Chapter 6 - WHAT THE CAMERAS SAW
Carmine stared at the photograph.
The young man standing beside Elena looked directly into the camera.
Dark hair.
Pale skin.
Sharp eyes.
There was something strangely familiar about him.
Not enough to identify.
But enough to unsettle Carmine.
He enlarged the image.
The boy looked about sixteen.
Leo was watching him.
“Who is that?”
Carmine didn't answer.
Helena looked at the photograph.
Her face changed.
“You know him.”
Carmine turned.
“Who is he?”
Helena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Carmine's voice became cold.
“Don't start again.”
“I don't.”
“You just looked terrified.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought he was dead.”
Carmine froze.
“Who?”
Helena whispered:
“Matteo.”
The name seemed to freeze the air.
Carmine looked back at the photograph.
“That boy is sixteen.”
“Yes.”
“Leo is eight.”
“Yes.”
“How can he be Matteo?”
“I don't know.”
“Then you're lying again.”
“No.”
Helena's voice broke.
“I don't know how.”
Carmine stared at the picture.
Then something caught his attention.
A small scar above the boy's left eyebrow.
Carmine looked at Leo.
Leo had the same scar.
His breathing slowed.
“What the hell…”
Helena stepped closer.
“They were born minutes apart.”
Carmine looked at her.
“That's impossible.”
“I know.”
“You said Matteo was a baby.”
“He was.”
“Then who is that?”
Helena stared at the screen.
“I don't know.”
They reached the old church twenty minutes later.
The building stood abandoned at the edge of the city.
Broken windows.
Overgrown grass.
A rusted bell tower.
Carmine stepped out.
Weapons were drawn.
“Stay close.”
Leo held his hand.
Helena followed.
They entered the church.
Dust covered the wooden benches.
Sunlight entered through holes in the roof.
“Elena!”
Carmine's voice echoed.
Nothing.
He walked deeper inside.
Then he saw her.
A woman stood near the altar.
Older.
Thinner.
Her hair was streaked with gray.
But there was no mistaking her face.
Carmine stopped.
“Elena.”
She turned.
Their eyes met.
Eight years disappeared.
Carmine's face hardened.
Then softened.
Then hardened again.
“Where have you been?”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Running.”
“From me?”
“No.”
“Then from whom?”
She looked toward Leo.
Her entire expression changed.
“Leo.”
The boy froze.
She took one step.
“Mommy?”
The word shattered her.
Elena covered her mouth.
Then she ran to him.
Leo stood still for a second.
Then he rushed into her arms.
Carmine watched.
The woman held her son as though she had been waiting eight years for that exact moment.
“I thought you were dead,” Leo whispered.
“I know.”
“Helena said you were.”
Elena looked over his shoulder.
Her eyes met Helena's.
There was no hatred.
Only exhaustion.
“You kept him alive.”
Helena nodded.
“I tried.”
Carmine stepped closer.
“You left him with her.”
Elena looked at him.
“I had no choice.”
“You could have come to me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night I disappeared.”
Carmine's expression changed.
“You never reached me.”
“I did.”
“No.”
“I called you.”
“I never received a call.”
Elena shook her head.
“Because someone intercepted it.”
Carmine remembered the warning.
Someone inside his company.
Daniel.
Elena continued.
“I left the hospital with Leo.”
“Why?”
“Because I found out the records had been altered.”
“By whom?”
“Daniel.”
Carmine's jaw tightened.
“He worked for me.”
“He worked for Raines.”
“And Matteo?”
Elena became silent.
Carmine waited.
“Where is the other child?”
Elena looked at Helena.
Then at Carmine.
“I don't know.”
“That's not good enough.”
“He was taken.”
“By Raines?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo wasn't his son.”
Carmine stared.
“Then whose son was he?”
Elena shook her head.
“I never found out.”
Carmine stepped closer.
“You're both telling me the same thing.”
“Because it's true.”
“Then why does that boy in the photograph look sixteen?”
Elena's face went pale.
“What photograph?”
Carmine showed her.
She stared.
Her hands began shaking.
“No.”
“What?”
“That isn't Matteo.”
Carmine's eyes narrowed.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Then who is he?”
Elena whispered:
“I don't know.”
A sound came from the back of the church.
Everyone turned.
A door slammed.
The bodyguards rushed toward it.
Nothing.
Only an empty corridor.
Then Carmine's phone rang.
A video had arrived.
He opened it.
The footage showed the estate garage.
The exact moment Helena kicked over the bucket.
Leo kneeling beside the car.
Helena shouting.
Carmine walking toward them.
The video continued.
But this footage was different.
It showed something Carmine had never seen.
A man standing behind a column.
Watching.
Carmine paused the video.
He zoomed in.
Daniel.
He had been in the garage.
Watching Leo.
Carmine's eyes hardened.
“Daniel was there.”
Elena nodded.
“He's been watching Leo for years.”
Carmine continued the footage.
Daniel stepped forward.
He spoke to Helena.
The audio was faint.
Carmine increased the volume.
Daniel's voice came through.
“Raines wants confirmation.”
Helena answered:
“He's alive.”
Daniel asked:
“Does Carmine know?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Carmine stopped the video.
He looked at Helena.
“You knew.”
“I knew Daniel was watching.”
“You knew he reported to Raines.”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept Leo here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew where Daniel expected him to be.”
Carmine's eyes narrowed.
“Here.”
Helena nodded.
“It was the one place I could control.”
Carmine shook his head.
“You weren't protecting Leo.”
Helena looked at him.
“I was.”
“You were using my house as a hiding place.”
“Yes.”
“And you never trusted me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Helena's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I saw what happened to your father.”
