Chapter 4: The Enemy Hidden Behind a Familiar Face
The recording ended.
But Isabella’s final words remained.
They stayed in the hallway.
They stayed in Matteo’s mind.
They stayed like a wound that refused to close.
Your son was never supposed to survive.
For seven months, Matteo had forced himself to believe Isabella’s death was a tragedy.
A terrible accident.
A moment of bad luck.
A piece of his life that had been stolen from him by fate.
But fate did not create hidden recordings.
Fate did not corrupt security footage.
Fate did not make a dying woman hide a message inside a necklace.
Someone had done this.
Someone had planned something.
And somehow, that person had been close enough to Isabella to frighten her.
Close enough to know about Nico.
Close enough to make her believe she could not trust the people protecting her husband.
Matteo stood completely still.
The man everyone feared.
The man who controlled every room he entered.
The man who could destroy enemies with a single decision.
Yet right now, he felt something he hated.
Uncertainty.
Adrian was the first person to speak.
“Matteo.””
The sound of his name pulled him back.
Slowly, Matteo turned.
His oldest friend stood several feet away.
The same man who had been beside him through every war.
The same man who had taken bullets meant for him.
The same man Isabella trusted enough to call family.
And now, for the first time, Matteo wondered if trust had been the mistake.
“Everyone leaves the room,” Matteo said.
The guards exchanged looks.
Adrian remained still.
“Boss.””
“I said everyone.””
The command was quiet.
Nobody questioned it.
Within seconds, the hallway emptied.
Only Matteo, Adrian, and Liana remained.
The silence between them was heavy.
Adrian looked at Matteo carefully.
“You think it’s me.””
Matteo did not answer.
That was answer enough.
A flash of pain crossed Adrian’s face.
Not anger.
Pain.
“I’ve known you for twenty years.””
“And Isabella knew you too.””
The words cut deeper than Matteo expected.
Adrian looked away.
“You really think I could hurt her?””
“I think someone did.””
“And you think it was me.””
“I think I don’t know anything anymore.””
That sentence was more honest than Matteo wanted it to be.
Adrian studied him.
Then he looked at Liana.
“And she knows?””
Matteo’s eyes moved toward her.
“Yes.””
Adrian frowned.
“How?””
“She’s Isabella’s sister.””
The room changed.
Adrian stared.
“What?””
Liana lowered her gaze.
“She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.””
Adrian looked back at Matteo.
“Isabella had a sister?””
“That’s what she claims.””
Liana flinched.
Matteo noticed.
But he did not apologize.
Not now.
Not when the entire foundation of his life was cracking.
Adrian looked at the necklace.
“The message was real?””
“Yes.””
“What exactly did Isabella say?””
Matteo’s expression hardened.
“She said not to trust anyone.””
Adrian became silent.
Because he understood what that meant.
The Varric organization was built on loyalty.
On trust.
On knowing exactly who stood beside you.
If someone inside had betrayed Isabella, then the danger was not outside the walls.
It was already inside.
“Boss,” Adrian said carefully.
“Don’t.””
“I need to say this.””
“No.””
“Because if you start suspecting everyone, you’ll destroy yourself before you find the person responsible.””
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“You think I’m wrong?””
“No.””
The answer surprised him.
“I think you’re scared.””
The room went silent.
Nobody spoke to Matteo that way.
Nobody except Isabella.
Adrian continued.
“And when you’re scared, you look for enemies.””
Matteo stepped forward.
“You’re forgetting something.””
“What?””
“My wife is dead.””
Adrian’s expression softened.
“And your son almost was.””
The words landed.
Because that was the truth Matteo had been avoiding.
This was not only about Isabella anymore.
It was about Nico.
His son.
The child he had promised himself he would protect.
The child who had become the reason he woke up every morning after losing Isabella.
Matteo looked toward Liana.
“You said Isabella trusted you.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Liana hesitated.
“I don’t know.””
“Everyone has a reason.””
“She thought I understood something about her.””
“What?””
“My loss.””
Matteo frowned.
Liana looked down.
“She knew what it felt like to lose a child.””
The room went still.
Adrian looked confused.
Matteo’s eyes sharpened.
“What are you talking about?””
Liana’s fingers tightened.
“Before Nico was born…”
She stopped.
