Chapter 7 - Saint Matthew’s

Saint Matthew’s Children’s Home had been closed for nineteen years, but the front doors were freshly unlocked.

That bothered Luca more than broken glass would have.

He parked two blocks away.

Elena reached for the door handle.

“Wait.”

She looked at him.

“You have spent most of the night telling me you do not take orders.”

“I inherited that from your side of the family.”

“My side is your side.”

“Unfortunately.”

He checked the street.

No parked cars.

No movement in the windows.

No police.

That was worse.

Elena said, “Anthony will not hurt me.”

“You sound sure for a woman whose son thinks she abandoned him.”

“I am not sure. I am choosing it.”

“That sounds like something people say immediately before making me clean up a disaster.”

She almost smiled.

They crossed the street.

The building still had faded cartoon animals painted on the brick near the entrance. A yellow giraffe had lost half its face to weather.

Inside, the air smelled of dust and old plaster.

A battery lantern glowed at the end of the hallway.

Anthony’s voice came from the former dining room.

“No guns.”

Luca stopped.

Elena continued walking.

Luca caught her arm.

“You believe him that much?”

“No.”

She removed her pistol and placed it on the floor.

“I believe he needs answers more than he needs a corpse.”

Luca set his weapon beside hers.

A second voice came from inside.

Caleb.

“Luca, I’m okay.”

Luca relaxed by half an inch.

They entered.

Caleb sat in a chair with a bandage around his forehead. His hands were free.

Dr. Marco Santori was not so comfortable.

The physician sat across the room with both wrists secured to an old radiator. His expensive coat was torn at one shoulder.

Anthony stood between them.

He looked more like Elena than Luca wanted to admit.

Same eyes.

Same habit of standing perfectly still when furious.

Anthony looked at his mother.

“You came.”

Elena’s voice was quiet.

“You asked.”

“You never did before.”

“I did not know where you were.”

Anthony laughed.

“That line worked better before I found the record.”

He threw a photocopy onto a table.

Elena picked it up.

Luca watched her read.

Her face changed.

Anthony said, “Your signature. Your handwriting. Temporary surrender of infant Anthony Saye to the custody of Saint Matthew’s.”

Elena did not deny it.

Luca looked at her.

“You signed?”

“Yes.”

Anthony’s jaw tightened.

“Finally.”

Elena held up the paper.

“I signed a seventy-two-hour emergency protection form.”

“It says surrender.”

“This copy does.”

Anthony stared.

Elena continued.

“The original form had two pages. I signed the second. The first said I was placing you under church protection because armed men were searching for us. Father Dominic told me he could move you to a convent outside the city while I drew the search away.”

“You left me.”

“For three days.”

“You came back nineteen years later.”

“I came back the next morning.”

Anthony’s face twitched.

Elena stepped closer.

“The building was on fire.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Ask Santori.”

Every eye turned toward the doctor.

Santori’s mouth went dry.

Anthony walked to him.

“Tell me.”

Santori looked at Luca instead.

“You cannot protect me.”

Luca leaned against the wall.

“I have not decided whether I want to.”

Santori looked at Elena.

She said nothing.

That frightened him most.

He swallowed.

“Vale used Saint Matthew’s as a transfer point.”

Anthony’s voice sharpened.

“For children?”

“For records. Money. Sometimes children.”

Elena’s eyes closed.

“Did he take my son?”

Santori nodded.

Anthony stepped back as though struck.

“No.”

Santori rushed on.

“He told me the mother was dead. He said the child had no family.”

“You knew who she was.”

“Not then.”

“You knew later.”

Santori looked away.

Anthony’s hands curled into fists.

Caleb said, “Anthony.”

He ignored him.

“You let him raise me.”

“I was afraid.”

“For nineteen years?”

“Yes.”

Anthony picked up a chair.

Luca moved from the wall.

“Put it down.”

Anthony looked at him.

“He helped steal my life.”

“And if you kill him, he takes the rest of it too.”

Anthony’s breathing was heavy.

Luca stepped closer.

“You want the truth? Keep the man who knows it breathing.”

After several seconds, Anthony lowered the chair.

Elena did not thank Luca.

She looked at Santori.

“Who killed Michael Saye?”

The doctor’s eyes widened.

Anthony froze.

“My father?”

Elena said, “Yes.”

Santori whispered, “Vale ordered it.”

Anthony’s face emptied.

“No.”

Santori nodded quickly.

“Michael had copies of payment records. He was going to publish. Vale arranged a robbery outside his apartment.”

Anthony stared at nothing.

“The man who raised me killed my father.”

“Yes.”

“And he told me Vittorio did it.”

“Yes.”

Anthony turned to Elena.

She did not move toward him.

That restraint seemed to hurt her more than distance.

He looked away first.

Luca said, “My father.”

Santori flinched.

“Luca—”

“What was in the glass?”

“A cardiac medication in a dangerous concentration.”

“Did you put it there?”

Santori nodded.

Caleb swore.

Elena’s face became stone.

Anthony said, “I brought the bucket.”

Luca looked at him.

Anthony did not hide.

“Vale told me Vittorio kept a storage key inside the black bucket. He said we needed it to recover records before your family destroyed them.”

“You knew Santori was coming?”

“Yes.”

“You knew he planned to poison Vittorio?”

“No.”

Santori said, “He didn’t.”

Luca’s eyes cut to him.

The doctor continued.

