Chapter 4 - The Man at the Piano
Victor disappeared before Matteo's men reached Philadelphia.
Someone had warned him.
Which meant the betrayal went deeper.
Matteo stopped trusting almost everyone.
Except Lena.
That terrified him.
One night, she found him in the music room.
He sat at an old black piano.
His sleeves were rolled up, tattoos visible beneath the warm lamplight.
He wasn't playing.
“You know how?” Lena asked.
“My mother taught me.”
“Play something.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“She died.”
Lena leaned against the piano.
“That doesn't make the keys stop working.”
Matteo looked up.
“You're unusually irritating.”
“I've been told.”
After several seconds, he placed his hands on the keys.
A quiet melody filled the room.
Lena sat beside him.
Then a window shattered.
Matteo moved instantly.
He pulled Lena down behind the piano.
“Stay down.”
Men shouted outside.
Gabriel entered moments later.
“Car at the eastern gate. Gone already.”
Something had been thrown through the window.
Not a weapon.
A photograph.
Matteo picked it up.
It showed Lena leaving her apartment.
Written across the back:
SEND HER HOME.
Lena went pale.
Matteo's jaw tightened.
“He's using me against you.”
“Yes.”
“Then I'll leave.”
“No.”
“Matteo—”
“No.”
His voice echoed through the room.
Lena stared at him.
Matteo lowered his voice.
“Victor betrayed me because he believed loyalty was something that could be purchased.”
He looked at the photograph.
“You proved him wrong for no reason except conscience.”
His eyes returned to hers.
“I won't reward that by feeding you to him.”
Lena's throat tightened.
“Then what happens?”
Matteo turned toward Gabriel.
May you like
“We stop waiting.”
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