Chapter 10 - Max Knew the Way
Sophie woke at 4:12 a.m.
The first thing she noticed was that her mother wasn't there.
The second was that Aleandro wasn't there either.
Luca had left one woman, Teresa, an old family friend, at the vineyard house.
Teresa tried explaining.
"Your mommy had something important to do."
Sophie stared at her.
"At night?"
"Yes."
"Did Mr. Aleandro go?"
"Yes."
Sophie looked at Max.
The German Shepherd was standing.
Not resting.
Standing.
Watching the front door.
"Something happened."
Teresa forced a smile.
"Everything is okay."
Sophie had learned something about adults after her father died.
When adults said everything was okay too quickly, it usually meant nothing was.
She walked to the table.
Claire's spare phone was gone.
Aleandro's coffee cup remained.
Max whined.
"Mommy isn't okay, is she?"
Teresa crouched.
"Sophie—"
Max suddenly moved toward the back door.
He scratched once.
Then again.
"What does he want?" Teresa asked.
Sophie knew.
"He wants to find Mommy."
At Pier Seventeen, Aleandro examined everything Ethan had hidden.
Sunrise was approaching.
He had less than two hours before Matteo's deadline.
Luca cataloged files as quickly as possible.
"Look at this."
Aleandro turned.
Photographs of Niccolo.
Ethan.
Together.
Aleandro's expression changed.
"When?"
"Metadata says nine years ago."
Niccolo had died seven years ago.
Ethan had known him.
"Why?"
Luca searched folders.
A notebook contained an entry.
N.M. says Rinaldi handles off-book routing. Thinks brother doesn't know.
Aleandro sat down slowly.
Niccolo had discovered Matteo's scheme first.
Years before Ethan.
His brother hadn't been taken randomly by enemies seeking leverage.
He may have been silenced.
Aleandro felt the room tilt.
"Matteo killed Niccolo."
"We don't know."
"You still say that?"
"We prove it."
Aleandro looked at Luca.
Luca's eyes were wet.
He had known Niccolo since they were teenagers.
"You're right."
Aleandro forced himself back into the evidence.
A second note:
If anything happens to N.M., speak to A.M. directly. Do not use legal office.
Ethan had tried.
But years later.
Why wait?
Another folder answered.
Niccolo had apparently approached Ethan, then a junior safety engineer, after noticing unregistered containers.
He asked Ethan to document violations independently.
Before they could finish, Niccolo died.
Ethan became afraid.
He withdrew.
Married Claire.
Built a family.
Then years later he discovered the same operation still running.
This time he tried again.
Matteo killed him too.
Aleandro stared at the photographs.
Two men he had failed without knowing either needed him.
His brother.
Claire's husband.
Luca's phone regained signal.
It rang.
Teresa.
He answered.
Her frantic voice filled the line.
"Sophie and Max are gone."
Aleandro stood so quickly the chair fell.
"What?"
"The back door. I turned away for—I swear, maybe thirty seconds."
"Find them!"
"We are."
Luca called local police contacts.
Aleandro closed his eyes.
Claire missing.
Now Sophie.
He had promised.
Again.
And again.
Promises were becoming knives.
Then another call arrived.
Giovanni.
He had regained consciousness.
"We found a tracker."
"Where?"
"Inside Max's old collar."
Aleandro froze.
"What?"
"The torn collar from the crash. Vet bag had the remaining strip. Tiny GPS unit stitched inside."
Matteo had tracked the dog.
That's how he found the brownstone.
The cabin.
He had not needed an insider.
"He tracked Max."
"Looks like."
Aleandro's mind accelerated.
"If the tracker still works—"
"Battery's dead."
"No."
Aleandro looked at Luca.
"Max was wearing a new veterinary collar when we moved."
Luca understood.
"The clinic."
They called.
The veterinarian had fitted Max with a temporary smart rehabilitation band to monitor activity because of his paw injuries.
It had GPS.
Aleandro almost laughed from relief.
"Track him."
Coordinates appeared.
Max was moving toward a rural road.
With Sophie.
Aleandro and Luca raced back north.
