Chapter 11 - The Father Matteo Never Knew
Thomas Reed was supposed to be dead.
Everyone was.
Matteo almost laughed at the pattern.
Instead he raised his gun.
“Stop.”
Thomas obeyed.
Gabriel stared at him.
“You’re my uncle.”
Thomas looked at Gabriel.
“You have Elaine’s eyes.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Don’t do that.”
Thomas nodded.
“Fair.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“Are you my father?”
Thomas looked at him for a long moment.
“Yes.”
The answer landed without drama.
No thunder.
No music.
Only a sentence that rewrote thirty-eight years.
Matteo’s gun remained steady.
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Good answer.”
“I can prove it.”
“You had thirty-eight years.”
Thomas looked at Isabella.
“She asked me to disappear.”
Matteo laughed.
“Of course she did.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“I thought Lorenzo would kill him.”
“He tried,” Thomas said.
Matteo looked between them.
“So everyone left me with Lorenzo for my protection.”
No one answered.
“How did that work out?”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“It was the worst decision of my life.”
Matteo lowered the gun slightly.
“You don’t get to call it a decision like you chose the wrong restaurant.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Thomas accepted the anger.
Gabriel searched him.
No weapon.
Only a keycard.
A photograph.
Thomas handed it to Matteo.
Isabella holding baby Matteo.
Thomas beside her.
Helena in the background.
The photograph had never appeared in any Bellini archive.
Matteo looked at it once.
Then placed it on the desk.
“Why are you here?”
Thomas glanced toward Sofia.
“To stop Lorenzo.”
“Popular objective.”
“He’s coming.”
Elena tightened her hold on Sofia.
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How do you know?”
Thomas looked at the open ledger.
“Because he can’t let you leave with that.”
Matteo leaned against the desk.
“Why does he need Sofia?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“He doesn’t.”
Everyone went still.
Elena whispered, “What?”
“He needs Matteo.”
Matteo stared.
“For what?”
Thomas pointed toward the deeper vault.
“The last section only opens with a Bellini-designated heir.”
“I’m not biologically Bellini.”
“Designation isn’t biology. Lorenzo legally adopted you through a sealed instrument at birth.”
Matteo’s brow tightened.
“So?”
“The vault recognizes legal bloodline authority and biometric identity.”
“That’s absurd.”
“The system was built for people who believed law could be engineered like genetics.”
Gabriel asked, “What’s in the last section?”
Thomas looked at Matteo.
“The ownership structure.”
“Of the Continuity network?”
“Yes.”
“And Sofia?”
“She’s the fallback heir.”
Elena understood.
“If Matteo refuses to open it, they remove him, transfer legal control to Sofia, and use her credentials when she’s older.”
Thomas nodded.
“Or use an appointed guardian now.”
Celeste whispered, “Me.”
“Originally.”
She stared at the floor.
Thomas continued.
“But Elena disrupted that plan by disappearing with Sofia.”
Elena looked at David.
“You helped me.”
David nodded.
“That part was real.”
Matteo asked, “Who is the second child?”
Thomas went silent.
Elena stepped closer.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Name.”
Thomas looked at Isabella.
She knew too.
Matteo saw it.
“Say it.”
Isabella whispered, “Adrian.”
Elena’s knees nearly failed.
“Adrian Cruz?”
Thomas frowned.
“You know the name?”
Elena’s face collapsed.
“My son.”
Silence.
Matteo stared.
“You had a son?”
Elena was crying now.
“Before Sofia.”
She struggled to breathe.
“I was twenty-seven. I got pregnant while working in Europe. The clinic told me the baby died during delivery.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“No.”
Elena screamed at him.
“Don’t say no!”
Sofia began crying.
Matteo immediately took her gently from Elena.
Elena rushed toward Thomas.
“My baby died.”
“No.”
“I held an urn.”
“It wasn’t him.”
“WHERE IS HE?”
“I don’t know.”
She hit Thomas in the chest.
Again.
Again.
Matteo let her.
Thomas did not defend himself.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that!”
David pulled Elena back when she almost collapsed.
She fought him.
Then broke against his shoulder.
Matteo held Sofia.
The little girl buried her face against his neck.
“Mommy’s sad.”
“I know.”
“Can we fix it?”
Matteo stared at Elena.
“I don’t know.”
Sofia whispered, “You always say that.”
He almost smiled through the pain.
“Yes.”
Thomas walked to the ledger.
“Adrian was Subject S-2.”
Elena wiped her face.
“Why?”
“Because you were Morgan-line. The father was Vale-line.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked at David.
David shook his head.
“Not me.”
Thomas answered.
“A donor designated HV-4.”
Elena stared.
“Helena?”
“No.”
Isabella whispered, “Her son.”
Everyone turned.
Matteo frowned.
“Helena had a son?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Isabella looked toward the doorway.
Before she could answer, a gunshot echoed above.
Then another.
Thomas whispered, “Lorenzo.”
Lights went out.
Emergency red flooded the vault.
A voice came from the stairs.
Older.
Stronger than the recordings.
“Family gatherings were never your talent, Isabella.”
Lorenzo Bellini descended slowly.
This time, no screen.
No hidden camera.
May you like
Alive.
In person.
