Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Red Coat
Lucia Bellomo appeared at noon.
No warning.
No security escort.
No dramatic entrance.
She simply walked through the front gate of Mateo's townhouse wearing a red wool coat and carrying a grocery bag full of oranges.
She was eighty-one years old.
And Mateo's security team looked humiliated.
"She used the service entrance," one guard explained.
Mateo stared at him.
"Fire him."
Lucia waved dismissively.
"Don't. Your cameras are placed badly."
Salvatore stopped breathing when she entered the library.
For one extraordinary second, both of them looked young.
Then Lucia slapped him.
Hard.
Tessa jumped.
Salvatore did not.
"I deserved that."
"You deserved it forty years ago."
Lucia's accent was softer than Salvatore's, but the Sicilian rhythm remained.
Tessa stared at her.
Lucia looked back.
Then her eyes filled with tears.
"You have Rosalia's eyes."
Tessa felt something fracture inside her.
"You were her sister."
"Yes."
"Why didn't she tell us?"
Lucia set down the oranges.
"Because I asked her not to."
"Why?"
"Because I was ashamed."
Mateo closed the door.
"No more partial stories."
Lucia looked at him.
"You are Paolo's boy."
"Mateo."
"I know your name. I wanted to see if you corrected elders."
Salvatore muttered, "She has not improved."
Lucia ignored him.
Then she sat beside Tessa.
"In 1971, Carlo Vitiello was twenty-five. Charming. Handsome. Hungry."
Salvatore looked at the floor.
"I loved him."
Tessa understood.
"You were together."
Lucia nodded.
"Rosalia hated him immediately."
"Why?"
"Your great-grandmother had excellent instincts."
Salvatore almost smiled.
Lucia continued.
"Carlo discovered a way to move family money through construction companies without anyone noticing. At first, thousands. Then hundreds of thousands. Antonio found the records."
"And Carlo killed him?"
Lucia's hands trembled.
"He ordered it."
Salvatore looked away.
Tessa's anger rose.
"You knew?"
"Not until afterward."
"Did Salvatore know?"
Lucia looked at him.
"Ask him."
Tessa did.
Salvatore took a long breath.
"I suspected."
"That's not an answer."
"I suspected Carlo. I had no proof."
"So what did you do?"
"Nothing."
The word fell heavily.
Tessa stared at him.
Rosalia's letter echoed in her mind.
Good men lie when shame is stronger than courage.
"Nothing?"
Salvatore's voice cracked.
"I told myself accusing my brother without proof would destroy the family."
"And instead?"
"It destroyed Antonio."
Nobody spoke.
Mateo looked at his father with an expression Tessa had never seen.
Disappointment.
Not anger.
That was worse.
Lucia opened her purse and removed a folded map.
"I took the ledger from box 317 yesterday."
Mateo stepped forward.
"Where is it?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
Lucia smiled.
"Your grandfather used that voice too. It didn't work on me then."
Tessa almost liked her.
Almost.
Lucia pointed to the map.
"Rosalia and I agreed long ago that if either of us retrieved Antonio's records, the ledger would remain hidden until both bloodlines were represented."
"What bloodlines?"
"Bellomo and Vitiello."
Lucia looked at Tessa.
"You."
Then Mateo.
"And you."
Tessa laughed in disbelief.
"No."
Mateo glanced at her.
"Agreed."
Lucia ignored them.
"The ledger is encrypted."
"It's a handwritten book," Salvatore said.
"Antonio wasn't stupid."
Lucia looked at Tessa.
"Without Rosalia's number sequence, the pages are meaningless."
Tessa slowly pulled the numbers from her pocket.
Lucia smiled.
"Good."
Mateo's patience disappeared.
"Where is the ledger?"
"In a private archive beneath Saint Gabriel's Church."
Salvatore froze.
"Carlo knows that church."
"Of course he does."
"Then we move now."
Lucia shook her head.
"Too late."
Everyone went still.
"What do you mean?" Mateo asked.
"I was followed."
Mateo's entire body changed.
He touched his earpiece.
"Lock down the block."
Security moved.
Lucia sat calmly.
Tessa stared.
"You came here knowing someone followed you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because now we know exactly which people in Mateo's organization report to Carlo."
Mateo turned.
"Explain."
Lucia removed a tiny tracking device from beneath her collar and placed it on the desk.
"I found this under my car after leaving the bank."
Mateo's face darkened.
"I changed cars three times. The same black sedan followed all three."
"Why bring them here?"
"Because ordinary surveillance would've waited outside."
She smiled thinly.
"Carlo's people will try to enter."
A security alarm sounded downstairs.
Mateo closed his eyes.
"Unbelievable."
Then shouting erupted.
Not gunfire.
Men yelling.
Furniture crashing.
Mateo pushed Tessa behind the desk.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Tessa."
"I am done being placed behind furniture."
"This is not the time."
Lucia reached inside her grocery bag and pulled out a small pistol.
Tessa stared.
Lucia shrugged.
"The oranges are for later."
Salvatore looked almost proud.
Mateo muttered something that sounded like a prayer.
A guard entered.
"We have him."
"Who?"
"Victor."
Mateo's expression turned blank.
Tessa had seen Victor before.
He was one of the men who always accompanied Mateo to Leto.
One of his closest guards.
They brought him into the library with his hands restrained.
Victor looked at Mateo.
"I'm sorry."
Mateo approached him.
"How long?"
Victor said nothing.
"How long have you worked for Carlo?"
"Five years."
Salvatore swore.
Mateo's voice remained quiet.
"Why?"
"My brother owes him."
"Your brother died three years ago."
Victor looked down.
Mateo understood.
"Carlo lied to you."
Victor's face broke.
"He said—"
"I know what he said."
Tessa expected violence.
Everyone did.
Mateo stepped backward.
"Get him out."
Salvatore frowned.
"That's it?"
"No."
Mateo looked at Victor.
"He's going to help us."
Victor lifted his head.
"Why would I?"
"Because Carlo just spent five years using your dead brother to own you."
Something changed in Victor's eyes.
Mateo saw it.
"So tell me where Carlo is."
Victor hesitated.
Then whispered an address.
Salvatore knew it immediately.
"The old dry dock."
Mateo turned toward the door.
Tessa caught his sleeve.
"You're going there."
"Yes."
"I'm coming."
"No."
"You need the number sequence."
"Lucia can give it to me."
Lucia shook her head.
"I don't know the final number."
Tessa looked at Mateo.
He looked like he wanted to argue with the universe.
Instead, he came closer.
"If you come, you stay beside me."
"No cages."
"No."
"No ordering me into rooms."
He hesitated.
"Unless bullets are involved."
"Mateo."
"That one isn't negotiable."
Despite herself, Tessa smiled.
His expression softened.
Then the townhouse windows shook.
An explosion sounded somewhere outside.
Everyone ducked.
Security shouted.
Mateo grabbed Tessa.
A second later, smoke rolled past the front windows.
One of the SUVs at the curb was burning.
And across the street, a man in a dark coat stood watching.
Salvatore stepped toward the window.
His face went white.
"Carlo."
Tessa stared through the glass.
The man smiled.
Then raised two fingers in a mocking salute.
Mateo reached for the door.
By the time security reached the street, Carlo Vitiello was gone.
But on the sidewalk where he'd stood, he'd left an envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Tessa's mother.
Taken that morning.
May you like
Across the bottom, someone had written:
Bring me Rosalia's code before sunset. Or she disappears next.
