Chapter 4 - WHY MAYA MATTERED
Elena Bennett had not disappeared randomly.
She had been running.
Years earlier, she worked for Salvatore Rinaldi as a cybersecurity specialist.
Salvatore discovered that a group of powerful businessmen had built a secret surveillance marketplace.
Children.
Spouses.
Judges.
Politicians.
Rivals.
Anyone could be tracked.
The black discs were prototypes.
They didn't merely report location.
They measured heartbeat, breathing, movement and proximity.
Nico hadn't been harmed.
He had been used.
Someone wanted to prove they could reach Matteo's child anywhere.
Even at thirty thousand feet.
Salvatore tried to destroy the network.
Then disappeared.
Elena escaped with Maya.
Leah listened.
“So Maya's dad is alive?”
Matteo hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Maya was coloring beside Nico.
Two children completely unaware that adults had built a war around them.
Leah asked the question that mattered more.
“Where's my mom?”
Luca found the answer.
A message embedded in the flash drive.
Coordinates.
Southern Italy.
An abandoned monastery.
They went.
Inside they found Elena.
Alive.
Locked underground.
Leah ran into her arms.
For several minutes, there was no conspiracy.
No Rinaldi family.
No devices.
Only a ten-year-old becoming a child again.
Then Elena saw Matteo.
And slapped him.
Hard.
“You idiot.”
Matteo blinked.
“I just rescued you.”
“You brought Maya here?”
“She brought herself across the Atlantic.”
Elena looked at Leah.
Leah shrugged.
“Long story.”
Elena laughed and cried simultaneously.
Then her expression changed.
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“They wanted you to find me.”
Matteo went still.
“Who?”
A voice came from the doorway.
“Me.”
A man stood there.
Older than Matteo.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Salvatore Rinaldi.
Alive.
May you like
Maya's father.
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