nero, Alice thought.
Never Nero.
Stefano returned after several minutes.
His face had changed.
Grief had become purpose.
"What else did Matteo leave?"
The flash drive contained files.
Some corrupted.
Others encrypted.
Danny recognized the password after three attempts.
NERO0803.
Matteo's dog's adoption date.
Folders appeared.
Invoices.
Recordings.
Internal memos.
Video clips.
Alice watched Stefano open them one by one.
The scale of Carmine's betrayal was almost impossible to understand.
He had diverted money from legitimate businesses.
Created fake debts.
Purchased properties through shell companies.
Paid inspectors.
Bought loyalty.
But the worst file had nothing to do with money.
It was titled HEALTH.
Inside were medical records.
Stefano's father.
Matteo.
Stefano.
Every illness.
Every prescription.
Every physician visit.
Some records contained handwritten notes.
Small dosage changes.
Symptoms.
Dates.
Alice leaned toward the screen.
"Wait."
She pointed.
"This medication."
Stefano looked at her.
"What?"
"Your father was taking it before he died?"
"Yes."
Alice scrolled.
"His dosage doubled three weeks before his heart failure."
Danny frowned.
"Is that important?"
"It could be."
"Could Carmine have killed him?"
Alice chose her words carefully.
"These records don't prove that."
Stefano stared at the screen.
"But they suggest it."
"They suggest someone was changing medication."
Voss sat quietly in the corner.
Alice looked at him.
"You treated Stefano's father."
His eyes dropped.
"No."
Stefano turned.
"What do you mean, no?"
Voss swallowed.
"I signed the prescriptions."
Silence.
"Carmine told me your father was in pain."
Stefano crossed the room.
Alice stepped between them before she realized she was doing it.
Voss flinched.
Stefano stopped.
Alice put one hand against his chest.
"Don't."
His eyes were furious.
"He killed my father."
"We don't know that yet."
"He signed the prescriptions."
"And if you hurt him, you'll lose the person who can prove Carmine ordered them."
For several seconds Stefano looked down at her hand.
Then at her.
The anger didn't disappear.
But he stepped back.
Voss began crying.
"I was a coward."
Nobody disagreed.
"I told myself it was harmless. Then your father died. Carmine told me the autopsy showed natural heart failure."
"Did you believe him?" Alice asked.
Voss whispered, "I wanted to."
That sentence seemed worse than any confession.
The next file contained audio.
Matteo's voice.
Stefano stopped breathing when he heard it.
"If you're listening to this," the recording began, "then I probably waited too long."
Stefano sat.
Alice looked away, giving him privacy even though nobody left.
Matteo described the stolen accounts.
The medication.
His suspicions about Carmine.
Then something else.
"I know Stefano won't believe me at first. Carmine raised us after Dad got sick. That's why this works. Evil doesn't always enter through the front door. Sometimes it already has a key."
Stefano closed his eyes.
Matteo continued.
"Nero hates him. I should've paid attention sooner."
A sad laugh.
Then:
"If something happens to me, don't let Stefano answer blood with blood. That's what Carmine expects. Make him prove it."
The recording ended.
For a long time Stefano said nothing.
Alice saw the conflict in his face.
Everything he had been taught demanded retaliation.
Everything his brother had left behind demanded something harder.
Restraint.
Proof.
Truth.
Alice sat beside him.
"You can still choose what happens next."
Stefano stared at the blank screen.
"People like Carmine don't go to prison."
"People like Carmine depend on everyone believing that."
He looked at her.
"You think the system works?"
"Not always."
"That's your argument?"
"No."
Alice leaned closer.
"My argument is that if you kill him, he becomes one more dead man with unanswered questions. If you expose him, everything he built collapses with him."
Stefano's gaze held hers.
"Why do you care?"
She answered without thinking.
"Because I didn't save you so you could become him."
The words surprised them both.
Nero lifted his head.
Danny became very interested in a folder.
Stefano's expression softened.
"You're very comfortable speaking to me that way."
"No, I'm terrified."
That made him laugh.
A real laugh.
Small.
Painful.
Human.
Then the security system beeped.
Danny checked his phone.
His expression changed.
"What?"
"We have movement at the mansion."
"Police?"
"No."
Danny enlarged the camera feed.
Three vehicles entered through the damaged rear gate.
Men stepped out.
One of them was Carmine.
Stefano stood.
Alice caught his arm.
"You cannot go there."
"He came back for something."
"The mansion nearly burned down."
"Exactly."
Danny zoomed in.
Carmine's men were moving toward the chapel.
Stefano frowned.
"The chapel?"
"What is there?" Alice asked.
He shook his head.
"Nothing."
Nero suddenly stood.
His ears lifted.
Stefano stared at him.
Then at the screen.
The chapel had been built by Stefano's grandfather.
Nobody used it anymore.
But Matteo had.
As a child, Matteo hid things beneath the altar because he believed nobody ever looked under sacred objects.
Stefano whispered, "There's another copy."
Danny grabbed his jacket.
"We go now."
Alice blocked the door.
"No."
Stefano looked at her.
"Move."
"You're recovering from surgery."
"They're destroying evidence."
"And if you collapse, they'll destroy you too."
Nero walked between them.
For one absurd moment, both looked down at him.
Alice pointed.
"See? Even he agrees."
Stefano looked at Nero.
"You traitor."
The dog sat beside Alice.
Danny smiled despite himself.
They compromised.
Danny went.
Stefano stayed.
Thirty-one minutes later, Danny called.
Alice watched Stefano's face while he listened.
"What happened?"
Danny didn't answer immediately.
Then his voice came through the speaker.
"The chapel is empty."
Stefano frowned.
"Carmine?"
"Gone."
"The evidence?"
"Gone too."
Alice's stomach dropped.
Danny continued.
"But he left something."
"What?"
"A box."
Stefano's eyes narrowed.
"Inside?"
Danny hesitated.
"A hospital bracelet."
Alice stopped breathing.
"Whose?"
Danny read the name.
ALICE BRENNAN.
Her world tilted.
Stefano looked at her.
Alice shook her head.
"That's impossible."
Danny's voice came again.
"There's a note."
Stefano asked, "What does it say?"
Danny read it aloud.
ASK YOUR NURSE WHY HER MOTHER WAS AT THE DOCKS THE NIGHT MATTEO DIED.
Alice's face went white.
Because her mother had died three years earlier without ever telling Alice she had known the Marquetti family.
And suddenly this wasn't only Stefano's past.
May you like
It was hers.
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