THE LOCKER UNDER SOPHIE’S NAME
Matteo did not take Sophie to the storage facility.
He asked.
That surprised her.
“Do you want to come?”
“No.”
He nodded.
Then:
“I’ll have Leo take you home.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
Sophie folded her arms.
“You don’t get to decide my transportation because you apologized once.”
“What do you want?”
“My phone.”
Leo handed it over.
“My bag.”
Also handed.
“A cab.”
Matteo looked irritated.
Good.
Sophie opened the app.
Then stopped.
Her apartment address.
If Chloe had used her name for a locker, what else had she used?
Matteo saw the hesitation.
“Stay somewhere else tonight.”
“That sounded like an order.”
“It was advice.”
“Better.”
Sophie called her friend Mara.
Could she stay over?
Yes.
No questions until morning.
Sophie looked at Matteo.
“Send me anything you find about Chloe.”
“No.”
She laughed.
“Then we’re done.”
“You are not part of this.”
“You kidnapped me because I am part of this.”
“By mistake.”
“And now my identity is on a storage locker.”
Matteo said nothing.
Sophie stepped closer.
Not intimidated now.
Angry.
“If Chloe used my name, I need to know how far.”
“That information could put you at risk.”
Sophie’s expression changed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The part where you decide what I should know because you’re protecting me.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“You think ignorance is safer?”
“I think you learned the wrong lesson from tonight if your next move is controlling my information.”
Silence.
Leo looked at Matteo.
Then away.
Matteo exhaled.
“I’ll send you what directly concerns your identity.”
“All of it.”
“Within reason.”
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“Do you negotiate everything?”
“When kidnapped, yes.”
“Fine.”
They agreed.
Not friends.
Not allies.
A narrow arrangement.
At 4:40 a.m., Sophie left the warehouse in a rideshare.
Matteo watched the car disappear.
Leo stood beside him.
“You’re going to regret letting her walk.”
Matteo looked at him.
“She’s not Chloe.”
“That is why.”
Matteo said nothing.
The storage locker opened at six.
Inside:
Three banker boxes.
One suitcase.
Two prepaid phones.
A stack of photocopied invoices.
No cash.
No obvious two million.
One item had Sophie’s name.
A sealed envelope.
FOR SOPHIE ONLY.
Matteo stared at it.
Leo asked:
“Open?”
“No.”
That answer surprised both of them.
Matteo took the envelope to Sophie himself.
Mara’s apartment was in Lincoln Park.
He waited in the lobby.
Called.
Sophie answered half asleep.
“What?”
“I have something.”
“That sounds threatening at six-thirty.”
“It’s from Chloe.”
Silence.
Ten minutes later Sophie came downstairs wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, and anger.
Matteo held out the envelope.
She looked at him.
“You didn’t open it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it says your name.”
That should not have been impressive.
The standard was underground.
Still.
Sophie took it.
Opened.
Inside was one handwritten page.
Soph,
If you are reading this, either I failed or Matteo finally learned I exist outside whatever version of me he thinks he knows.
Sophie stopped.
Looked at Matteo.
He said nothing.
She continued.
I did take the money.
Not for me.
Not all of it.
And if Matteo tells you I betrayed him, ask him what he was protecting when he refused to audit Bell Street.
Matteo went still.
Sophie noticed.
“What is Bell Street?”
He did not answer.
She kept reading.
Do not trust anyone who says the missing two million is the whole story.
There should be copies in this locker. If they are gone, Leo found them first.
Sophie’s eyes moved to Matteo.
“Leo?”
Matteo’s face changed.
Not anger.
Something colder.
She continued.
If Leo is still with Matteo, be careful what you say in front of him.
Sophie lowered the letter.
“What did Chloe know about Leo?”
Matteo stared at the last line.
Then asked:
“Is there more?”
“Yes.”
“Read it.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
Sophie folded the letter.
“It says Sophie only.”
For one second, old Matteo returned.
The man at the table.
Demanding.
Then he stopped himself.
Good.
Sophie put the letter into her pocket.
Matteo looked toward the street.
“Bell Street is a property.”
“What kind?”
“A warehouse redevelopment.”
“Your family?”
“Yes.”
“What was wrong with it?”
“Nothing.”
Sophie stared.
“That was a terrible answer.”
Matteo’s face hardened.
“We had a construction subsidiary handling environmental cleanup.”
“And?”
“A contractor claimed disposal records were falsified.”
Sophie felt cold.
“Were they?”
“I was told no.”
“By Leo?”
Matteo said nothing.
There.
Sophie whispered:
“Chloe found something.”
“Maybe.”
“And the two million?”
Matteo’s phone rang.
Leo.
He looked at the screen.
Did not answer.
May you like
Sophie watched.
For the first time since she had met him, Matteo Romano looked uncertain about the man standing closest to him.
