Page 187 of Matteo

He stares at me for a long moment, then he laughs. It’s not light, not filled with amusement, but bitter and twisted. I feel completely let down by this man I thought I knew and trusted.

“You don’t see it, do you?” he snaps.

“See what?” I don’t like his tone.

“This.” He gestures around the room. “All of this. The systems. The power. The decisions made in rooms you’ll never step foot in.”

“I’m sitting in one right now,” I say coldly.

“No,” he replies. “You’re in a controlled environment your father built and you operate inside it, just like your brothers do. None of you question it, or understand what you have, what your privilege has afforded you.”

Elizabeth’s gaze flicks between us, but she stays silent, observing.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I cry. “You breached our systems, and to make matters worse, you framed Elizabeth. Why?”

He shakes his head, swallows, then lowers his gaze to his hands. Then he looks at Elizabeth, eyes soft, like his guard is breaking. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you, but you gave me no choice.”

Her eyes widen. “What did I ever do to you?”

“This was nothing to do with you. You were simply collateral, because you’re too smart, because you figured it out.”

“What the fuck?” I yell, because I fucked up there as well, by telling Alex.

I trusted him with my life, and I told him that it could be someone internal. But he was going to be in charge while I was away, and I felt he needed to know, and that’s the only reason why he framed Elizabeth. He wanted the heat off himself. He deliberately set her up and incriminated her while she was away with me, told me when we were on vacation. He loaded the gun, and pointed it at her. I didn't even doubt him. I trusted his word over hers.

I shouldn't be surprised that she wants nothing to do with me. That she doesn't want to hear my apology, or look at me. I let her down. “You framed Elizabeth, to hide your own tracks. Why did you do any of this?”

Alex’s eyes fill with derision, and I no longer recognize this man. “Because your father shut down a hospital wing,” he says, simply.

I stare at him, not understanding. “What?”

“He pulled funding,” Alex continues, voice steady now. “Cut it like it was nothing, and my niece suffered for it. She’s still suffering, and it’s not looking good.”

I recall him mentioning his niece, how he was checking in on her. Conversations we had in the past now flash through my mind. I vaguely recall that he’d often take time out to see her.

“What hospital?”

“A research unit,” he says. “It was specialized treatment, experimental, but it was working. It gave her a chance. It was hope,” he says, his voice cold and hard. “It helped her.”

Elizabeth opens her mouth, then sits back, like this hits hard.

“She was getting better,” he goes on. “Slowly, but it was working. And then the funding disappeared. She was a kid just trying to get better, but your father didn’t consider the consequences of his actions. To him it was probably a line on a report.”

A cold fissure spreads through my chest, cracking like ice on a frozen pond. This wasn't corporate sabotage. It was purely personal.

Elizabeth shifts, but stays silent.

“I still don't understand why you did this?” I stare at Alex trying to understand why he did it, but I can't.

“You think I did this for fun?” Alex cries. “You think I woke up one day and decided to torch the company I’ve spent years building systems for?” His voice softens. “I loved working here, you know that.”

I do know that, which is why Alex was never under suspicion. But clearly, he snapped.

“What your father did, affected me personally,” he says, quietly. “And now you tell me he's sick? I hope he rots in hell. I hope he never finds peace.”

“Proud of yourself?” I hiss, self-loathing hardening my gut. “You framed an innocent person.”

Why did I believe him over Elizabeth? I've been a fool. We bickered and snapped at one another on vacation. I thought she was hiding things from me, and she was, I now learn, but nothing like this. Nothing sinister. Nothing that was meant to hurt me.