Chapter 6 - MATTEOLuca wanted to go alone.
I told him that was the dumbest idea I had heard since arriving at his house.
“You are the target,” he said.
“So are you.”
“My father wants you alive.”
“Comforting.”
“Blair.”
“Luca.”
We stared at each other.
Marco sighed.
“I hate both of you.”
Thursday arrived under heavy rain.
Dock Nine looked abandoned.
It wasn't.
Luca had positioned men three blocks away.
No visible weapons.
No obvious backup.
I wore a microphone beneath my shirt.
Luca checked it twice.
Then three times.
“You're nervous,” I said.
“No.”
“Terrible liar.”
He looked at me.
“Stay behind me.”
“Stop telling me that.”
“Then stop walking into gunfire.”
“You did that.”
“For you.”
The words hung between us.
I looked away.
A warehouse door opened.
Vittorio appeared.
Then Matteo.
Alive.
My breath left me.
He looked older.
Scarred.
But it was him.
“Matthew,” I whispered.
His eyes found mine.
“Little bird.”
I cried.
I hated myself for it.
Matteo smiled.
Then Vittorio pressed a gun against his neck.
“Touching.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Let him go.”
“Give me Blair.”
“No.”
Vittorio smiled.
“You always were sentimental.”
“You ordered Matteo killed.”
“I ordered a problem removed.”
Matteo laughed weakly.
“Still charming, Father.”
Vittorio hit him.
Luca moved.
I grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Vittorio looked at me.
“The ledger.”
“Copied.”
His smile disappeared.
“Twenty copies.”
A lie.
There were five.
“Sent to journalists, federal investigators, and three European agencies.”
Another lie.
Luca looked at me.
I hoped he understood.
Vittorio did.
He laughed.
“You learned from Matteo.”
“Yes.”
“Then you learned the most important lesson.”
“What?”
“Everyone has a price.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Your mother did.”
My world stopped.
“What?”
Vittorio smiled.
“She sold Matteo's location.”
I could not breathe.
“No.”
“She called us.”
“Liar.”
“She wanted her daughter home.”
The warehouse disappeared.
My mother.
Her final phone call.
Come home, Blair.
Please.
I thought she missed me.
What if—
“Don't listen,” Luca said.
But doubt had already entered.
Vittorio saw it.
“She betrayed him to save you.”
Matteo lifted his head.
“No.”
Vittorio turned.
Matteo smiled through blood.
“She called me.”
My heart broke.
“What?”
“She knew Blair was in danger.”
Matteo looked at me.
“Your mother warned me.”
Vittorio's face changed.
“She died protecting you.”
The first gunshot came from above.
Sniper.
But not Vittorio's.
Marco's.
The light exploded.
Darkness.
Luca grabbed me.
Men shouted.
Gunfire erupted.
I crawled toward Matteo.
Someone seized my hair.
Vittorio.
He dragged me backward.
I kicked.
He struck me.
My vision flashed white.
Then Luca appeared.
He hit his father.
The gun fell.
Matteo grabbed it.
Vittorio froze.
Both sons faced him.
“Do it,” Vittorio whispered.
Matteo's hand shook.
Luca lowered his weapon.
“No.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Weak.”
“No,” Luca said.
“Finished.”
Police sirens approached.
Federal vehicles surrounded the warehouse.
I looked at Luca.
He had called them.
Vittorio realized it too.
“You brought police into family business?”
Luca looked at Matteo.
Then me.
“This isn't family.”
Vittorio was arrested before sunrise.
But the story was not over.
Because as federal agents searched the warehouse, one of them found a hidden room.
Inside were photographs.
Hundreds.
Victims.
Routes.
May you like
Targets.
And one photograph of me taken when I was nine years old.
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