Chapter 8 - The Man Who Raised Matteo

Victor fired once.

The bullet hit concrete.

Peter threw himself sideways.

Matteo tackled Victor.

The gun slid across the floor.

Agents rushed in.

Victor struck Matteo once.

Then again.

Matteo did not let go.

Antonio entered behind the agents.

Victor saw him.

Everything stopped.

Seventeen years.

Two brothers.

Victor laughed.

“You look terrible.”

Antonio answered:

“You look alive.”

Agents pulled Matteo away.

Victor was cuffed.

He looked at Antonio.

“You should have stayed dead.”

Antonio stepped closer.

“So should your lies.”

Victor smiled.

“Careful.”

Then looked at Matteo.

“You think he is the victim?”

Matteo stared.

Victor continued.

“Ask him what he did before the river house.”

Antonio closed his eyes.

Matteo looked at his father.

“What?”

Victor laughed.

“Ask him about Daniel Russo.”

Peter froze.

“My father.”

Silence.

Antonio looked at Peter.

Peter’s face changed.

“You knew my father?”

Antonio nodded.

Victor smiled wider.

“Antonio had him killed.”

Peter stared.

“No.”

Antonio whispered:

“I ordered it.”

Matteo stopped breathing.

Victor leaned back against the agents.

“There.”

He smiled.

“Now we are a family again.”

Peter looked at Antonio.

“My father died in a car accident.”

“No.”

Antonio’s eyes filled.

“He was stealing from me.”

Peter shook his head.

“He was your accountant.”

“Yes.”

“You killed him over money?”

Antonio looked sick.

“No.”

“Then why?”

“He found out Victor was moving money through my companies.”

Peter stared.

Antonio continued.

“I thought he was part of it.”

Victor laughed.

“You thought wrong.”

Antonio nodded.

“Yes.”

Peter’s hands began shaking.

“What did you do?”

“I told two men to scare him.”

Victor said:

“They cut his brake line.”

Antonio closed his eyes.

Peter stepped backward.

“You knew.”

“After.”

“And you did nothing.”

“I paid his widow.”

Peter laughed in disbelief.

“My mother told me an anonymous trust helped us.”

Antonio nodded.

“That was me.”

Peter stared.

“That does not make it better.”

“No.”

Antonio’s answer was immediate.

“It does not.”

Matteo looked at his father.

This was not the reunion he imagined.

Antonio continued.

“When I learned what happened, I wanted out.”

Victor laughed.

“A conscience born one body too late.”

Antonio accepted it.

“Yes.”

Peter looked at Matteo.

“You knew?”

“No.”

Peter turned away.

Victor watched them with satisfaction.

Matteo looked at his uncle.

“You raised me.”

Victor’s smile faded.

Matteo continued.

“You taught me loyalty.”

“Yes.”

“You taught me family.”

“Yes.”

“You taught me never to betray blood.”

Victor’s face tightened.

Matteo looked at Antonio.

Then Peter.

Then Jonathan.

Then Serena.

“Every man in this room betrayed someone and called it protection.”

No one answered.

Victor said:

“You are still a DeMarco.”

Matteo looked at him.

“That is not the defense you think it is.”

Victor was taken away.

Peter refused medical treatment until he gave federal agents the deposit box key.

The box contained the river house recording.

And more.

Victor’s private accounts.

Payments to police.

Judges.

Port officials.

A doctor.

The doctor who wrote Serena’s mother’s prescription.

The microfilm from the watch matched the accounts.

But there was one surprise.

A payment seventeen years ago.

To Antonio.

Matteo stared.

His father did too.

Victor had labeled it:

A.D. — SILENCE.

Matteo looked at Antonio.

“You took money.”

Antonio shook his head.

“No.”

Jonathan examined the account.

Then his face changed.

“It went to a clinic.”

Harold looked at Antonio.

“The clinic after the river house.”

Antonio nodded slowly.

Victor had disguised Antonio’s medical treatment as a payoff.

Matteo closed his eyes.

Even the evidence lied if you looked at it too quickly.

Peter sat beside him.

A bandage on his head.

He stared at the broken watch.

“You know why I reset it?”

Matteo looked at him.

“Antonio told me 11:17.”

Peter nodded.

“That was the moment he gave me the film.”

Antonio looked at Peter.

Peter continued.

“He said if he did not survive, I had to remember the exact minute he stopped obeying Victor.”

Matteo looked at the frozen hands.

Not the moment Antonio disappeared.

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The moment he decided to leave.

For the first time, 11:17 meant something different.