Chapter 9 - The Betrayal Inside the Moretti Family
Isabella did not scream.
Later, she would wonder why.
Perhaps terror had gone too deep for sound.
Perhaps some part of her had learned from years around the Moretti family that panic wasted seconds.
She grabbed her phone.
Called Landon.
No answer.
Called Dominic.
The call connected immediately.
“Isabella?”
“Leo is gone.”
In Sicily, Dominic stood so fast his chair fell backward.
Landon saw his face.
“What?”
Dominic put the call on speaker.
Isabella repeated it.
“Leo is gone.”
Landon’s world narrowed.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Security?”
“Two men outside his room. They’re unconscious.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Cameras?”
“Offline for nine minutes.”
“Who had access?”
“Your security team.”
Landon looked at Dominic.
Dominic’s face became stone.
“Names.”
Isabella gave them.
Dominic recognized both.
“Trusted?”
“One for eight years. One for three.”
“Family?”
“No.”
“Find them,” Landon said.
“They’re the unconscious guards.”
“Then someone used their access.”
Serena looked toward the photograph of Victor Saye.
The impersonator.
“Could Victor do it?”
Dominic shook his head.
“Not with biometrics.”
“Unless somebody inside enrolled him,” Landon said.
Silence.
Inside.
Again.
Every path led back to betrayal.
Isabella found the note.
She read it aloud.
WE HAVE WHAT SANTINO LOVED MOST.
Serena went pale.
Landon’s voice became dangerously calm.
“Isabella, leave the room.”
“What?”
“Do not touch anything else.”
“I’m his mother.”
“And I need you alive.”
“Don’t you dare tell me to leave my son.”
He understood.
So he changed his approach.
“Stay with Dominic’s replacement team. We need the room preserved.”
A long pause.
“Bring him back.”
Landon closed his eyes.
“I will.”
The call ended.
Within minutes, the Moretti private jet was preparing to return.
Serena packed the copies of Santino’s evidence.
“You’re not coming.”
She looked at Landon.
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“This is because of me.”
“This is because of Santino.”
“They asked for the woman.”
“They took Leo before making another demand.”
“They will.”
Landon stared at her.
“I’m not trading you.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“And if it saves him?”
“No.”
“Landon.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“He is four years old.”
“I know exactly how old he is.”
“Then stop deciding for me.”
His eyes hardened.
“You think surrendering will save him? People who use children as leverage do not honor deals.”
Serena hated that he was probably right.
Dominic entered.
“We have camera footage from three blocks away.”
They watched.
A maintenance van left the secure residence twelve minutes after cameras failed.
License plate stolen.
Driver invisible.
But at a traffic light, a camera caught the passenger.
Matteo Rinaldi.
Serena stared.
“He got from Sicily to New York?”
Dominic shook his head.
“Footage timestamp is this morning.”
“Then he was never in the vehicle we tracked,” Landon said.
“A decoy.”
Matteo had fooled them.
Again.
Landon’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Landon.”
Matteo’s voice.
No greeting.
“You have something that belongs to Mr. Vale.”
“And you have my nephew.”
“He’s safe.”
“If he is frightened—”
“He’s watching cartoons.”
Landon closed his eyes briefly.
The mental image hurt.
“Let me hear him.”
“Later.”
“Now.”
Matteo sighed.
A few seconds of silence.
Then Leo’s voice.
“Uncle Landon?”
Every muscle in Landon’s body tightened.
“I’m here.”
“Where’s Mama?”
“She’s waiting for you.”
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“I went with the man because he said Mama sent him.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Serena’s eyes filled.
“Is Sara there?”
“Yes.”
“Tell her I remembered another song.”
Matteo took the phone.
“That’s enough.”
Landon’s voice turned cold.
“If you hurt him—”
“I won’t.”
“What do you want?”
“All original files from the harbor.”
“They’re copied.”
“We know.”
“Then originals mean nothing.”
“They mean something to Mr. Vale.”
“Why?”
“That isn’t your concern.”
“It became my concern when you took Leo.”
Matteo paused.
“Tomorrow. Noon. New York.”
“Where?”
“I’ll send instructions.”
“And Serena?”
“She comes.”
“No.”
“Then the boy stays.”
The line disconnected.
Landon stared at the phone.
Serena spoke first.
“I’m coming.”
He said nothing.
“We both know it.”
Still nothing.
Dominic interrupted.
“Leo gave us something.”
“What?”
“Another song.”