“Before Isabella had him.””
Matteo waited.
“She lost a baby.””
The information hit him harder than expected.
“What?””
“She never told you?””
“No.””
“She didn’t want you to know.””
“Why?””
“Because she blamed herself.””
Matteo stared.
The idea seemed impossible.
Isabella.
His Isabella.
The woman who had survived everything.
The woman who had stood beside him through danger.
She had carried pain alone.
“She thought you would look at her differently.””
Matteo looked away.
Because he knew Isabella.
He knew exactly why she would hide it.
She had always protected others from her own suffering.
“She told me she was afraid she wasn’t meant to be a mother.””
Liana’s voice broke.
“But when Nico was born, she said she finally understood why she survived.””
Matteo closed his eyes.
For one second, he saw her.
Isabella holding newborn Nico.
Isabella crying.
Isabella laughing.
Isabella telling him their son was the only person in the world who could make her forget fear.
Then he remembered the accident.
The hospital.
The doctors.
The empty room.
He forced himself back.
“Why would someone want Nico gone?””
Liana shook her head.
“I don’t know.””
“Think.””
“I have.””
“Think harder.””
Her eyes flashed with frustration.
“I am!””
The sudden emotion surprised him.
Liana was usually calm.
Quiet.
Controlled.
But now her grief broke through.
“I lost my son,” she whispered.
The hallway became silent.
“And then Isabella died.””
A tear fell.
“I watched two people I loved disappear.””
Matteo looked at her.
For the first time, he saw beyond the maid uniform.
Beyond the secret.
Beyond the mystery.
He saw someone carrying the same kind of emptiness he carried.
Different loss.
Same wound.
“I’m not trying to hurt you,” she said.
“I know.””
The words came before he could stop them.
Liana looked at him.
Matteo looked away.
He did not like admitting trust.
Especially not with someone connected to the biggest unanswered question of his life.
A phone rang.
Adrian answered immediately.
His expression changed after three seconds.
“What?””
Matteo watched him.
“What happened?””
Adrian covered the phone.
“Security found something.””
“What?””
“One of the nursery cameras was accessed remotely.””
Matteo’s blood ran cold.
“When?””
“Tonight.””
“When exactly?””
Adrian looked at the screen.
“During the time Nico was crying.””
Matteo’s expression darkened.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had been watching his son suffer.
Someone had watched Liana walk into the nursery.
Someone had seen Nico calm down.
“Trace it.””
“We’re trying.””
“Where did it come from?””
Adrian hesitated.
“Inside the estate.””
Matteo’s eyes narrowed.
“Impossible.””
“No.””
Adrian looked serious.
“Not impossible.””
The meaning was clear.
Someone inside the mansion had accessed the cameras.
Someone with permission.
Someone who knew the system.
Matteo turned toward the nursery.
His son was sleeping.
For now.
Safe.
But the thought that someone had been watching him made Matteo’s hands tighten.
“Lock down the house.””
Adrian nodded.
“Already doing it.””
“No one leaves.””
“Understood.””
“And no one knows about Liana.””
Adrian looked at him.
“You’re protecting her?””
“I’m protecting the truth.””
That answer seemed to surprise even Matteo.
Because he was not sure when it happened.
But somewhere between the necklace, the recording, and the tears in Liana’s eyes…
He had stopped seeing her as a threat.
Not completely.
Not yet.
But enough.
A sudden sound came from upstairs.
A baby crying.
Matteo moved instantly.
He did not think.
He ran.
By the time he reached the nursery, Liana was already there.
She had gotten there before him.
Again.
Nico was crying in her arms.
But this time, Matteo noticed something different.
The baby was not afraid.
He was reaching toward something.
Something beside the crib.
Liana looked down.
Her face changed.
“What?””
Matteo stepped closer.
“What is it?””
She pointed.
On the floor beside the crib was a small piece of paper.
A note.
Matteo picked it up.
His eyes moved across the words.
And every instinct inside him screamed.
Because the handwriting was familiar.
The message was short.
Only one sentence.
But it was enough to freeze his blood.
“Matteo, if you are reading this, it means I failed to protect our son.””
Below the sentence was Isabella’s signature.
May you like
But that was impossible.
Because Isabella had written it after she was already dead.
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