Carmine froze.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Elena answered.
“Everything.”
Carmine turned.
“What are you talking about?”
Elena took a breath.
“Your father knew about Raines.”
“How?”
“They were partners.”
Carmine stared.
“My father died eight years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And you think he was involved?”
“I know he was.”
Carmine's face hardened.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the truth would have destroyed you.”
“That's my decision.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You don't get to make that decision.”
Elena looked down.
“I know.”
Carmine turned away.
His entire understanding of his family was collapsing.
His father.
His company.
Daniel.
Raines.
Elena.
Leo.
And now Matteo.
All connected.
Then the bodyguard shouted:
“Sir!”
Carmine turned.
The bodyguard was holding a small device.
“We found this beneath the altar.”
Carmine took it.
A digital recorder.
He pressed play.
An old man's voice filled the church.
Carmine recognized it instantly.
His father.
“If you're hearing this, I've already failed.”
Carmine froze.
The recording continued.
“I made a deal with Victor Raines.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Carmine's father continued:
“I believed I could control him.”
A pause.
“I was wrong.”
Carmine's hands trembled.
“Raines wanted access to my company. I gave him a limited channel.”
Another pause.
“Then I discovered he wasn't interested in money.”
Carmine leaned closer.
“He wanted the children.”
The recording stopped.
Carmine stared at the device.
“What children?”
Elena whispered:
“Leo and Matteo.”
The bodyguard looked confused.
“Why?”
Elena answered:
“Because their births were connected to something worth far more than money.”
Carmine turned.
“What?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your father's inheritance.”
Carmine frowned.
“My father left me everything.”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“He left you something else.”
“What?”
“A trust.”
Carmine's face changed.
“What trust?”
“A trust established before you were born.”
“How much?”
Elena didn't answer.
“How much?”
“Enough to control several corporations.”
Carmine stared.
“And the children?”
“The trust was protected by a condition.”
“What condition?”
Elena whispered:
“The heirs had to be alive.”
Silence.
Carmine looked at Leo.
Then back at Elena.
“You're saying someone created a fortune that could only be accessed if these children survived?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Carmine's phone buzzed again.
Another message.
Another photograph.
This one showed Daniel.
He was standing inside a warehouse.
Beside him was the teenage boy from the first photograph.
And behind them—
Victor Raines.
The message said:
MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE.
Carmine stared at the image.
Then a second message appeared.
BRING THE BOY.
Leo saw the screen.
His face went pale.
“Daddy…”
Carmine immediately turned the phone away.
“Don't worry.”
But Elena had seen it too.
She grabbed Carmine's arm.
“Don't go.”
“I have to.”
“No.”
“They have Daniel.”
“They want Leo.”
“Exactly.”
“They want you to bring him there.”
Carmine looked at her.
“I know.”
“Then don't.”
“What choice do I have?”
Elena stared at him.
“You have another choice.”
“What?”
“Let them think you're going.”
Carmine understood.
His eyes narrowed.
“A trap.”
“Yes.”
Helena stepped forward.
“And if it fails?”
Carmine looked at Leo.
“It won't.”
Elena shook her head.
“You don't understand Raines.”
Carmine's voice became cold.
“No.”
He looked toward the church doors.
“But he doesn't understand me.”
That evening, Carmine returned to the estate.
The cameras were replaced.
The security system was rebuilt.
Every entrance was sealed.
Leo remained under constant protection.
But Carmine couldn't stop thinking about the footage.
He watched the garage recording again.
And again.
Then he noticed something.
Daniel hadn't been watching Leo.
He had been watching Helena.
Carmine rewound the footage.
Daniel looked at Helena.
Helena looked at him.
Then she subtly touched her necklace.
Daniel nodded.
A signal.
Carmine froze.
He called Helena into the room.
“What does your necklace mean?”
She touched it instinctively.
“Nothing.”
“Take it off.”
She hesitated.
“Now.”
Helena removed the necklace.
Carmine examined it.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
Not of Leo.
Not of Elena.
A baby.
And beneath the baby's photograph was a name.
MATTEO.
Carmine looked at Helena.
“You've had this for eight years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena gave it to me.”
“Why?”
Helena's eyes filled with tears.
“Because she told me if Leo ever asked about the other baby…”
She stopped.
Carmine waited.
“What?”
Helena whispered:
“I was supposed to tell him that Matteo was his brother.”
Carmine stared.
“His brother?”
“Yes.”
Leo stood in the doorway.
He had heard everything.
He looked at Helena.
“Matteo is my brother?”
Nobody answered.
Leo looked at Carmine.
“Daddy?”
Carmine walked toward him.
“Yes.”
“Do I have a brother?”
Carmine knelt.
“I don't know yet.”
Leo's eyes filled with tears.
“But you said Mommy told the truth.”
“She did.”
“Then he is my brother.”
Carmine pulled him close.
“We're going to find him.”
Outside, a car stopped at the gates.
The guards raised their weapons.
A man stepped out.
He held up his hands.
It was Daniel.
He looked exhausted.
Terrified.
And completely alone.
Carmine stepped outside.
Daniel shouted:
“Carmine!”
“What?”
“I came to tell you the truth.”
Carmine raised his weapon.
“Then start talking.”
Daniel looked toward the mansion.
Then whispered:
“Raines is not the one controlling this.”
Carmine's eyes narrowed.
“Who is?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Your father.”
Carmine froze.
“My father is dead.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
“Then how?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because he never died the way you were told.”
Carmine's blood ran cold.
Daniel took one final step forward.
“He's alive.”
May you like
And somewhere inside the estate—
the lights suddenly went out.
