Chapter 10 - The Secret Hidden Inside the Watch
Matteo Moretti did not want money.
That surprised everyone.
“I've had money for fifty years,” he said.
He stood near the fireplace while Enzo remained across the room, unwilling to sit.
“What I never had was my name.”
Enzo's mother, Sofia, sat silently near the window.
Clara watched her.
The older woman appeared exhausted.
Perhaps from six years of hiding the existence of her husband's twin.
Perhaps longer.
Matteo continued.
“Elena discovered records your grandfather Giovanni kept.”
Enzo said, “Inside the watch?”
“Partly.”
“What records?”
“Proof of an arrangement.”
Alessandro's expression darkened.
“Between whom?”
“The Vitis, Morettis, Carbones, and three other families.”
Clara shook her head.
“An alliance?”
Matteo smiled.
“Nothing so honorable.”
He looked toward the rain outside.
“A protection arrangement.”
Enzo folded his arms.
“Meaning?”
“Everyone pretended to compete publicly while privately dividing territory and protecting shared interests.”
Alessandro's face remained unreadable.
Clara looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
Matteo nodded.
“Your father did.”
Alessandro went still.
Clara understood.
Another family secret.
Matteo continued.
“Giovanni Moretti kept copies because he didn't trust anyone.”
Enzo looked toward his watch, now sitting inside a protective case on the table.
“The chip Dario stole?”
“Lists transactions.”
“And the second?”
“Giovanni's confession.”
Lena's recovered video.
It fit.
Clara asked, “What did Mom find?”
“The full ledger.”
Matteo looked directly at her.
“Names. Dates. Payments. Everything.”
“And she put it in Switzerland?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“I helped her.”
Alessandro took one step forward.
“You?”
Matteo nodded.
“Your wife came to me because I didn't exist.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It made perfect sense.”
Matteo gave him a sad smile.
“A man who officially doesn't exist cannot easily be connected to a bank account.”
Clara studied him.
“Why help her?”
“Because she wanted what I wanted.”
“Freedom?”
“Yes.”
Matteo looked toward Enzo.
“Freedom from families who decide your identity before you're old enough to choose it.”
Enzo's expression softened slightly.
He understood.
Clara did too.
Matteo walked toward the table.
“Elena planned to use the ledger as insurance.”
“Insurance against whom?” Clara asked.
“Everyone.”
Alessandro's face showed pain.
Even him.
Clara knew.
Matteo continued.
“She intended to leave with you. She believed once the families knew evidence existed outside their control, nobody would risk harming her.”
“But someone did.”
“Yes.”
“Carbone?”
“Victor gave them her route.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Even hearing it again hurt.
“Did you know?”
“Afterward.”
“And you said nothing?”
Matteo's eyes filled with regret.
“I was a coward.”
Silence.
Clara looked around the room.
Victor.
Matteo.
Her father.
Giovanni.
Every man in this story seemed to have built a prison from fear and then called it protection.
“What does Daniel want with the ledger?”
Matteo answered immediately.
“Not exposure.”
Clara frowned.
“He said he wanted to destroy the families.”
“He wants control.”
Enzo nodded slowly.
“Blackmail.”
“Exactly.”
Matteo looked toward Clara.
“With the full ledger, Daniel could force every surviving organization to obey him.”
Clara felt sick.
“So all his talk about freedom—”
“Is justification.”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
“Where's the box?”
Matteo looked at Clara.
“I will tell her.”
“Tell all of us.”
“No.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
Matteo remained calm.
“Elena trusted her daughter.”
“She was four.”
“She trusted the woman she hoped Clara would become.”
Clara felt tears threaten again.
Matteo reached inside his jacket.
Alessandro's men stiffened.
But Matteo withdrew only a folded piece of paper.
He gave it to Clara.
A bank address in Zurich.
Beneath it:
BOX 417.
Then a second code.
“What is this?”
“The authentication phrase.”
Clara read it.
BLUEBIRDS RETURN IN APRIL.
She frowned.
“My mother used to say that.”
Matteo nodded.
“She chose it because you loved a children's book about bluebirds.”
A memory appeared.
A bedtime story.
Her mother's voice.
For years Clara had thought she invented it.
She pressed the paper against her palm.
Enzo asked, “What now?”
Clara looked at everyone.
Men who possessed fortunes.
Influence.
Private security.
Old grudges.
And every one of them wanted the same thing.
Her mother's box.
“My condition still stands.”
Alessandro sighed.
“What condition?”
“I decide what happens.”
“This affects multiple families.”
“My mother left it for me.”
Matteo smiled faintly.
“She did.”
Enzo nodded.
“So what's your decision?”
Clara looked at him.
“We go to Switzerland.”
Alessandro immediately said, “Absolutely not.”
Clara stared.
He rubbed his forehead.
“Sorry. Habit.”
Enzo almost laughed.
Clara continued.
“We open the box.”
“And then?” Alessandro asked.
“I read everything.”
“And then?”
“Then I decide.”
Matteo looked impressed.
“You won't like what you find.”
“I haven't liked anything I've found in the last twenty-four hours.”
That ended the argument.
They planned to leave the following morning.
But at 3:12 a.m., Lena called.
Someone had accessed the Swiss deposit system.
Not opened the box.
Tried to.
Using a copied authentication key.
Clara sat up in bed.
“Daniel?”
“Most likely.”
“How long until he can get access?”
“He shouldn't be able to without your physical key.”
“Shouldn't?”
Lena hesitated.
“He has someone inside the bank.”
Clara looked toward the paper on her bedside table.
Box 417.
Her mother's final insurance policy.
Then Lena said something worse.
“There was a second access attempt.”
Clara frowned.
“By who?”
“Credential belongs to Matteo Moretti.”
Clara went cold.
Matteo was supposed to be asleep down the hall.
She immediately opened her door.
His room was empty.
The window stood open.
And on his bed was a note.
I'M SORRY. DANIEL HAS SOFIA.
Enzo's mother.
Matteo had not betrayed them.
He had been forced to choose.
May you like
And before sunrise, Daniel Mercer was already on his way to Switzerland.
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