Chapter 21 Matteo’s Reverse Trap for Marzio #2
The men outside the hold shifted, trying to surround. Matteo turned, shoving the witness’s body back into a position where he’d be harder to grab quickly. He grabbed Elena by the waist and hauled her toward the exit.
Her skin was warm through her clothes, her body tense like she wanted to run in every direction at once. When she moved, the air in the hold shifted; she smelled like cold metal and her own stubborn fear.
They burst out into the corridor, and the noise changed immediately - less enclosed, more echoing. The port facility smelled like wet wood and gasoline, and the overhead lights flickered with a tired hum.
Matteo shoved Elena behind a stack of cargo crates, keeping his gun ready but not firing. He listened instead. He heard radios crackling somewhere farther down. He heard a laugh that didn’t belong to the men with the guns.
Celeste stayed at the hold’s threshold. She didn’t follow in a rush. She stood like someone waiting for the next act.
Matteo’s phone buzzed.
He didn’t look down at first. He counted the seconds between buzzes. He’d learned that the directives didn’t always come when he wanted. They came when someone wanted him to obey without thinking.
The phone buzzed again, and this time the screen lit with a coded message.
Custody personnel compliance. Customs yard transfer point. Marzio expects you.
Matteo’s throat went dry. Marzio didn’t expect compliance. He expected Matteo to behave like a loyal dog.
Matteo’s gaze slid to Celeste. “You’re the intermediary.”
Celeste tilted her head. “I’m the one who keeps things clean.”
“Clean means controlled,” Matteo said. “And controlled means you’ve been protecting the missing page.”
Celeste’s smile returned. “I’ve been protecting the contract.”
Elena stepped out from behind the crates, her expression sharp and furious. “Who are you working for?”
Celeste looked at her like Elena was a puzzle she’d solved already. “Marzio. Of course.”
“No,” Elena snapped. “Marzio doesn’t do this kind of precision unless someone else is holding the leash.”
Matteo watched Celeste’s eyes flick for a heartbeat toward the darkness beyond the yard. Toward somewhere unseen. Toward someone listening.
That was new. Not the fact of manipulation - Matteo already suspected internal compromise. The fact that Celeste reacted like she’d been trained to measure risk.
Celeste wasn’t the leash-holder. She was the hand.
Matteo’s mind clicked into place: if Celeste was an intermediary, then the missing page wasn’t merely in Marzio’s possession. It was being routed through a chain of custody that had been built to survive Matteo’s interference.
He could break the chain.
He could force Marzio to react in a way that revealed the missing page’s location.
Matteo lowered his gun slightly - not enough to show weakness, just enough to communicate a shift. “If Marzio wants me at the customs yard, then I’ll be there.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed. “You’re already there.”
Matteo didn’t correct her. He turned his head slightly, glancing at Elena. “We move now.”
Elena’s lips parted. “And the witness?”
Matteo looked back toward the hold. He’d left the witness partially sheltered, but not safe. He could hear the men shifting, preparing to follow.
Matteo’s jaw tightened. “He’s not our priority.”
Elena’s eyes flared, hurt and anger colliding. “Matteo - ”
Matteo cut her off. “Not because I don’t care. Because he’s already been used. And if we stay, we become the next use.”
Elena swallowed, and the way she did it told Matteo she was holding back tears that would turn into rage.
He didn’t have time to comfort her. He had to earn her trust again with action, not tenderness.
Matteo stepped forward, close enough to Celeste that the air between them felt charged. “You’re coming with us.”
Celeste didn’t flinch. “I don’t take orders.”
Matteo’s voice went colder. “Then consider it an inconvenience.”
One of the men behind Celeste moved, raising a weapon Matteo couldn’t see clearly in the dim light. Matteo’s sidearm snapped up, aimed not at Celeste’s chest but at the man’s shoulder line - high enough to deter movement, low enough to avoid an execution.
“Stay,” Matteo said.
The man froze.
Celeste’s eyes flicked to Elena. “She has what you need.”
Elena’s chin lifted. “I have proof. You have nothing.”
Celeste’s smile turned brittle. “Proof is only valuable if it reaches the right hands.”
Matteo felt his stomach twist. The way Celeste spoke made it sound like Elena’s evidence had already been assigned a destination. Like someone had already decided the outcome and was merely waiting for the pieces to arrive.
A threat, internal and precise.
Matteo’s phone buzzed again, vibrating against his palm. New directive.
Proceed to customs yard. Do not interfere with Marzio’s retrieval. Maintain custody compliance.
Matteo stared at the screen until the words blurred. Maintain custody compliance. Like Elena was a package. Like Matteo was a handler.