Landon looked toward him.
Dominic rewound the recorded call.
Leo’s small voice:
Tell her I remembered another song.
“Could be just a child talking,” Dominic said.
“No,” Serena whispered.
“Santino taught him messages through songs.”
“What message?”
“I don’t know.”
They replayed Leo’s words.
He had been calm.
No obvious clue.
Landon remembered something.
“When Leo is scared, he forgets details.”
Isabella had told him that.
“He repeats things instead.”
Serena nodded.
“So if he intentionally said he remembered another song—”
“He wants us to ask about it.”
They needed another call.
Matteo would not give one.
Unless—
Landon contacted Isabella.
“What songs does Leo know?”
“Children’s songs. Why?”
“List them.”
She did.
Twinkle Twinkle.
You Are My Sunshine.
Italian nursery rhymes.
Then Isabella stopped.
“Santino had another game.”
“What?”
“When Leo was learning words, Santino made up songs about places.”
“Places?”
“Home. School. The bakery. His grandparents’ house.”
“Any place connected to Matteo?”
Silence.
“The train.”
Landon looked at Dominic.
“What train?”
“Santino used to take Leo to Grand Central because he loved watching trains.”
Serena remembered the locker.
The envelope Isabella left there after Santino died.
“Grand Central,” she said.
Landon understood.
Matteo had taken Leo through a place tied to Santino’s old contingency plans.
Possibly another safe location.
“Pull every camera near Grand Central,” Landon told Dominic.
They boarded the plane.
For seven hours, nobody slept.
Dominic’s team examined transportation feeds.
Elias searched vehicle records.
Evelyn Cross prepared a secure federal team without alerting anyone connected to the compromised office.
And Serena sat across from Landon.
“You blame yourself,” she said.
“No.”
“You do.”
“He was under my protection.”
“He was under twenty people’s protection.”
“And they failed.”
“So did Santino?”
Landon looked at her sharply.
She continued carefully.
“Leo was his son. Santino couldn’t protect him forever.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because Santino died.”
“And you’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“That means you can still choose what happens next.”
Landon looked through the dark airplane window.
“What if the choice is wrong?”
Serena’s voice softened.
“Then make the next one better.”
Santino might have said something similar.
Perhaps that was why Landon found it irritating.
Two hours before landing, Dominic approached.
“We found the van.”
“Where?”
“Queens.”
“Leo?”
“No.”
“Matteo?”
“No.”
“But?”
“Fingerprints.”
“Whose?”
“One partial belongs to Victor Saye.”
That confirmed he was involved.
“Anything else?”
Dominic showed a photograph.
A small sticker had been placed beneath the dashboard.
A yellow star.
Serena recognized it.
“Leo.”
Landon looked at her.
“He leaves stickers everywhere when he’s nervous.”
“A trail.”
The boy was helping them.
Dominic smiled faintly.
“Smart kid.”
The sticker contained something else.
Leo had drawn three crude lines with a marker.
One tall building.
A clock.
And water.
Isabella recognized it immediately when they sent her the image.
“Roosevelt Island.”
“How?”
“Santino took him on the tram. Leo called the Queensboro Bridge the clock bridge because of a clock he saw nearby.”
Dominic searched properties.
One company connected to Matteo owned an abandoned medical office on Roosevelt Island.
They had a location.
Landon stared at the address.
The exchange was supposed to happen at noon.
But they would land at nine.
Three hours early.
For the first time, Matteo was behind.
Then Evelyn Cross called.
Her voice was urgent.
“Do not go to that address.”
“Why?”
“We intercepted a message.”
“From whom?”
“One of Vale’s people.”
“What does it say?”
Cross hesitated.
“The Roosevelt Island location is a trap.”
Landon’s expression hardened.
“For me?”
“No.”
“For who?”
“For Dominic.”
Everyone looked at him.
Cross continued.
“They intend to make it appear Dominic kidnapped Leo and killed Santino.”
The old photograph.
The impersonator.
The copied scar.
Years of planted evidence.
A scapegoat had been prepared from the beginning.
But Cross had one more piece.
“And Landon?”
“Yes?”
“We finally identified Victor Saye’s current identity.”
Landon waited.
“He isn’t just working for Adrian Vale.”
A pause.
“He’s been living under another name for six years.”
“What name?”
Cross said it.
Landon felt his stomach drop.
Because Victor Saye had been closer to the Moretti family than any of them imagined.
May you like
He was one of Leo’s godfathers.
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