Chapter 15 - The Marina Departure That Finally Forced Matteo Outside

Matteo had not left the estate in nearly two weeks.

Keller told him that remained the safest medical choice.

Matteo ignored him.

The argument lasted six minutes.

It ended when Nia said, “If you collapse on the dock, I am leaving you there.”

Matteo looked offended.

Keller laughed.

Then everyone went to the marina.

Not everyone physically.

Hale coordinated with federal agents because the old shipping case had given them jurisdictional interest and Carlo’s attempted flight made the legal picture simpler. Local police covered the streets. Coast Guard officers monitored the river.

Matteo rode in an armored sedan with Keller, Nia, and two security men who now reported to Hale rather than Enzo.

That detail mattered.

Enzo remained at the estate.

He had not complained.

Nia had expected him to resist being sidelined. Instead, he had spent the previous day turning over passwords, personnel files, and every private security record requested.

Accountability looked strange on a man built for command.

At the marina, wind cut off the river hard enough to sting.

Carlo’s rented yacht sat at the far pier, engines running.

But Carlo was not aboard.

A dockworker told officers a man matching his description had arrived, argued on the phone, then walked toward an abandoned customs warehouse.

Matteo’s face hardened.

“A warehouse.”

Nia heard the history in the word.

Hale stopped Matteo before he could move.

“You stay here.”

“No.”

“You are a recovering cardiac patient and a central witness.”

“It is my brother’s case.”

“It is now a federal case.”

Matteo looked ready to fight.

Nia stepped between them.

“Let them clear it.”

He stared at her.

“You are enjoying this authority.”

“Immensely.”

He almost smiled.

Agents entered the warehouse.

Minutes passed.

Then Hale received a call.

No Carlo.

But the warehouse contained luggage, cash, and a laptop.

Carlo had abandoned another escape.

The laptop was open.

On screen was a live video feed.

Matteo’s estate.

Nia felt cold.

“What camera is that?”

Hale enlarged the image.

The angle showed the third-floor west corridor.

Private.

Internal.

Someone inside was still feeding Carlo access.

Matteo called the estate.

No answer from the security control room.

Then Nia saw movement on the video.

Enzo.

He entered the corridor alone.

Matteo’s expression changed.

“No.”

Enzo walked toward the old library.

A door opened.

Another man stepped out.

Carlo.

Nia stopped breathing.

The marina had been misdirection.

Carlo had never intended to leave.

He had used the yacht, the account transfer, and the warehouse to pull police, Hale, and Matteo away from the estate.

He had gone back to the one place everyone assumed was locked down.

“Call Enzo,” Nia said.

Matteo already was.

On the video, Enzo’s phone vibrated.

He looked at it.

Carlo raised a gun.

Enzo stopped.

Nia could not hear audio.

They watched helplessly from miles away.

Carlo gestured toward the library.

Enzo went inside.

The door closed.

Matteo turned toward the car.

Hale blocked him.

“Absolutely not.”

“My men are there.”

“Police are already responding.”

“My staff.”

“And if Carlo wants you to come back?”

Matteo froze.

That was exactly what Carlo wanted.

The marina decoy had not merely emptied the estate of investigators.

It had moved Matteo into predictable transit.

If he returned in panic, Carlo could choose the route.

Nia looked at the laptop.

“Can we talk through the camera?”

A technician shook his head.

“Video only.”

“Can you trace the feed?”

“Working on it.”

Then the screen changed.

A message appeared over the video.

COME HOME, MATTEO.

Below it:

BRING THE MAID.

Nia’s skin went cold.

Matteo’s face became unreadable.

Hale looked at both of them.

“No one is going.”

Another line appeared.

OR ENZO TELLS THE WORLD WHAT HAPPENED TO LUCA.

Matteo stepped closer to the screen.

“What does that mean?”

Nia looked at him.

“You said Enzo was not with Luca.”

“He wasn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

Matteo did not answer.

On the video, the library door opened again.

Enzo emerged first.

Carlo followed.

This time, Enzo looked directly into the hidden camera.

He raised one hand.

Three fingers.

Then two.

Then one.

A countdown.

Or a code.

Matteo’s face changed.

“He is telling us something.”

“What?”

“Third floor. Second corridor. First room.”

Nia pictured the estate.

“The old music room?”

Matteo nodded.

“What is there?”

His eyes stayed on the screen.

“A service passage Carlo may not know about.”

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Hale ordered the marina laptop isolated from every Costa network before anyone touched it. Nia watched the technicians work and realized Carlo had weaponized something more reliable than guns: expectation. Everyone had rushed toward the obvious escape because he had trained them to believe fleeing was the only rational move.

For the first time that day, they had something Carlo had not planned.