Chapter 6 - The Ransom
Matteo looked at his disarmed guards, then looked back at me.
The facade was over. The loyal best friend completely disappeared, replaced by a cold, calculating, and ruthlessly greedy monster. He adjusted his silk tie and let out a dark, mocking laugh.
“Fine. You found the kid,” Matteo sneered, no longer hiding his hatred. “But you haven't found Alina, have you?”
My heart violently slammed against my ribs. “Where is my wife?”
“She inherited fifty million dollars from her grandfather's trust six years ago, Luca,” Matteo explained, pacing comfortably as if he held all the power. “I needed that money. But she wouldn't sign it over. So, I forced her to write that goodbye note to you. I threw Sophia in this miserable orphanage as leverage, and I locked Alina in a private, off-the-grid basement.”
The cinematic horror of his words was absolutely paralyzing. For six years, my wife had been held hostage in the dark, kept alive only because she was slowly signing away her fortune to protect our daughter.
“The trust is finally empty, Luca,” Matteo smiled cruelly. “I drained the last drop yesterday. That's why I was selling Sophia tonight. I have no use for them anymore.”
Matteo opened his briefcase and pulled out a stack of legal documents.
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“You want Alina's location?” Matteo demanded, his arrogance peaking. “Sign over your shipping ports to my shell company right now. Give me your empire, and I’ll give you the coordinates to the basement. Kill me, and Alina starves to death in the dark.”
👉 Matteo thought he had completely checkmated me, but he was entirely blind to the digital apocalypse I had already unleashed.
