Chapter 8 - The Bargain Matteo Made With His Own Destruction

The prosecutor answered on the fourth ring.

Matteo put the call on speaker while smoke thickened beyond the steel door.

“Evelyn Grant.”

“This is Matteo Volkov.”

A pause.

“If this is a joke—”

“It isn’t. I have an archive linking Nikolai Volkov to extortion, homicide, unlawful surveillance, bribery, and attempted kidnapping. It also contains evidence against my organization.”

Another pause.

“What do you want?”

“Federal protection for Elena Rossi, Marianne Cole, Rosa Bellini, my daughter, and anyone else who cooperates.”

“And you?”

“No promises for me.”

Elena looked at him.

Grant’s voice cooled.

“Where are you?”

“Old Saint Aurelia clinic on River Street.”

“You understand that if I send people there, I am not sending your people.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Matteo ended the call.

Marianne ejected two encrypted drives.

“Done.”

The smoke alarm screamed.

Dmitri opened the service exit.

Heat rushed toward them.

They moved through a basement corridor while flames spread above.

At the rear stairwell, Nikolai appeared.

He stood alone.

No cane now.

A pistol in one hand.

The man looked older without the polished posture of an uncle arriving for dinner.

“Give me the child,” he said.

Matteo stepped between him and Elena.

“You ordered Nadia’s death.”

“Nadia made herself dangerous.”

“You ordered Luca Rossi killed.”

“He was an accountant who forgot his place.”

Elena flinched.

Nikolai looked at her.

“His sons were unfortunate.”

Matteo raised his gun.

Elena knew what was about to happen.

She also knew what she wanted.

For one savage second, she wanted Matteo to pull the trigger.

Then she saw Luca’s face on the video.

If you’re watching this, I either got brave too late or scared too early.

Luca had gathered proof.

Nadia had gathered proof.

They had died trying to move truth into daylight.

“Don’t,” Elena said.

Matteo did not look away from Nikolai.

“He killed your children.”

“I know.”

“He killed my wife.”

“I know.”

Nikolai smiled faintly.

“You see? This is why you lose, Matteo. You let grief make rules.”

Sirens sounded outside.

Nikolai’s smile disappeared.

Matteo lowered his gun.

“No,” he said. “This is why you do.”

Nikolai fired.

Dmitri shoved Matteo sideways.

The bullet struck the wall.

Marianne kicked Nikolai’s wrist as Elena dropped behind the stairs with Sofia.

His weapon skidded across the floor.

Matteo hit him once.

Hard.

Nikolai fell.

Matteo could have continued.

He did not.

Federal agents stormed the basement ninety seconds later.

The next twelve hours passed in rooms with fluorescent lights.

Elena gave a statement while Sofia slept in a hospital bassinet under guard.

Marianne surrendered the drives.

Dmitri was treated for smoke inhalation and a cut.

Matteo sat in another room with two attorneys and said more than any Volkov had said to law enforcement in three generations.

By morning, federal warrants were moving across four states.

Saint Aurelia offices were sealed.

Accounts were frozen.

Three police officers, two customs supervisors, and a hospital administrator were arrested.

Gabriel Moretti’s death was reopened.

So were Nadia’s murder and the crash that killed Luca, Nico, and Leo.

Elena sat beside Sofia while Dr. Shah checked the baby again.

“She’s healthy,” Priya said. “Angry, but healthy.”

“She should be angry.”

Priya smiled sadly.

When Matteo entered, he was not wearing a jacket.

His shirt sleeves were rolled up.

A federal monitor had been clipped to his belt.

Elena noticed immediately.

“What is that?”

“A temporary condition of release.”

“You were arrested?”

“Detained. Interviewed. Released pending cooperation.”

“Why?”

“Because apparently confessing to decades of crimes creates paperwork.”

She stared at him.

He sat in the chair across from her.

“I gave them everything I could verify.”

“Everything?”

“Ports. Accounts. Payments. Names.”

“Your own?”

“Yes.”

Elena looked down at Sofia.

The baby’s fingers curled around hers.

“What happens now?”

“To Nikolai? He stays in custody.”

“To you.”

Matteo exhaled.

“I don’t know.”

That was the first truly ordinary answer she had ever heard from him.

Elena studied his face.

“You could have killed Nikolai.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“You asked me not to.”

“That’s not enough.”

“No.”

He looked through the glass wall toward federal agents standing outside.

“Nadia tried to expose him through evidence. Luca did too. Killing Nikolai would have made me feel better for ten seconds and made every defense lawyer in the case happier for ten years.”

Elena almost smiled.

Then Matteo’s expression changed.

“There’s something else.”

Her body tensed.

“What?”

“Grant found a sealed file in the archive. It was tagged with your name but created after the crash.”

Elena’s chest tightened.

“What’s in it?”

“I haven’t opened it.”

“Why?”

“Because it belongs to you.”

He placed a tablet on the bed.

The file title read:

ROSSI, ELENA — POST-EVENT MANAGEMENT.

Elena touched the screen.

Inside were photographs of her after the funeral.

At the cemetery.

At the hospital.

Outside her apartment.

A schedule of her therapy appointments.

Then a note dated two weeks earlier.

SUBJECT ACCEPTED TEMPORARY CONTRACT. SHARED CHARTER ROUTE CONFIRMED.

Elena stared.

Her seat on Matteo’s aircraft had not been an accident.

Someone had arranged for her to be there.

At the bottom of the page was an authorization code.

Not Nikolai’s.

Not Gabriel’s.

The initials were M.V.

Elena turned toward Matteo.

His face had gone white.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

“M.V.,” she whispered.

Those were his initials.