Chapter 5
I hit no one.
That surprised everyone.
Especially me.
I simply stared at Helena.
“Say it again.”
She swallowed.
“Matteo survived.”
My brother had been twenty-six when his car exploded on a mountain road.
We found metal.
Blood.
Two bodies burned beyond recognition.
One wore Matteo's watch.
I buried what remained.
I carried his coffin.
I watched my mother collapse beside the grave.
“You're lying.”
Helena shook her head.
“I wish I was.”
“Where is he?”
Silence.
I moved closer.
“Where?”
Dominic finally spoke.
“Outside Boston.”
I turned.
He continued.
“Not anymore.”
“Where now?”
“Nearby.”
I laughed once.
That frightened him.
Good.
“You planted Varela weapons in my basement for my dead brother?”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“He's not dead.”
“That part I've gathered.”
Helena stepped between us.
“Matteo was supposed to be boss.”
There it was.
Not love.
Power.
“He was older.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Your father changed his mind.”
I knew that.
Matteo had been reckless.
Cruel.
Brilliant when sober.
Dangerous when insulted.
My father spent years trying to control him.
Then quietly began training me instead.
Matteo noticed.
We fought.
A lot.
The last argument happened two weeks before his supposed death.
“You helped him disappear.”
Helena looked away.
Merritt wasn't here.
Different family.
Different betrayal.
But same disease.
Older relatives deciding they understood the future better than the people living in it.
“Who planned the explosion?”
“No one.”
“What?”
Helena took a breath.
“Matteo was supposed to leave quietly. The car explosion wasn't ours.”
“Whose?”
“Varela.”
That name again.
I looked at Dominic.
He nodded.
“They found out Matteo was moving money through their territory.”
“So Varela tried to kill him.”
“Yes.”
“But he survived.”
“Barely.”
“And instead of coming home…”
Helena answered.
“He stayed dead.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because your father had already chosen you.”
Simple.
My brother lost the chair.
So he disappeared rather than live beneath me.
“How long have you known?”
Helena closed her eyes.
“Eleven years.”
Every memory I had of her changed.
My father's funeral.
My wedding.
Noah's birth.
Every Christmas.
Every birthday.
She knew my brother was alive.
“Dominic?”
“Six years.”
Emma whispered from the wall:
“And now Matteo wants the family back.”
Helena looked at her sharply.
I turned.
“How do you know that?”
Emma took a breath.
“I heard his voice.”
My chest tightened.
“You've met him?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“Dominic put him on speaker.”
She looked at Dominic.
“He said once Victor Sanz was dead and Varela took the blame, you'd have no choice but to go to war.”
I understood.
I would lose men.
Money.
Attention.
My territory would weaken.
Then Matteo would return.
Not as a traitor.
As the brother who came home to save what I destroyed.
Elegant.
Pathetic.
Familiar.
“What does Lily have to do with any of this?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Dominic.
“You hit Noah because he saw the crates.”
“Yes.”
“At least you're learning honesty.”
His jaw tightened.
“Helena hit Lily because?”
Silence.
Emma answered.
“Lily saw Matteo.”
I turned.
“What?”
Emma looked toward the door where her daughter waited.
“Two nights ago.”
My skin went cold.
“Where?”
“Estate greenhouse.”
“Matteo is inside my property?”
“He was.”
Helena closed her eyes.
I almost admired the scale of the betrayal.
My brother wasn't nearby.
He had already walked into my home.
“What did Lily see?”
Emma whispered:
“His face.”
That was why Helena terrorized an eight-year-old.
Not because Lily was insolent.
Because a child recognized a dead man.
I looked at Dominic.
“And Noah?”
“He believed her.”
Of course he did.
Kids believe what they see.
Adults believe what protects them.
I turned toward Elias.
“Lock the estate.”
“Already done.”
“Nobody leaves.”
“Yes.”
I looked at Helena.
She finally understood.
“You can't stop this.”
I almost smiled.
“No.”
I removed my watch.
Set it on the table.
“But Matteo spent eleven years teaching me something.”
“What?”
“Dead men don't get to choose when they return.”
Then a bodyguard appeared in the doorway.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found someone in the greenhouse.”
Helena's face changed.
I looked at her.
“Matteo?”
The guard shook his head.
“No.”
He held up a bloodstained Castellano signet ring.
My brother's.
May you like
And said:
“Whoever was there knew we were coming.”
