Chapter 4 - The Ticking Clock
Over the next three days, the Moretti estate operated under a strained, artificial peace.
To the outside world, Luca Moretti was a shattered man. I stayed inside the master suite, refusing meetings, ignoring phone calls from capos, and sitting for hours beside Matteo’s bed. Dr. Pierce visited twice daily, shaking his head with professional sorrow as he checked the monitors.
“He’s stabilizing slightly, Mr. Moretti, thanks to whatever nourishment Miss Rossi is providing,” Dr. Pierce said quietly on Friday morning. “But I must be honest. The toxins in his blood are too deep. Unless we perform an experimental chelation therapy at a specialized clinic in Switzerland, he has less than ten days.”
“Then arrange the transport,” I commanded, keeping my voice heavy with exhaustion.
“Transport will kill him, sir. His heart can’t handle the cabin pressure.”
I clenched my fists beneath the sheets of the bed, nodding slowly. “Get out.”
As Dr. Pierce packed his bag and hurried out of the room, Elena stepped out of the adjoining bathroom, carrying a damp cloth. She walked over to Matteo and gently wiped his forehead. My son opened his eyes, offering a weak, flickering smile before drifting back into a restless sleep.
“He’s holding on,” Elena whispered, her fingers lingering on Matteo’s curls. “He has your stubbornness, Luca.”
“My stubbornness is going to get him killed if I don't move fast,” I muttered, standing up and pacing across the Persian rug. “Marcus requested an audience this morning. He says the council is demanding an update on the South Side expansion. He wants to meet in the underground vault.”
Elena’s head snapped up. “The vault? Why there?”
“Because it’s soundproof, secure, and entirely under his guard’s control,” I replied grimly. “He’s testing me. He wants to see if I’m weak enough to hand over the keys to the kingdom.”
“He’s setting a trap,” Elena said instantly. “If you go down there alone, you won't walk out.”
“I’m not going alone.” I walked over to the heavy oak wardrobe, opened a false panel at the back, and pulled out a heavy-duty tactical submachine gun alongside two suppressed pistols. I checked the slide, the familiar weight of the steel grounding me. “I’m taking Victor and my loyal detail. But before I go down to the vault, I need you to do something, Elena.”
She stood up, walking right up to me, her eyes fierce. “Name it.”
“Check the security logs from the night Sofia died,” I said, handing her a small, encrypted flash drive. “Marcus had the system rebooted at midnight under the guise of a routine firewall update. The tech guy who handled it—Leo Vance, Marcus’s nephew—disappeared two days later. Find out where Leo is hiding. He’s the one who slipped the poison into Sofia’s wine.”
Elena took the drive, her fingers brushing against mine. For a second, the heavy, suffocating air of the mansion seemed to fade, replaced by a sudden, electric stillness.
“Be careful, Luca,” she murmured, her voice losing its hard edge for the first time. “Matteo and I... we don't have anyone else left.”
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I stared down at her, feeling a strange, unfamiliar warmth unfurl in my chest—a spark of life in a heart I thought was as dead as my wife’s.
“I always come back,” I said, and walked out the door.
