“Where?”
“I still have them.”
Matteo leaned closer.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
That surprised everyone.
Including Sophie.
“You didn’t sell them?” she asked.
“No.”
“Why?”
Chloe’s voice became smaller.
“Because I realized people were following me before I could.”
Matteo’s eyes lifted to Sophie.
There it was.
Another data point.
Sophie asked, “The same people as Romano’s men?”
“I don’t know.
Different cars.
Different faces.
Nobody approached me.
They just kept appearing.”
Matteo straightened.
Leo swore quietly.
Sophie felt the entire structure shift.
Chloe had stolen the bonds.
But somebody else had known.
And instead of taking them from her, that person had allowed Matteo’s side to chase her while feeding him information that repeatedly turned poisonous.
The theft was not the beginning of the war.
It had become cover for somebody else’s moves.
Matteo spoke slowly.
“Chloe, you are going to return everything you took.”
“And Sophie walks?”
“Yes.”
Sophie cut in.
“Not enough.”
Both twins and every man in the warehouse seemed to stop at once.
Matteo turned toward her.
Sophie kept her voice level.
“You don’t touch Chloe when she returns them.”
His expression became almost offended.
“She stole two million dollars from me.”
“And kept it intact while somebody else followed her.
You can punish the thief and lose the trail, or use the thief to see who comes looking.”
Chloe whispered through the phone, “Sophie, what are you doing?”
“Cleaning up your nightlife.”
For the first time that night, Chloe had no answer.
Matteo walked away from the table and stood beneath the halogen light.
He flicked the Zippo open.
Click.
Closed.
Click.
Finally he said, “One exchange.
Controlled by me.
She returns every bond.
Nobody touches her unless she runs or lies.”
Sophie looked at the phone.
