Chapter 5 - THE VAULT OF SECRETS
David’s smirk was visible even through the swirling snow and the glare of the headlights. He stood by the wrought-iron gates of Matteo’s estate, exuding the arrogant confidence of a man who believed he owned the world—and me.
Matteo didn't shout. He didn't panic. He simply reached into his jacket, pulled out a sleek black radio, and pressed a button.
“Lock down the perimeter. No one engages unless they breach the gate. If they touch the iron, drop them.”
Matteo turned away from the window, his eyes blazing with a cold, lethal fire. He looked at me, still trembling with the phone in my hand. He gently took the device from my fingers and brought it to his ear.
“Lawson,” Matteo said, his voice dropping to a silken, deadly whisper. “If you value the oxygen currently filling your lungs, you will turn those cars around.”
I couldn't hear David’s response, but I watched Matteo’s jaw clench tight enough to snap bone.
“She has nothing that belongs to you,” Matteo said. A pause. “If you cross my gate, Boston will be mourning a real estate developer by sunrise.”
Matteo ended the call and tossed the phone onto a nearby side table. He turned to me, the anger in his eyes softening slightly as he saw the pure terror gripping me.
“He won’t breach,” Matteo said, though the tension in his shoulders betrayed him. “He brought muscle to intimidate, not to start a war. A full assault on my home would bring the Five Families down on him.”
“He said I took something,” I stammered, my voice cracking. “Matteo, I swear to God, I took nothing. I packed two pairs of jeans, some sweaters, and a coat. I didn't steal a dime from him!”
“I know.” Matteo stepped closer, his presence a heavy, grounding anchor in the chaos spinning around me. “But men like David do not mobilize this quickly for a broken heart. He believes you possess something that can destroy him.”
I shook my head frantically. “Then let me search my things. My suitcase is still in my room.”
“Go,” Matteo instructed. “Tear it apart. I need to make some calls.”
I ran down the hall to the guest suite they had assigned me. I dragged my battered blue suitcase out from under the bed, unzipped it, and dumped the meager contents onto the mattress. I shook out every sweater, checked the pockets of my jeans, unrolled my socks. Nothing. Just cheap fabric and the lingering smell of the detergent from the laundromat in Queens.
I ran my hands along the inner lining of the suitcase. It was a cheap, secondhand bag I had bought at a thrift store years ago. As my fingers pressed against the bottom corner, I felt a slight tear in the fabric. I dug my nail in and pulled.
The thin nylon ripped open, revealing a hidden compartment between the fabric and the hard plastic shell.
My breath hitched. I reached inside and pulled out a small, black, encrypted USB flash drive.
I stared at it, horrified. I hadn't put this here. The only time I had left my suitcase unattended in Boston was the night I packed it. David had caught me. We had fought—the fight where he put his hands around my neck. When I woke up on the floor hours later, he was gone, and I grabbed the bag and ran.
He must have hidden it in my bag during the fight, using my escape to smuggle it out of his own house, knowing his bosses were coming to search his place.
I clutched the drive and sprinted back toward Matteo’s office. I had to show him. I had to prove I was innocent.
As I approached the open door of the office, I heard a voice. But it wasn't Matteo’s.
It was Marco.
“She’s a liability, Matteo,” Marco was saying, his tone sharp, desperate. “Give her to Lawson. He takes the girl, he leaves the territory. We avoid a war we cannot afford right now.”
I froze outside the door, my heart pounding in my ears.
“I do not trade women for peace, Marco,” Matteo’s voice was dangerously calm.
“It’s not just the woman!” Marco shot back. “It’s the boy. Lawson knows Leo survived the crash. He knows Leo saw his face that night.”
My blood ran cold. Leo saw David’s face. That’s why Leo drew him. David was the one who killed Matteo’s brother.
“Lawson isn’t just here for whatever she stole,” Marco continued, his voice lowering. “He’s here to tie up loose ends. He will kill the boy, Matteo. Unless you hand over the girl as a peace offering.”
I clamped a hand over my mouth, tears blurring my vision. Marco was right. I was the bait. And if Matteo kept protecting me, Leo would be in the crosshairs.
“I made a vow,” Matteo said softly, but with finality. “Her grandmother saved my father. The blood debt stands. No one touches Sophia. And no one touches my nephew.”
“You are sacrificing the family for a ghost from Palermo!” Marco snapped.
“The conversation is over, Marco. Get out.”
I quickly backed away, pressing myself into the shadows of the adjacent alcove just as Marco stormed out of the office. He didn't see me. He pulled out his phone, his face twisted in fury, and walked quickly down the hall.
I waited until he turned the corner before creeping back to Matteo’s doorway. I stepped inside, the flash drive clutched tightly in my hand.
Matteo was leaning against his heavy mahogany desk, his head bowed, rubbing his temples. He looked exhausted. A king crumbling under the weight of his crown.
“I found it,” I whispered.
He looked up, his eyes locking onto the small black drive in my hand.
“He hid it in my suitcase the night I left,” I explained, walking toward him and placing it on the desk. “He used me as a mule. This must be the money he was laundering. Or proof of it.”
Matteo picked up the drive, turning it over in his large hands. “This is a ledger, Sophia. If Lawson is desperate enough to siege my gates for this, it means it holds the names of the corrupt capos in Boston. It is a death warrant.”
“Then give it to him,” I said, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. “Give it to him, and let me go. I won't let you risk Leo’s life for a promise your father made twenty years ago.”
Matteo stood up, crossing the room until he was inches from me. He reached out, his thumb gently wiping a tear from my cheek. The tenderness of the gesture sent a jolt of electricity straight to my heart.
“You think I am protecting you because of a vow?” Matteo murmured, his eyes searching mine, stripped of all their usual armor. “I tracked you to New York six months ago, Sophia. I have had men watching your apartment, ensuring you were safe, since the day you arrived.”
I stared at him, stunned. “What?”
“I didn't know about Lawson. I didn't know why you ran,” Matteo confessed, his voice thick with emotion. “I only knew that when I saw a picture of Maria’s granddaughter, I felt something I hadn't felt in a very long time. I was waiting for the right moment to approach you. The night at the restaurant... that was not an accident.”
A reversal so profound it knocked the breath out of me. He hadn’t just discovered me. He had been watching over me.
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Suddenly, a deafening crash echoed from the front of the house, followed by the terrifying, unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire.
Matteo grabbed my waist, shoving me behind the heavy oak desk just as the office window exploded inward, showering the room in a rain of shattered glass.
