Chapter 8 - The Traitor Beside Roman
Matteo Moretti disappeared before federal agents could question him.
That was not encouraging.
Roman became quieter.
Not angrier.
Quieter.
I learned quickly that his silence was more dangerous than shouting.
Matteo had grown up with him.
Their fathers were brothers.
They attended the same schools.
Worked the docks together as teenagers.
When Roman took control of Moretti Maritime after Vincent’s death, Matteo stood beside him.
Now twenty-seven containers filled with illegally imported pharmaceuticals had appeared inside a Moretti-controlled terminal.
Digital records showed Matteo authorizing them.
Roman refused to believe it at first.
Then Sofia found payments.
Kensington Holdings.
Three million dollars over four years.
Roman stared at the screen.
“He sold me for three million?”
I understood the question.
Not the money.
The number.
How could a lifetime become a price?
“We don’t know the whole story.”
He looked at me.
“You sound like Sofia.”
“That’s probably healthy.”
For twenty-four hours Roman’s organization searched quietly.
Matteo finally called me.
Not Roman.
Me.
Unknown number.
“Eleanor DuPont?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t hang up.”
I recognized his voice from meetings.
“Matteo.”
Silence.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Roman thinks you betrayed him.”
“I did.”
The honesty stopped me.
“Why?”
“Preston has my brother.”
I stood.
“What?”
Matteo’s younger brother Luca had struggled with addiction for years.
We believed he was in treatment.
“He took him six months ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell Roman?”
“Because Preston sent me a video.”
His voice cracked.
“He said if Roman knew, Luca disappeared.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did Preston make you do?”
“Move containers. Copy records. Give him schedules.”
“The warehouse fire?”
“No.”
“Following Chloe?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Luca?”
“I think Rhode Island.”
“Think?”
“I heard something during a call. A ferry horn. Someone mentioned Jamestown.”
I began writing.
“Why call me?”
“Because Roman will come after me.”
“He won’t if you explain.”
“You don’t understand the old rules.”
“Then explain them.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
“Betrayal is betrayal.”
“I don’t believe Roman is his father.”
Silence.
Then Matteo said:
“That’s why I called you.”
The line went dead.
I immediately found Roman.
He listened.
No reaction.
Then:
“Matteo betrayed me.”
“His brother was threatened.”
“He still betrayed me.”
“What would you have done?”
His eyes hardened.
“Come to me.”
“He thought that would kill Luca.”
“So instead he risked hundreds of employees.”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“He made the wrong choice because he was terrified.”
Roman looked away.
“Fear doesn’t excuse everything.”
“No.”
I thought of Dad.
“It explains some things.”
Roman knew what I meant.
We used Matteo’s clues.
Jamestown.
Private property.
Ferry routes.
Sofia found a Kensington-owned shell company controlling an abandoned estate near the Rhode Island coast.
Roman wanted to send men.
I stopped him.
“If Preston has surveillance, they’ll see you.”
“He already knows I’m looking.”
“Exactly.”
“What do you suggest?”
I smiled.
“Give him something more interesting to watch.”
The next morning I announced a press conference.
Every news outlet came.
I stood outside DuPont Atlantic headquarters.
“Northstar Terminal will reopen under full federal compliance review,” I said. “DuPont Atlantic and Moretti Maritime will suspend their partnership until all allegations are resolved.”
Reporters exploded with questions.
Roman was supposedly furious.
That was the story.
By afternoon, gossip sites reported we had fought.
By evening, photographs appeared of Roman leaving a restaurant with another woman.
Sofia.
From an angle designed to look intimate.
I sent the photo to Chloe.
She replied:
Honestly you could have chosen someone less gorgeous.
I laughed.
Preston took the bait.
His surveillance shifted toward Roman.
Meanwhile, I drove to Rhode Island with two former federal investigators Sofia trusted.
No Roman.
That was deliberate.
We found the estate.
Private road.
Security cameras.
A vehicle registered to Kensington Security.
Enough for authorities.
Police obtained an emergency warrant after Matteo sent one final piece of evidence: a photo of Luca tied to a chair.
They raided the house.
Luca was alive.
So was Matteo.
He had gone there voluntarily to trade himself for his brother.
Preston’s men fled.
Two were arrested.
One talked.
The warehouse fire had been ordered by Preston.
So had the threat to Chloe.
Preston himself had approved both.
Roman arrived at the hospital after Luca was stabilized.
Matteo stood when he entered.
Nobody else moved.
“I’m sorry,” Matteo said.
Roman stared at him.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“You brought contraband through my company.”
“I know.”
“You gave them our systems.”
“Yes.”
Roman stepped closer.
I held my breath.
Then Roman hugged him.
Matteo broke.
Actually broke.
His knees nearly gave out.
“I thought you’d kill me.”
Roman pulled back.
“That is exactly why our fathers ruined everything.”
Matteo stared.
Roman continued.
“If loyalty exists only because people fear death, it isn’t loyalty.”
I felt something in my chest move.
Roman looked toward me.
He knew I had heard.
Later, outside the hospital, I said, “Your mother would be proud.”
“My mother thinks I’m a disappointment.”
“Then your father?”
He looked toward the city lights.
“I don’t know.”
I touched his hand.
The first time I initiated contact.
Roman went completely still.
I almost pulled away.
He turned his palm beneath mine.
Our fingers touched.
Nothing dramatic.
No kiss.
Yet my heart raced harder than it had at my wedding.
Then my phone rang.
Preston.
I answered.
His voice was calm.
“You embarrassed me.”
“You’re becoming repetitive.”
“You think this ends because you found Luca?”
“I think it ends when you’re in prison.”
A pause.
Then:
“You should check on your father.”
My blood froze.
I called Dad.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Roman was already dialing security.
A guard answered.
His voice frantic.
They had found my father’s car.
Driver’s door open.
Blood on the pavement.
May you like
Robert DuPont was gone.
And Preston had just changed the game again.
