Chapter 16 - Three Days Before the Wedding
Matteo had not escaped.
Not exactly.
The transport van carrying him to a federal medical examination was hit by another vehicle.
Two guards were injured.
Matteo disappeared.
No bodies.
No confirmed accomplices.
Rachel was furious.
“He had help.”
“Obviously.”
“Inside help.”
“Also obvious.”
She glared.
“I hate when you do that.”
“What?”
“Agree like I’m late to my own investigation.”
Three days before Elena’s wedding, our entire family went back under security.
Elena nearly exploded.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No armed men at my wedding.”
“They won’t be visible.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
She pointed.
“This man already kidnapped me, threatened Maya, ruined half our lives, and somehow survived long enough to interfere with my wedding?”
“He may not care about the wedding.”
She stared.
“Dante.”
“Fine.”
Maya entered carrying seating charts.
“What happened?”
Elena turned.
“Matteo escaped.”
Maya dropped the charts.
Then picked them up.
“No.”
I blinked.
“No?”
“We’re getting married.”
“Maya.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I spent too much of my life letting dangerous men decide where I could go and when I could be happy.”
Elena stared at her.
Maya continued.
“He does not get Saturday.”
I understood.
“Wedding happens.”
Elena looked at me.
“Really?”
“With security.”
She groaned.
“Fine.”
We searched for Matteo.
Nothing.
Then Friday night, I received a call.
Matteo.
“Dante.”
“You have terrible timing.”
“I know.”
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“If you come near Elena—”
“I won’t.”
That stopped me.
“Then what do you want?”
“To see you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m dying.”
I said nothing.
“Cancer,” he continued. “Pancreatic. The federal medical visit was real.”
I didn’t trust him.
But Salerno later confirmed the diagnosis had been documented.
Late-stage.
Months.
Maybe weeks.
“Meet me where Lucia is buried,” Matteo said.
I went.
Against everyone’s advice.
Again.
Matteo stood near my mother’s grave.
Thin.
Gray.
No weapon visible.
“You escaped prison to visit a cemetery?”
“I escaped because I refuse to die inside a room where fluorescent lights never turn off.”
“Poetic.”
“I had time.”
He looked at Lucia’s stone.
“Elena marries tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“She loved that girl.”
“Maya.”
“Yes.”
He smiled faintly.
“Lucia would’ve liked her.”
“Don’t talk like you knew my mother better than we did.”
“I knew a different version.”
“That doesn’t mean better.”
He accepted that.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then Matteo held out an envelope.
“For Adrian.”
“What is it?”
“Truth.”
“He has enough truth.”
“No one does.”
I didn’t take it.
Matteo looked at me.
“I could leave.”
“You won’t get far.”
“I don’t need far.”
“What do you want?”
“To apologize.”
I almost laughed.
“For which decade?”
“All of them.”
He looked at me.
“I hated Antonio so much that I turned every person he loved into a target.”
“At least you understand.”
“I understand now.”
“Too late.”
“Yes.”
No argument.
That was unfamiliar.
Matteo looked at Lucia’s grave.
“I spent my entire life thinking revenge would return something that was taken.”
“And?”
“It only gives grief a job.”
I hated how true that sounded.
Police lights appeared beyond the cemetery.
I had called Rachel before arriving.
Matteo saw them.
“You betrayed me.”
“You escaped federal custody.”
He laughed.
“Antonio would be proud.”
“I’m not doing it for him.”
He nodded.
Then surrendered.
Again.
This time for good.
Before they placed him inside the car, he turned.
“Dante.”
“What?”
“Tomorrow, when Elena walks down that aisle, don’t look for danger.”
I stared at him.
“Look at your sister.”
The car door closed.
The next afternoon I stood inside a greenhouse filled with white flowers.
Elena waited at the entrance.
Maya stood at the other end.
And for the first time in years...
I took Matteo’s advice.
I looked at my sister.
Not exits.
Not windows.
Not security.
Elena.
She smiled.
“Ready?”
I offered my arm.
“Always.”
May you like
We walked.
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