Chapter 2 - The Rule Matteo Broke
Elena laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was screaming.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Matteo stood across from her.
“Tonight, I do.”
“I helped your daughter.”
“I know.”
“And now you’re kidnapping me?”
“I’m keeping you alive.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Matteo glanced at his men.
“Give us privacy.”
They moved toward the rear cabin.
Elena folded her arms.
“Explain.”
Matteo lowered his voice.
“Someone inside my organization arranged this flight. Someone knew Sofia’s feeding problems. Someone knew our original route.”
“And?”
“And ten minutes ago, my security team intercepted a message.”
He held out a phone.
Elena didn’t take it.
“What message?”
“Confirmation that the aircraft had departed. Passenger list included.”
Elena went cold.
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“Why would anyone care about me?”
“Because you were seated on my aircraft when their plan failed.”
“I bought a seat through a medical-charity transport program.”
“I know.”
“Then I’m nobody.”
“That may have been true three hours ago.”
Elena stared at him.
Matteo looked toward Sofia.
“Now you’re the woman who kept my daughter alive.”
“And that makes me important?”
“It makes you leverage.”
Elena’s anger disappeared.
That frightened her more.
“Who would hurt a stranger over you?”
Matteo’s expression contained the answer.
People who had done worse.
Elena stepped backward.
“I want the police.”
“No.”
“Then you are kidnapping me.”
“If I wanted to imprison you, Elena, we wouldn’t be having this argument.”
“You know my first name.”
“I know every passenger on my aircraft.”
“Where are we landing?”
“Croatia.”
Her eyes widened.
“You changed countries?”
“I changed survival plans.”
Sofia began fussing.
Both of them immediately looked toward her.
The baby started crying.
Matteo picked up the bottle.
She refused it again.
He closed his eyes.
“Elena.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“You have no idea what you’re asking.”
Matteo was silent.
Elena’s voice shook.
“My sons died three months ago.”
His face changed.
“They were eleven months old.”
“Elena—”
“I packed their clothes away myself. I stopped walking past playgrounds. I moved because the apartment upstairs had a baby who cried every night.”
She pointed at Sofia.
“And now you expect me to become what? Her substitute mother?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“A person helping a child.”
“For how long?”
Matteo had no answer.
Elena laughed bitterly.
“Exactly.”
Sofia cried louder.
Elena turned away.
Then came that weaker sound again.
She closed her eyes.
“Damn you.”
Matteo said nothing.
“Give her to me.”
He did.
An hour later, the jet landed at a private airfield on the Croatian coast.
Two black SUVs waited.
Elena stepped onto the stairs with Sofia asleep against Matteo’s shoulder.
“I want my phone.”
Matteo nodded to a guard.
The man handed it over.
Elena checked it.
No signal.
“You’re kidding.”
“Security jammer.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“So I’m frequently told.”
They entered the SUV.
Forty minutes later, iron gates opened around a villa overlooking the Adriatic.
Elena stared at the guards posted outside.
“This is your idea of keeping me safe?”
“It has walls.”
“Prisons have walls.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Prisons don’t have ocean views.”
“That’s your defense?”
“No. That was a bad joke.”
Elena stared at him.
“You make jokes?”
“Rarely.”
“Keep it that way.”
For the first time, Matteo smiled.
It vanished quickly.
Inside, a pediatrician examined Sofia.
Elena waited outside the bedroom.
Ten minutes later, the doctor emerged.
“She’s dehydrated, but stable.”
Matteo exhaled.
“Anything else?”
“She needs consistent feeding. We can introduce another bottle gradually, but after the stress she’s experienced, forcing it may make things worse.”
Matteo looked at Elena.
She immediately said, “No.”
The doctor glanced between them.
Matteo said, “Thank you, Doctor.”
After he left, Elena faced Matteo.
“Find a wet nurse.”
“I’m trying.”
“Try harder.”
“I have people searching.”
“Then I leave when you find one.”
“Yes.”
Elena studied him.
“That sounded too easy.”
Matteo’s phone rang.
He answered.
“What?”
His face slowly changed.
“When?”
Silence.
“Who else knows?”
Another pause.
“Lock the property.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
Matteo lowered the phone.
“The safe house in Rome was attacked.”
Elena stared at him.
“The place you were supposed to take Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“How many people?”
“Six dead.”
She stepped backward.
“If we had landed there—”
“We would have driven directly into it.”
“And me?”
Matteo’s expression hardened.
“You would have been with us.”
A guard rushed inside.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found the leak.”
Matteo turned.
“Who?”
The guard hesitated.
May you like
“Your brother.”
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