Chapter 6 - The Price of Being Invisible
Tessa's mother was gone before Mateo's men reached her.
The front door stood open.
A cup of tea remained warm on the kitchen table.
Her purse was there.
Her phone was there.
No blood.
No struggle.
Just absence.
Tessa stood in the doorway and felt the world narrow to a single point.
"My fault."
Mateo turned.
"No."
"They came because of me."
"They came because Carlo wants the ledger."
"Which only opened because I—"
"Tessa."
His voice stopped her.
Mateo stepped directly in front of her.
"This is Carlo's decision. Not yours."
She stared at him.
"I want my mother back."
"You'll get her back."
"Don't promise things you can't guarantee."
His jaw tightened.
"Fair."
She appreciated that answer more than a lie.
Salvatore remained outside, speaking rapidly to his people.
Lucia sat at the kitchen table holding Tessa's mother's abandoned teacup as though grief required something physical.
Mateo's phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone went silent.
He answered on speaker.
Carlo's voice was warm.
Almost charming.
"Hello, nephew."
Mateo looked toward Salvatore.
"Where is she?"
"A terrible way to greet family."
"Where is Linda Hayes?"
Tessa stepped closer.
Carlo chuckled.
"So Rosalia's little girl is there."
Tessa's stomach turned.
"I'm twenty-four."
"To men my age, everyone is a child."
"Let me speak to my mother."
A pause.
Then another voice came through.
"Tess?"
"Mom!"
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
Tessa pressed both hands against the counter.
"Are you hurt?"
"No. Sweetheart, don't give them—"
The line muffled.
Then Carlo returned.
"Your mother is surprisingly rude."
"Runs in the family," Tessa said.
Mateo looked at her.
Carlo laughed.
"Rosalia would like you."
"She did."
"I liked her once too."
"Then you shouldn't have terrified her into hiding for fifty years."
Silence.
For the first time, Carlo sounded less amused.
"Bring the code to Saint Gabriel's at six."
Mateo shook his head at Tessa.
Carlo continued.
"Tessa comes alone."
"No," Mateo said.
Carlo laughed.
"The young prince speaks."
"She's not coming alone."
"Then Linda dies."
The line went dead.
Tessa turned.
"I'm going."
Mateo answered immediately.
"No."
"You heard him."
"Yes."
"He has my mother."
"And he wants you."
"No, he wants the code."
"Same thing."
Tessa stepped closer.
"This isn't your decision."
His expression sharpened.
"That's exactly what Rosalia wrote, isn't it?"
He hated the argument.
She saw that.
"Protect my choices."
Mateo looked away.
Salvatore entered.
"He's right."
Tessa stared.
Salvatore continued.
"But so are you."
"Helpful."
"We let you go."
Mateo turned.
"Papà."
"We make Carlo believe she's alone."
"No."
"Then we lose Linda."
Mateo's fists clenched.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Finally he looked at Tessa.
"If you do this, you wear a transmitter."
"Fine."
"Tracker."
"Fine."
"You follow my instructions if something changes."
"If they're reasonable."
His stare could have cracked marble.
Tessa held it.
He exhaled.
"You're impossible."
"Apparently it's hereditary."
Salvatore laughed once.
At five forty-five, Tessa stood outside Saint Gabriel's Church.
Rain had begun.
She wore a long dark coat with a transmitter hidden beneath the collar.
The code sequence was written on paper in her pocket.
The real final number remained in her head.
Mateo and his men were positioned two blocks away.
Lucia had gone to retrieve the ledger from the church archive through a separate entrance.
Tessa walked inside.
The church was empty.
Candles flickered near the altar.
Carlo sat in the third pew.
He was in his seventies, silver-haired and elegant.
He looked disturbingly ordinary.
"Rosalia's girl."
"Where's my mother?"
"Close."
"That isn't an answer."
Carlo smiled.
"You have Salvatore's irritating courage."
"I'd rather have Rosalia's."
The smile vanished.
"Give me the code."
"Show me my mother."
Carlo nodded toward a side door.
A man opened it.
Tessa saw Linda seated inside a small office.
Her hands were bound.
She looked frightened but unhurt.
"Tess, don't—"
The door closed.
Tessa faced Carlo.
"The code."
"First the ledger."
He laughed.
"You negotiate like a Vitiello."
"Please don't insult me."
Somewhere in her earpiece, Mateo muttered, "Tessa."
She almost smiled.
Carlo rose.
"You think Mateo will save you?"
"No."
That surprised him.
"I think he'll respect what I decide."
Carlo studied her.
"Then he's weaker than his father."
"Maybe he's stronger."
His eyes hardened.
For the first time, Tessa saw what had been hidden beneath charm.
Control.
He needed people smaller than him.
Dependent on him.
Afraid of him.
Rosalia must have recognized it fifty years ago.
Tessa did now.
Carlo held out his hand.
"The code."
Tessa removed the paper.
He snatched it.
Three-eleven.
Six-twenty-one.
Nine-four.
He frowned.
"This is incomplete."
"That's what Grandma left."
"You're lying."
"Runs in the family."
Carlo's expression changed.
He grabbed her wrist.
Immediately Mateo's voice filled her earpiece.
"Move."
Tessa twisted the way Mateo's security chief had taught her in the car.
Carlo lost his grip.
Then the church doors opened.
Mateo entered.
Alone.
At least visibly.
Carlo laughed.
"You always did have a weakness for damaged things."
Mateo stopped.
Tessa saw the change in him.
Cold fury.
But his voice stayed level.
"She's not damaged."
"No?"
Carlo gestured around.
"A waitress in borrowed clothes, dragging a dead woman's secret behind her."
Mateo looked only at Tessa.
"You okay?"
She nodded.
That was all he needed.
Carlo seemed irritated that Mateo's attention had left him.
"I have Linda."
"And I have your financial archive," Mateo said.
Carlo's smile disappeared.
"You're bluffing."
Mateo held up a phone.
On screen were photographs.
Ledgers.
Account transfers.
Corporate names.
Dates.
Carlo took one step forward.
"What did you do?"
Mateo smiled without warmth.
"You spent fifty years hiding behind companies."
He lowered the phone.
"We found them."
Carlo's face transformed.
"You don't understand what you're destroying."
"My inheritance?"
"Your future."
Mateo looked at Tessa.
"Maybe I wanted a different one."
For the first time, Tessa's heart forgot fear.
Then a gunshot cracked from the side corridor.
Mateo shoved Tessa behind a stone pillar.
Someone screamed.
Carlo ran.
Security flooded through the rear entrances.
Tessa heard Mateo shouting orders.
She heard her mother crying.
She ran toward the office.
Linda was there.
Alive.
Tessa threw her arms around her.
Then another sound came from the nave.
A body hitting stone.
Tessa turned.
Mateo stood near the altar.
Blood spreading across his white shirt.
He looked down at it.
May you like
Then at her.
And collapsed.
