Chapter 11 - The Son Who Was Afraid to Come Home|
For the first time since the engagement dinner, Matteo Russo looked genuinely afraid.
He stood outside the courthouse with his phone in one hand and a folder of financial records in the other.
Gabriel was staring at him.
"How much did you know?"
Matteo didn't answer.
Gabriel took a step closer.
"Matteo, I'm asking you a question."
"I knew Luca was having financial problems."
"How serious?"
"Serious enough that I should have looked into them."
Gabriel shook his head.
"That's not what I asked."
Matteo looked away.
For years, he had controlled businesses that operated in the shadows.
Some were legitimate.
Others were built on agreements nobody wanted examined too closely.
He had convinced himself that keeping his mother comfortable made those decisions worthwhile.
Now the consequences had reached her bedroom door.
"I let Luca manage accounts I should have reviewed," Matteo admitted.
Gabriel stared at him.
"And now somebody is using those accounts to steal Mom's house."
Matteo nodded.
"Yes."
I stood several feet away, listening.
I had never imagined hearing a man like Matteo admit such a thing.
The world knew him as someone who always had an answer.
But standing beside the courthouse steps, he looked like a man discovering that power and responsibility were not the same thing.
Mara approached.
"The detective wants copies of the company authorizations."
Matteo looked at her.
"All of them?"
"Anything relevant to the transfers."
He was silent.
Then he nodded.
"Get them."
Gabriel looked surprised.
"You understand what that could expose?"
Matteo's expression hardened.
"Yes."
Before either brother could speak again, Evelyn approached with Rosa.
She had heard enough to understand that something was terribly wrong.
"Matteo?"
He turned.
"Mom."
"Have they found Luca?"
He shook his head.
"Not yet."
Her face crumpled.
She looked toward Gabriel.
"Your brother wouldn't hurt himself, would he?"
Gabriel immediately took her hand.
"We don't know where he is, Mom."
She closed her eyes.
"I should never have signed those papers."
Matteo stepped closer.
"No."
His voice was firm.
"This is not your fault."
Evelyn opened her eyes.
"But if I'd refused—"
"Mom, Luca made choices."
Matteo swallowed.
"And so did I."
He held her shoulders.
"You're not responsible for the mistakes your sons made."
Evelyn began crying.
"I just want all three of you safe."
Matteo embraced her.
I looked away.
Because at that moment, I understood why Evelyn had signed away her home.
She hadn't wanted money.
She hadn't wanted revenge.
She had simply wanted to save her family.
And someone had used that love against her.
Two hours later, Nadia called.
I was sitting beside Evelyn in the mansion's morning room when the phone rang.
Evelyn answered immediately.
"Nadia?"
"Grandma."
The young woman's voice trembled.
"Please don't be angry."
Evelyn sat upright.
"Sweetheart, what's happened?"
"I found Dad."
Evelyn covered her mouth.
"Where?"
"St. Agnes Church."
Evelyn's eyes filled.
That was the little neighborhood church where she and her husband had married fifty years earlier.
Luca had gone there after abandoning his car near the river.
Nadia explained that he had called her from a borrowed phone.
He had been sitting in the church for hours.
He hadn't been injured.
But he was refusing to leave.
"He keeps saying he ruined everything," Nadia whispered.
Evelyn immediately stood.
"Tell him I'm coming."
I reached for her coat.
"Mrs. Russo, please let Matteo know first."
She looked at me.
"Anna, he's my son."
"I know."
I gently helped her into the brown coat.
"And he needs you."
Then I took out my phone.
"But you deserve to have someone protecting you too."
Matteo arrived twenty minutes later.
He drove Evelyn and Gabriel to the church.
I came along because Evelyn asked me to.
When we entered, Luca was sitting alone in the front pew.
He looked as though he had aged ten years.
His expensive suit was wrinkled.
His eyes were red.
And his hands shook when he saw his mother.
"Mom."
Evelyn walked toward him.
He stood.
Then he dropped to his knees.
"I'm sorry."
His voice broke.
"I'm so sorry."
Evelyn began crying.
Luca reached for her hands.
"I thought I could fix everything."
Matteo stood several feet away.
"By selling her home?"
Luca lowered his head.
"I borrowed money."
"From Elliot Hayes?"
Luca nodded.
"At first, it was to cover business losses."
He swallowed.
"Then I started moving money between accounts."
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Luca continued.
"Elliot found out."
"He offered to make the debt disappear if I helped him acquire the property."
Matteo's jaw tightened.
"And when you hesitated?"
Luca began shaking.
"He showed me pictures of Nadia."
Evelyn pressed a hand against her heart.
"He said the people behind the loans could reach her whenever they wanted."
Luca looked at Matteo.
"I believed him."
Matteo's voice was low.
"You should have come to me."
Luca laughed bitterly.
"And what would you have done?"
Nobody answered.
Luca stared at his brother.
"You would have sent men to frighten him."
"And then his people would have frightened mine."
He shook his head.
"I wanted it to end without anybody getting hurt."
Evelyn began crying harder.
Luca looked at her.
"But I hurt the person who loved me most."
He bowed his head.
"Mom, I took advantage of you."
"I knew you would sign because you loved Nadia."
His voice cracked.
"And I let you believe your own son wanted you gone."
Evelyn slowly knelt beside him.
Her knees protested.
I moved forward to help, but she gently waved me back.
She cupped Luca's face.
"Look at me."
He obeyed.
"I love you."
Tears rolled down his cheeks.
"But loving you doesn't mean what you did was right."
Luca sobbed.
"I know."
She touched his forehead.
"You must tell the truth now."
He shook his head.
"I could go to prison."
Evelyn's own tears fell onto his hands.
"I know."
Then she said something I would never forget.
"I'd rather visit an honest son in prison than live in a beautiful house paid for by his lies."
Luca stared at her.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Then he nodded.
"I'll tell them everything."
Matteo stepped forward.
"Everything?"
Luca looked up.
"Yes."
Then he reached into his jacket.
He removed a small black flash drive.
"Elliot thought I destroyed the records."
Gabriel stared.
"What records?"
Luca held out the drive.
"The payments."
"The contracts."
"The messages."
He looked directly at Matteo.
"And the transactions routed through your company."
Matteo didn't move.
Luca's voice became painfully quiet.
"Brother, if I tell the truth, some of it is going to hurt you too."
Matteo looked at his mother.
May you like
Then he reached for the drive.
"Then tell it anyway."
