Chapter 2 - The Ghost in the Kitchen
The apartment was small, bare, and immaculate.
A small gas stove burned quietly in the corner, warming the room. On a worn floral sofa sat a boy in a oversized gray sweater, his dark curls spilling over his forehead. In his lap was a gray stuffed elephant, its left ear missing a button.
Beside him sat a woman with hollow cheeks and pale skin, her hair tied in a loose knot. She was feeding the boy a small bowl of warm broth.
"Mateo..." Alessandro gasped, his voice cracking.
The woman spun around, dropping the spoon. Her face paled to the color of chalk as her eyes locked onto Alessandro standing in the doorway.
"Alessandro..." Elena whispered, clutching the boy to her chest in blind terror. "How... how did you find us?"
Mateo looked up from his elephant. His serious brown eyes met Alessandro's. For a second, the boy blinked, as if trying to recall a dream from a long time ago.
"Papa?" Mateo whispered softly.
The word shattered something deep inside Alessandro. He dropped to his knees right there on the linoleum floor, tears spilling over his eyelashes and cutting clean tracks through the rain and soot on his face.
"Mateo... my sweet boy... my son," Alessandro sobbed, reaching his arms out.
Mateo didn't flinch. He slid off the couch, holding his stuffed elephant tightly, and walked over to his father. The small boy wrapped his arms around Alessandro’s neck, burying his face in the wet, expensive wool of his coat.
Alessandro held his son so tightly he could feel the faint, steady beat of the boy's tiny heart. He kissed the side of the boy's head, tracing the small, pale half-moon scar behind his right ear with his thumb.
"I found you," Alessandro wept. "I found you, Mateo. You're safe."
But when Alessandro looked up at his wife, there was no joy in her eyes. Only deep, suffocating horror.
"Alessandro, you have to leave," Elena panicked, rushing over and grabbing his arm. "You can't be here! If he finds out you're here, he'll kill all of us!"
Alessandro stood up slowly, holding Mateo firmly against his chest. His grief instantly transformed back into lethal, razor-sharp focus.
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"Who, Elena?" Alessandro asked, his voice dropping into an icy register. "Who took you? Who made you hide in this hole for a year?"
Elena looked toward the hallway, her body shaking wildly. "The man who paid off your lieutenants... the man who told me you were dead... your brother, Julian."
