Never trust a gift without checking the seams.
She had said it about thrift-store coats and secondhand purses. Vanessa and I had laughed at her for it. After she died, I used to check pockets just to feel close to her.
But that night, I had not checked the envelope.
I had been too shattered.
Luca’s voice was rough. “What else?”
I read.
**If Sarah survives, she must never return for me. Tell Luca I am sorry. Tell him the proof is where his mother sang to him. Tell him Enzo kept the dead where the living prayed.**
The letter ended there.
Mrs. Pike crossed herself.
“Where did your mother sing to you?” I asked.
Luca did not answer at once.
His face had closed, but not with secrecy. With pain.
“The chapel,” he said. “On the estate. My mother used to sing there when she thought no one could hear.”
“Your mother died when you were young.”
“Yes.”
His eyes held mine.
“At least, that is what my father told me.”
Before I could ask what he meant, the bell over the bakery door rang.
A man entered.
For one insane second, I thought Luca had moved without moving.
Same height. Same dark hair. Same beautiful, brutal face.
But the eyes were wrong.
Luca’s eyes were amber warmed by grief.
This man’s were amber emptied of everything human.
Lena smiled uncertainly. “There are two big men.”
Ash screamed.
It was the first full scream I had ever heard from my son, and it tore the room apart.
Luca moved before I did. He pushed me and the children behind him, one hand already inside his coat.
The stranger smiled.
“Brother,” he said.
Matteo.
The name passed through me like winter.
He looked at me then, and I understood why memory had failed me. He was Luca’s mirror after a fire: same shape, same beauty, warped by something starved and merciless.
“Sarah,” Matteo said. “You aged well for a dead woman.”
Luca’s voice was deadly calm. “Walk out.”
“Still giving orders.” Matteo sighed. “That was always your flaw. Father loved it. Enzo exploited it. I found it dull.”
Mrs. Pike emerged from the kitchen holding the shotgun.
Matteo glanced at her and laughed. “Charming.”
“You have three seconds to stop charming me,” she said.
He lifted both hands, but his smile stayed.
“I came for what Vanessa stole.”
Luca said, “Vanessa is dead.”
“Vanessa is inconvenient.” Matteo looked at me. “There is a difference.”
The room tilted again.
I clutched the children closer.
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
Matteo’s gaze dropped to Lena and Ash.
“It means your sister had more talent for survival than loyalty.”
Luca stepped forward.
“Look at them again and you will not leave this town breathing.”
Matteo smiled wider.
“There he is. The civilized family man.” His voice lowered. “You should know, Sarah, he killed forty-two men looking for you.”
Luca did not deny it.
The number struck me cold.
Matteo saw my face and was pleased.
“Did he leave that out? Did he tell you he became gentle after you vanished? No. He became biblical.”
Luca said nothing.
Ash was trembling against my side.
Lena whispered, “Mama, I don’t like that one.”
Neither did I.
Matteo’s eyes sharpened. “The chapel, Luca. Midnight. Bring the music box and the woman. Leave the children if you want them to live.”
Then he looked at me once more.
“I wore his ring that night,” he said softly. “But Vanessa wore the smile herself.”
He left before Mrs. Pike could shoot him.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Then Ash lifted his face and said, “That was the thunder man.”
I knelt before him.
“What?”
He swallowed.