Chapter 13 - VITTORIO'S SECRET
Matteo enjoyed watching Alessandro doubt his father.
I could see it.
That was why I stopped listening to Matteo’s words and started watching his hands.
His right hand remained near his jacket pocket.
His left rested casually against the chair.
He was waiting for something.
“Where is the ledger?”
Alessandro asked.
Matteo nodded toward a cabinet.
“Inside.”
“Open it.”
“No.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Gabriel’s voice crackled faintly through the receiver hidden in Alessandro’s collar.
Two moving upstairs.
Matteo smiled.
“You really thought Gabriel’s tunnel remained secret?”
Alessandro did not react.
I moved slightly toward the fireplace.
Matteo looked at me.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Believing Vittorio wanted justice.”
“He wanted control.”
“Thomas found evidence that could destroy the Vitali empire.”
“Vittorio could not allow that.”
“So he asked me to contain the problem.”
I stared at Alessandro.
His face revealed nothing.
“Don’t believe him.”
Matteo laughed.
“She sounds loyal already.”
“I’m not loyal to him.”
I looked back at Matteo.
“I’m loyal to evidence.”
His smile faded.
“Then look inside the cabinet.”
I opened it.
A leather-bound ledger rested on the shelf.
I removed it.
The first pages contained handwritten entries.
Payments.
Dates.
Initials.
One entry referenced Thomas Shaw.
Another referenced Patrick Carter.
Then I saw Vittorio Vitali’s initials beside several payments.
Alessandro took the ledger.
His face hardened.
“He signed them.”
Matteo nodded.
“You see?”
I looked closer.
Something bothered me.
My father had taught me bookkeeping when I was twelve.
He used to make me balance grocery receipts for fun.
I hated it then.
Now I noticed what Alessandro did not.
The ink.
Several signatures looked darker.
Newer.
More importantly, the dates were wrong.
“This is fake.”
Matteo’s eyes moved to me.
I pointed at one page.
“Vittorio supposedly authorized this transfer on March eighteenth.”
“So?”
“According to public records, he was in Zurich that week.”
“He could sign remotely.”
“This ledger records an in-person cash authorization.”
Silence.
I turned another page.
“And this entry uses the revised Vitali Holdings accounting code.”
Alessandro looked at me.
“When was the code revised?”
“After your father died.”
Matteo’s face went flat.
I smiled for the first time.
“You forged it.”
A gun appeared in his hand.
Fast.
Alessandro moved in front of me.
Matteo aimed at his nephew.
“That was your father’s weakness.”
“He surrounded himself with intelligent people.”
“And yours?”
Alessandro asked.
“You assume everybody else is stupid.”
Footsteps thundered upstairs.
Gunfire cracked.
Matteo’s attention shifted for one second.
I threw the ledger into the fireplace.
He shouted.
“No.”
He moved toward it.
Alessandro hit his arm.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
I dropped behind the sofa.
The two men fought beside the fire.
Matteo was older, but desperation made him vicious.
He grabbed a fireplace poker.
Alessandro blocked it.
A second gunshot came from the hallway.
Then Gabriel entered.
“Drop it.”
Matteo froze.
Three security officers appeared behind him.
For one glorious second, I thought it was over.
Then every light in the house died.
A window shattered.
Smoke flooded the room.
Someone grabbed me from behind.
I screamed.
A cloth covered my mouth.
May you like
The last thing I heard before darkness swallowed me was Alessandro shouting my real name.
“ELIZABETH!”
