Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Inside the Vitali Family
“I don’t have a key.”
We reached the hidden house before sunrise.
It was a modest brick home near Lake Forest, nothing like Alessandro’s penthouse.
Inside, everything smelled untouched.
Dust.
Old wood.
Closed rooms.
I stared at the living room.
“My father knew this place?”
“Yes,” Alessandro said.
“Then why didn’t he bring me here?”
“He never got the chance.”
I turned away.
Liam sat silently at the kitchen table, guilt still written across his face.
Marco spread copies of my father’s files across the counter.
“Thomas’s note says Elizabeth has the key.”
“I don’t.”
Alessandro studied me.
“Think.”
“I’ve been thinking for four years.”
“Did your father give you anything before he died?”
“No.”
“Jewelry?”
“No.”
“Documents?”
“No.”
“Anything he told you never to lose?”
I stopped.
Liam looked at me.
“What?”
I reached beneath my shirt.
A thin silver chain hung around my neck.
At the end was a tiny brass key.
Alessandro stared at it.
“That?”
“My father gave it to me when I turned eighteen.”
“What does it open?”
“I always thought his desk.”
Marco shook his head.
“Too small.”
Then Liam whispered, “The train station.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Your dad used to take us downtown every Christmas. Remember? Union Station.”
A memory surfaced.
My father kneeling beside me.
If you ever get lost, Ellie, go where everybody is going somewhere.
My heart jumped.
“Union Station.”
Alessandro was already reaching for his phone.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I’m coming.”
“Absolutely not.”
“It’s my father’s key.”
“And Sloane is searching for it.”
“Exactly.”
“I can retrieve whatever it opens.”
“You wouldn’t know where to look.”
His jaw tightened.
I stepped closer.
“You want me to trust you?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop treating me like cargo.”
Silence.
Finally Alessandro nodded.
“Fine.”
At 7:20 a.m., we entered Union Station.
The brass key opened an old private locker.
Inside was a cheap paperback crime novel.
Nothing else.
I stared.
“You’re kidding.”
Alessandro picked it up.
“The Maltese Falcon.”
I almost laughed.
“He loved this book.”
“So did my father.”
I looked at him.
Alessandro opened the cover.
The center pages had been carefully hollowed out.
Inside sat a flash drive.
Marco whispered, “Got it.”
Back at the house, the drive revealed everything.
Sloane’s accounts.
Names.
Payments.
And Matteo Vitali.
Alessandro stared at his cousin’s name.
Marco cursed quietly.
“He sold Antonio out.”
“And my father?” I asked.
Marco looked away.
“Say it.”
Alessandro answered.
“Matteo gave Sloane your father’s route the night your parents died.”
My knees weakened.
Alessandro caught my arm.
I pulled free.
“Don’t.”
“Elizabeth.”
“I said don’t.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Alessandro said, “Don’t answer.”
I did.
“Hello?”
Victor Sloane’s voice came through.
“Elizabeth Mercer.”
I hadn’t heard it before.
But I knew.
“Victor.”
Alessandro’s eyes sharpened.
Sloane laughed.
“So the dead girl finally found her courage.”
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“No.”
“Then perhaps I should explain what happens next.”
Alessandro held out his hand.
I put the phone on speaker instead.
Sloane continued.
“Give Alessandro the drive, and he’ll do exactly what his father did.”
“What’s that?”
“Protect the Vitali name.”
Alessandro said, “Hello, Victor.”
Silence.
Then Sloane chuckled.
“Alessandro.”
“You made a mistake.”
“I’ve made several.”
“The latest was calling her.”
“No. The latest was letting your cousin believe he’d ever become head of your family.”
Alessandro’s expression changed.
A sound came from the hallway.
Marco turned.
Too late.
Matteo stepped into the kitchen.
He wasn’t carrying a weapon.
He didn’t need one.
Two of Alessandro’s own security men stood behind him.
Matteo smiled.
“Morning, cousin.”
Alessandro slowly positioned himself between Matteo and me.
“Marco.”
Marco remained beside us.
Matteo sighed.
“You always did inspire loyalty.”
Alessandro’s voice was ice.
“You betrayed my father.”
“Our family was dying under his rules.”
“You murdered hers.”
Matteo looked at me.
“Collateral damage.”
Alessandro moved.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
Matteo smiled wider.
“Listen to your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Alessandro said.
For some ridiculous reason, that stung.
Then he finished.
“She’s the mother of my child.”
Matteo’s smile vanished.
May you like
And I knew immediately that Alessandro had just given him the most dangerous information in the room.
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