He looked up at Celeste and understood something ugly: the directives weren’t just instructions. They were bait woven into his sense of duty. A leash that tightened whenever he stepped too far away from the script.
He smiled without warmth. “You’re not just an intermediary.”
Celeste’s lips parted slightly. “No?”
“You’re confirmation,” Matteo said. “Someone wants me to choose between obeying and saving her.”
Elena’s gaze snapped to him. “Saving me?”
Matteo held her eyes for a moment, refusing to soften his tone. “Saving you means keeping you alive long enough to finish what you started.”
Celeste’s gaze sharpened. “Finish what?”
Elena’s jaw clenched. She didn’t answer. She didn’t need to.
Matteo moved first, using the crates as cover. He reached for Celeste’s arm with a firm grip. Celeste twisted, fast and controlled, her coat shifting like a blade. Matteo caught her anyway, forcing her body against the edge of the cargo stack.
She hissed - not a scream, not a plea. A sound that said she was trained to fight and still hated being restrained.
The man behind her lunged, and Matteo shoved Celeste hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Then he fired a single round into the ground near the man’s boots.
Concrete exploded. The man swore and backed up instinctively. Matteo didn’t chase him. He dragged Celeste toward the corridor leading out of the hold area and into the open yard.
Celeste fought the whole way, shoulder twisting, her nails scraping the fabric of Matteo’s jacket. Matteo felt the sting through the cloth, the sharp pain reminding him she wasn’t just a pretty face with a tailored coat.
She was dangerous because she could disappear inside a crowd and still keep control of the narrative.
Matteo hauled her behind a low wall overlooking the customs yard. It was abandoned, not empty - old barriers, rusted fencing, piles of tarps that smelled like mildew, and concrete ground slick with rain. A place that carried echoes.
Perfect for an ambush.
Matteo kept his sidearm against Celeste’s ribs, not pressing hard enough to injure, hard enough to stop her from making sudden moves.
Celeste’s voice came out steady, like she was annoyed rather than afraid. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” Matteo’s eyes scanned the yard. He saw movement in the far distance - headlights without vehicles, shadows without bodies. People waiting for his obedience.
He saw the shape of a van half-hidden behind a stack of shipping containers. He saw a man in a dark coat watching from a position too elevated to be accidental.
Marzio’s men. Or Marzio himself.
Matteo’s phone buzzed again, and this time the message was a countdown.
Five minutes. Transfer point established.
Matteo swallowed the urge to rage. He didn’t have five minutes to win. He had five minutes to bait Marzio into revealing where the missing page was being protected.
If Marzio was smart, he wouldn’t bring the page to the open yard. He’d route it through someone Celeste would never touch.
Unless Matteo forced Celeste into being the delivery.
Matteo leaned closer to Celeste, voice low. “Where is it?”
Celeste’s eyes didn’t move from his. “Where is what?”
“The missing page,” Matteo said. “The ledger’s page. The one you’re pretending Elena doesn’t have.”
Celeste’s smile flickered. Not false - just careful. “You’re thinking too simply.”
Matteo’s jaw tightened. “I’m thinking like a man who’s been followed for chapters.”
Elena stepped closer, rain-dark hair clinging slightly to her temple. Her coat was damp at the shoulders, and she looked like she’d been dragged through a storm. She held her ledger key in one hand like a promise.
“You can’t keep it safe forever,” Elena said to Celeste. Her voice was quiet, but it carried the weight of someone who’d already decided she’d burn every bridge if she had to. “The missing page is still active. It’s still decoding. It’s still connected to what you’ve been paying for.”
Celeste’s gaze slid to Elena’s hand. Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “You’re holding the wrong thing.”
Matteo felt something cold settle in his chest. Elena’s evidence mattered, but if Celeste claimed it was wrong, it meant the missing page had a different key pathway - or a different key-holder.
Matteo’s mind raced. The ledger key opened secure data. It didn’t create it. If the missing page was actively protected, someone had likely built a vault around it that required more than one access point.
A second key.
Or a second intermediary.
Matteo’s pulse kicked harder. He could feel the shape of the trap tightening - Marzio anticipating Matteo’s tactics, using the customs yard as a stage, and Celeste as the prop that would guide Matteo into the exact wrong choice.
Matteo looked at Celeste. “You’re not just guarding the missing page.”
Celeste’s lips parted. For a heartbeat, she looked almost offended. “I’m guarding the transfer.”
Matteo’s phone buzzed again. The directive shifted.
Custody personnel will release detainee to Marzio. Compliance required.
Detainee. Celeste. Matteo was supposed to release her.