“Anthony left before I administered anything.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because there is footage.”

“We saw it.”

“No. More footage.”

Santori nodded toward the hallway.

“Vale recorded everything. Insurance. There is a server beneath the old chapel.”

Elena said, “Here?”

“Yes.”

Anthony stared at Santori.

“You brought us to a building with Vale’s server?”

“I did not bring anyone. You brought me.”

Anthony looked at Caleb.

Caleb raised both hands.

“I was unconscious for that part.”

Luca moved toward the doorway.

“Where is the chapel?”

Santori said, “West wing.”

Elena picked up her pistol from the hall.

Luca did the same.

Anthony freed Santori from the radiator but cuffed one wrist to his own.

“You stay close.”

Santori looked miserable.

“That is unnecessary.”

Anthony pulled him forward.

“It is therapeutic.”

The chapel had been stripped after the home closed. No pews. No altar. Just a rectangle of cleaner floor where the altar had once stood.

Caleb found the hatch beneath loose boards.

The server room below was still powered.

“Someone maintains this,” he said.

Rows of hard drives blinked behind metal cages.

Luca looked at Santori.

“Password.”

“I don’t know it.”

Anthony tightened the cuff chain.

“Try again.”

“I truly don’t.”

Elena walked to a terminal.

“What did Vale call you when you were a child?”

Anthony frowned.

“Why?”

“Dominic used names as ownership.”

Anthony’s expression darkened.

“Prodigal.”

Elena typed PRODIGAL.

The system opened.

Anthony stared.

Elena whispered, “He was never as original as he thought.”

Folders appeared by year.

Caleb found the night Vittorio died.

Four camera feeds.

Kitchen.

Dining room.

Study.

Driveway.

They watched Anthony arrive with the black bucket.

He spoke with Santori.

Audio played.

Anthony on screen said, “Vale wants the files. Nobody gets hurt.”

Santori replied, “Of course.”

Anthony left at 8:46.

Luca looked at him.

Anthony’s face was rigid.

Then the footage showed Santori entering the dining room after Bruno left.

He leaned over Vittorio’s drink.

Audio captured a whisper from Vittorio.

“Marco, if Dominic sent you, tell him he is already too late.”

Santori froze on screen.

Vittorio looked directly toward the hidden camera.

“I made copies.”

Santori said, “Where?”

Vittorio smiled.

“Everywhere.”

Then Santori altered the drink.

Elena looked away.

Anthony did not.

The footage continued after Vittorio collapsed.

Santori checked his pulse.

Then he made a phone call.

“I did it,” he said.

Vale’s voice answered through speakerphone.

“Good. Now put the watch back on him.”

Santori frowned.

“What watch?”

“The one from the desk. He wants Luca to find it.”

Everyone in the server room went still.

Luca replayed the sentence.

“He wants Luca to find it.”

Caleb whispered, “Vale knew about the card.”

Elena shook her head.

“No. Listen.”

They continued.

Santori said, “Why would we give him evidence?”

Vale replied, “Because a son chasing his father’s sins will burn the family for us.”

The call ended.

Luca understood.

Vale had not failed to find the card.

Vale had planted the path to it.

Bruno’s suspicion had been right.

Anthony said, “Then the files on that card…”

“Some are real,” Caleb said. “Some could be altered.”

Luca looked at Santori.

“Which?”

The doctor shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

Elena said, “There has to be an original.”

Santori looked at her.

“There is.”

“Where?”

He hesitated.

Anthony pulled the cuff chain.

“Marco.”

Santori exhaled.

“Vittorio and Marrow kept a paper master. The first Orchard ledger. No digital changes. No remote access.”

Luca said, “Where?”

Santori looked directly at him.

“Your father hid it in the one place he believed even Vale would hesitate to destroy.”

Luca knew before he said it.

“Saint Augustine’s.”

Santori nodded.

“The cathedral crypt.”

A warning light flashed on the server rack.

Caleb looked at the terminal.

“Remote connection.”

“From where?” Luca asked.

Caleb’s face changed.

“Someone just found us.”

The drives began deleting themselves.

“Copy what you can,” Elena ordered.

Caleb plugged in two portable drives.

Anthony dragged Santori toward the stairs.

Then speakers mounted somewhere in the old chapel crackled alive.

Vale’s voice filled the building.

“Anthony.”

Anthony stopped.

The voice softened almost tenderly.

“Come home.”

Anthony looked up at the ceiling.

Vale continued.

“Your mother will abandon you again. The Sorrentos will use you. I am the only father you have ever known.”

Anthony’s face twisted.

Elena whispered, “You choose. Not him. Not me.”

For the first time, Anthony looked at her without anger.

Then he raised Santori’s cuffed hand.

“I choose the man who tells the truth in court.”

Vale’s voice went cold.

“Then you choose against me.”

Anthony answered the empty room.

“No. You chose against me forty-three years ago.”

The power died.

Caleb yanked the drives free.

“Got enough.”

Luca heard engines outside.

Elena chambered a round.

“Vale’s people.”

Luca looked at Anthony.

“Back exit?”

Anthony pointed toward a service stair.

“I came in that way.”

Luca nodded.

“Then for the next five minutes, cousin, you are family.”

Anthony stared at him.

“That is a terrible sales pitch.”

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“It is the best one you’re getting.”

They left Saint Matthew’s together before Vale’s men reached the chapel.