Chapter 7 - THE UNCLE WHO CAME BACK
Matteo Costa.
Gabriel had spent twenty years believing his uncle was dead.
His father had told him Matteo disappeared after betraying the family.
No funeral.
No body.
Just an empty room and a warning never to speak his name again.
Now there he was.
Alive.
Older.
Standing beside Bianca.
Gabriel took the photograph from Daniel.
“Where did you get this?”
“From Norah.”
Gabriel looked at his wife.
She nodded.
“I followed the money.”
“You knew about Matteo?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know if he was the one.”
Daniel interrupted.
“He is.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because Matteo came to see me.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Gabriel's pulse accelerated.
“What did he want?”
“To know where your father hid the ledger.”
Gabriel looked at Norah.
She held the newborn closer.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Then how did he find you?”
Norah's expression changed.
“He didn't.”
Gabriel understood.
“Bianca.”
Norah nodded.
“She brought him to me.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
He had spent the previous night with Bianca.
The humiliation was almost unbearable.
But beneath it was something worse.
Fear.
“How much does she know?”
“Enough.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Matteo isn't interested in the ledger because of money.”
“Then what?”
“Because it proves your grandfather's crimes.”
Gabriel frowned.
“My grandfather is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Matteo wants the ledger because he intends to use it to destroy your family name and take control of everything your father built.”
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you understand Matteo.”
Daniel explained.
Matteo had spent years believing Richard had stolen his inheritance.
He believed their father had favored Richard.
When Richard turned against the family's criminal operations, Matteo saw an opportunity.
He began working with Victor.
Then Bianca.
The plan was simple.
Get close to Norah.
Recover the ledger.
Use the evidence to blackmail the Costa organization.
And make Gabriel dependent on people who could control him.
Gabriel sat down.
“So Bianca was never my mistress.”
Norah's eyes hardened.
“She was both.”
The sentence was quiet.
Brutal.
Gabriel nodded.
“I deserve that.”
Norah didn't answer.
Daniel looked toward the sleeping babies.
“There's one more problem.”
“What?”
“Matteo knows about the twins.”
Gabriel stood.
“How?”
“Because someone gave him the birth information.”
Norah looked at him.
“And I know who.”
Gabriel waited.
“Your housekeeper.”
Gabriel's eyes widened.
“Maria?”
“She wasn't working for Matteo willingly,” Norah said.
“She had a son in debt to him.”
Gabriel felt his anger collapse.
Another betrayal.
Another person trapped by the same system.
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Why?”
“Because Norah found her first.”
Gabriel looked at his wife.
Norah had spent months uncovering his family's secrets while he was too blind to see what was happening in his own home.
He wanted to apologize.
But the word felt useless.
Instead, he said:
“Thank you.”
Norah looked surprised.
“For what?”
“For keeping them safe.”
Her eyes softened for half a second.
Then the softness disappeared.
“I didn't do it for you.”
“I know.”
A baby stirred.
Norah gently rocked him.
Gabriel watched.
The tiny hand curled around her finger.
His son.
His daughter.
He had missed their birth.
He would never get that moment back.
Daniel noticed his expression.
“You can't repair that night.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“But you can decide what happens next.”
Gabriel nodded.
He turned to Luca.
“Find Matteo.”
Luca shook his head.
“No.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly what he wants.”
Daniel nodded.
“He wants you angry.”
“Then what do we do?”
Norah reached into her coat.
She removed the gold necklace.
The pendant had a tiny hinge.
She opened it.
Inside was a miniature photograph of her mother.
But behind the photograph was another piece of paper.
Gabriel read it.
THE LEDGER WAS NEVER PAPER.
He looked at Daniel.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“Your father changed it.”
“Into what?”
Norah closed the pendant.
“A painting.”
Gabriel stared.
His mind jumped immediately to Norah's profession.
Art restoration.
She had spent years restoring old paintings.
One particular painting hung in the Costa estate.
His grandfather's portrait.
Gabriel suddenly understood.
“Norah.”
She nodded.
“The portrait.”
Luca looked at Gabriel.
“It's been in the dining room for thirty years.”
Gabriel's pulse raced.
“Then we go home.”
They returned to the estate before midnight.
The mansion was still damaged from the search.
The nursery remained untouched.
Gabriel walked past the bassinets.
He stopped.
One tiny white blanket was still folded inside.
He touched it.
Then he noticed something sewn into the edge.
A small blue thread.
Norah saw it.
“That wasn't there before.”
Gabriel pulled it carefully.
A tiny metal tag fell into his palm.
Engraved on it were three numbers.
11-04-93.
Daniel stared.
“That was Daniel's birth date.”
Gabriel looked toward the dining room.
The portrait waited at the end of the hall.
They entered.
Gabriel stood beneath his grandfather's painted face.
Norah examined the frame.
Her fingers moved across the wood.
Then she stopped.
“There.”
A small irregularity.
She pressed it.
A narrow compartment opened inside the frame.
There was no ledger.
Instead, there was a cassette tape.
And a photograph.
Gabriel picked up the photograph.
It showed his father.
Matteo.
Victor.
Bianca.
And one more person.
Gabriel's face went white.
It was Maria's son.
The same young man who had supposedly disappeared years earlier.
Norah whispered:
“That's impossible.”
Daniel looked at the picture.
“No.”
He turned it over.
Written on the back were six words.
HE WAS THE ONE WHO WARNED YOUR FATHER.
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
Then the lights went out.
A voice came from the darkness.
“You finally found it.”
Gabriel turned.
Matteo stood in the doorway.
Older.
Calmer.
Holding a silver revolver at his side.
He looked at Gabriel.
Then at Norah.
May you like
Then at the two sleeping babies.
“I've been waiting twenty years for this family to open that frame.”
