Chapter 2 - The First Five Minutes Behind the Door

Luca stepped inside.

Then closed the door behind him.

His father stood at the far end of the table.

Gray hair.

Older face.

Same dark eyes.

Luca stared.

Fifteen years.

One room.

One man.

"Hello, son."

Luca did not answer.

His father swallowed.

"My name is still Matteo."

Luca laughed once.

"I know your name."

Matteo looked down.

"Fair."

Luca stayed near the door.

"You are alive."

"Yes."

"For fifteen years."

"Yes."

"And you let me bury you."

Matteo closed his eyes.

"Yes."

Luca's voice stayed calm.

"Why?"

"Because your uncle tried to kill me."

Silence.

Luca stared.

"Carlo."

"Yes."

His father's younger brother.

The man who had taken over the companies.

The man Luca had called family.

Matteo continued.

"He discovered I was gathering evidence against him."

"For the hidden accounts?"

"For more than that."

Luca crossed his arms.

"What else?"

"Bribes."

"Judges."

"Port officials."

"Contractors."

"Your uncle was moving money through companies under your name."

Luca's face changed.

"I was nineteen."

"Exactly."

Matteo reached toward a leather folder.

Luca stopped him.

"Hands where I can see them."

Matteo froze.

Then slowly raised both hands.

The pain in his face was real.

Luca did not apologize.

"Keep talking."

Matteo nodded.

"Carlo forged your signatures."

"How many?"

"At least twelve."

Luca stared.

"Did you know?"

"Not at first."

"When did you learn?"

"The week before I disappeared."

Luca laughed bitterly.

"Convenient."

Matteo accepted it.

"I confronted him."

"And he tried to kill you."

"Yes."

"How?"

"Warehouse fire."

Luca's expression shifted.

He remembered.

Fifteen years ago.

A Bellini—no, Vescari—warehouse had burned near the docks.

Three men were reported injured.

No bodies.

Matteo continued.

"I escaped through the loading bay."

"Then why not go to police?"

"Because two of the officers waiting outside were already on Carlo's payroll."

Luca said nothing.

Matteo lowered his hands slowly.

"I went to George."

Luca looked toward the door.

"The house manager."

"He was the only person I trusted."

"Then why did George stay here for fourteen years?"

"To watch you."

Luca's jaw tightened.

"Without telling me."

"Yes."

"Another person protecting me."

Matteo looked ashamed.

"Yes."

Luca walked closer.

"Where did you go?"

"Montreal first."

"Then?"

"Lisbon."

"Then Argentina."

"Why so many places?"

"Because Carlo kept finding me."

Luca frowned.

"How?"

Matteo looked toward the door.

"James."

Silence.

Luca stared.

"Rosalie's father."

"Yes."

"He was helping Carlo."

"At first."

Luca's face hardened.

"At first?"

"James handled company legal work."

"Carlo forced him to move money."

"Then James started giving him information."

"Why?"

"Because Carlo threatened Rosalie."

Luca closed his eyes.

Of course.

Another child.

Another threat.

Another father calling fear protection.

Luca asked:

"How old was she?"

"Seventeen."

"What did Carlo threaten?"

"To implicate her in one of the shell companies."

Luca looked toward the ballroom.

Rosalie had been seventeen when Luca first met her.

He had been nineteen.

Matteo continued.

"James believed cooperation would keep her safe."

"And did it?"

"For a while."

Luca turned back.

"What changed?"

"James learned Carlo planned to move the final companies into your control."

"Why would that scare him?"

"Because once they were in your name, Carlo could disappear."

Luca stared.

"And leave me with everything."

"Yes."

"Crimes included."

"Yes."

Matteo looked at his son.

"That is why I came home."

Luca laughed quietly.

"Tonight."

"Yes."

"The night I was supposed to sign restructuring papers."

"Yes."

"You waited fifteen years and arrived on the exact night those documents were ready."

Matteo nodded.

"Because George told me."

Luca's expression changed.

"George knew about the restructuring."

"He had been watching the board."

"From where?"

"Boston."

Luca frowned.

"George has been missing eight months."

"He was with me for most of it."

"Doing what?"

"Verifying every document."

Luca looked at the folder.

"Proof."

"Yes."

"What is in there?"

"Enough to destroy Carlo."

"And James?"

Matteo hesitated.

Luca saw it.

"James too."

"Some of it."

"How much?"

"Enough to send him to prison."

Luca's face hardened.

"Then why did you let him lock you in here?"

Matteo looked toward the door.

"Because I wanted to see what Rosalie would do."

Luca stared.

"What?"

"I knew James would panic."

"You used tonight as a test."

"Yes."

Luca laughed in disbelief.

"You let me walk into my engagement gala while my father sat behind a locked door because you wanted to test my fiancée."

Matteo lowered his eyes.

"When you say it like that—"

"How else is there to say it?"

Matteo said nothing.

Luca looked away.

Then back.

"You don't get to come home and immediately start manipulating my life."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

Luca stared.

Matteo whispered:

"I learned too late."

Silence.

Then Luca asked the question that had waited fifteen years.

"Did you ever try to contact me?"

Matteo's eyes filled.

"Yes."

"When?"

"Your twenty-first birthday."

Luca froze.

"How?"

"A letter."

"I never got it."

"I know."

"Who stopped it?"

Matteo looked toward the door.

"Rosalie."

Luca went still.

"No."

"She was twenty."

"She barely knew me."

"She knew enough."

Luca's voice dropped.

"What was in the letter?"

Matteo reached into his coat.

Very slowly.

Pulled out a copy.

On the front:

LUCA.

His father's handwriting.

Luca stared.

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Matteo whispered:

"Ask her why she kept it."