They found Sophie nearly two miles from the vineyard.
Walking beside Max.
Her pajamas were hidden beneath an oversized coat.
Aleandro stopped the SUV so hard gravel sprayed.
He got out.
"Sophie!"
She froze.
Aleandro crossed the distance.
Anger, relief, fear—every emotion collided.
"What were you thinking?"
Sophie looked surprised by his tone.
"Max was finding Mommy."
"You cannot leave by yourself."
"But—"
"No."
Her eyes filled.
Aleandro immediately regretted the sharpness.
He crouched.
"Sophie."
"You said you'd get her out."
His voice softened.
"I will."
"But you didn't know where she was."
He couldn't argue.
Sophie pointed at Max.
"He does."
Aleandro looked at the dog.
Max stood facing east.
Alert.
Pulling against the temporary lead Sophie had attached.
"How?"
she asked.
"When Mommy was gone after the crash, Max found you."
Aleandro's expression changed.
Dogs could track familiar scents.
But from miles away?
Unlikely.
Unless—
Claire's coat.
When she was taken from Pier Seventeen, a strip of her coat had torn on the cut metal panel.
Aleandro had placed it in an evidence bag.
He still had it in the SUV.
He let Max smell it.
The dog's entire posture changed.
Max pulled toward the road.
Luca looked at Aleandro.
"This is insane."
"So was following him to the ravine."
They took Sophie back to Teresa.
She protested.
Aleandro held her shoulders gently.
"If Max finds your mother, I need to move fast. I cannot do that while worrying about you."
She looked at him.
"Bring her home."
"I will."
"Promise?"
Aleandro hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Promise."
They followed Max.
Not on foot this time.
The dog rode with Aleandro until they reached Queens.
Then Max began whining.
They released him on a long line.
He moved through industrial streets.
Left.
Right.
Then stopped in front of an abandoned printing facility.
Luca stared.
"The address Matteo gave us."
Aleandro checked the time.
5:41.
Sunrise.
"He never expected us before the deadline."
Inside, Claire heard a dog barking.
She stopped breathing.
Matteo heard it too.
"What is that?"
Claire began laughing.
For the first time, Matteo looked uncertain.
"You tracked Max to find us," she said.
His eyes narrowed.
"Looks like you forgot something."
"What?"
Claire smiled through fear.
"Max tracks back."
Outside, Aleandro reached the building.
He could have stormed it.
Instead he called police through a trusted federal contact tied to Victor Salvi's former office.
He sent copies of Ethan's evidence.
Locations.
Names.
Matteo expected Aleandro Moretti to solve the problem like a criminal.
Aleandro decided to disappoint him.
Sirens approached from three directions.
Inside, Matteo's men panicked.
Matteo grabbed Claire.
"We're leaving."
"No."
He pulled her toward a rear exit.
Max entered first.
The German Shepherd barked with such force Matteo stopped.
Then Aleandro appeared behind him.
No theatrical threat.
No rage.
Just Aleandro.
"Let her go."
Matteo smiled nervously.
"You called police."
"Yes."
"After everything you've done, you think they'll separate us?"
"I don't need them to."
Aleandro held up Ethan's recorder.
"Ethan already did."
Matteo's face changed.
Claire pulled free during the distraction.
Aleandro caught her.
For one second, the rest of the world disappeared.
"You okay?"
Claire nodded.
"You found me."
"Max found you."
Again.
Max pressed against Claire's legs.
Police entered moments later.
Matteo was arrested without a shot fired.
But as officers searched him, Matteo looked toward Aleandro.
"You think this ends because they put me in handcuffs?"
Aleandro said nothing.
Matteo smiled.
"Ask Claire what's in the folder I showed her."
Aleandro looked at Claire.
She went pale.
Matteo continued.
"Ask her what Ethan knew about Niccolo."
Claire held the photograph against her chest.
They had survived.
Matteo was captured.
Sophie was safe.
Yet the truth waiting inside Ethan's hidden files could still destroy the fragile trust forming between Claire and Aleandro.
Because Ethan had left one final accusation.
And this one was not against Matteo.
May you like
It was against Aleandro himself.
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