Chapter 9 - THE TRUTH ABOUT THE EXPLOSION
The investigation into Lorenzo uncovered something unexpected.
A financial record from sixteen years earlier.
A payment connected to the dock explosion that killed Matteo's father.
Matteo had always believed the explosion was an industrial accident.
A tragic equipment failure.
A failure that took his father's life and destroyed his hearing.
But the records suggested sabotage.
Investigators reopened the old case.
Witnesses were located.
Maintenance logs were examined.
And a former dock supervisor agreed to cooperate.
The truth was devastating.
The explosion had been connected to a struggle over control of the waterfront.
Lorenzo's father had allegedly helped arrange the sabotage.
The intended target had been Matteo's father.
Matteo had been collateral damage.
When Daniel Mercer, Matteo's attorney, explained the findings, Matteo sat motionless.
For years, he had blamed himself.
He had been sixteen.
He had insisted on accompanying his father to the docks.
He had believed that if he hadn't been there, his father might have survived.
Now he learned that the attack had been planned long before he arrived.
That evening, he went to the cemetery.
He stood before his father's grave.
Rain darkened his coat.
He touched the stone.
Then signed words nobody else was there to see.
I thought I failed you.
His hands trembled.
I was just a boy.
Later, he sent Isla a message.
I learned something about my father.
She called him.
He answered on video.
His eyes were red.
She signed:
Do you want to talk?
He shook his head.
Then nodded.
She listened.
For nearly an hour.
No advice.
No attempts to fix his grief.
Just presence.
When he finished, Matteo signed:
I don't know who I am without the anger.
Isla looked at him.
May you like
Then answered:
You get to find out.
