Chapter 2: The Enemy Inside
The DeLuca penthouse had never felt colder.
Camryn sat on the sofa while Leo slept against her shoulder.
Matteo stood by the window.
The city lights reflected in his eyes.
“Your mother,” he said quietly, “never told me she had a daughter.”
Camryn looked down.
“She was afraid.”
“Of me?”
She hesitated.
“Of what your name represented.”
That hurt more than Matteo expected.
Because for the first time, he wondered if Elena had been protecting her daughter from him.
Not because he was a monster.
But because he had become one.
“I loved your mother.”
Camryn looked at him.
“Then why did she disappear?”
Matteo had no answer.
Because he didn’t know.
He only knew the official story.
The car exploded.
Elena died.
Case closed.
But now everything was falling apart.
A knock interrupted them.
Matteo’s guards entered.
“We found the person who changed the report.”
Matteo turned.
“Who?”
The guard looked uncomfortable.
“It was Marco.”
Matteo went still.
Marco.
His closest friend.
His second-in-command.
The man who stood beside him for fifteen years.
“No.”
The guard placed a file on the table.
“Financial records. Hidden payments. Communication logs.”
Matteo opened it.
Every page felt like a knife.
Marco had been secretly moving money.
Working with rivals.
And the night Elena died…
Marco was the last person to see her alive.
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“Find him.”
The guards left.
Camryn watched him carefully.
“You’re going to kill him.”
It wasn’t a question.
Matteo said nothing.
Because she was right.
His whole life, problems were solved with fear.
With violence.
With power.
But then Leo moved.
The little boy opened his eyes.
He reached for Matteo.
“Daddy.”
A single word.
Matteo froze.
Leo had not called him that in years.
He walked over slowly.
“Yes, son?”
Leo pointed at Camryn.
Then at Matteo.
“Family?”
Matteo looked at his child.
The child who had suffered because of his choices.
He looked at Camryn.
The woman who had brought his son back.
And he realized something.
Revenge would not heal them.
Truth would.
The next morning, Matteo found Marco.
But he did not bring a gun.
He brought evidence.
“You betrayed me.”
Marco laughed.
“I saved you.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Marco smiled.
“Your wife was going to expose the DeLuca empire.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“Because she discovered what your father built. The crimes. The corruption.”
Matteo stepped closer.
“And you killed her?”
Marco looked away.
“Yes.”
The confession was recorded.
Everything was finally revealed.
But Marco had one final secret.
“Elena survived the explosion.”
Matteo stopped breathing.
“What did you say?”
May you like
Marco smiled.
“She was alive.”
