Chapter 8 - THE DEBT ELIAS LEFT BEHIND
Three weeks later, Newport was still burning.
Not literally.
Although one Ferretti warehouse had mysteriously caught fire after federal agents finished removing evidence from it.
Raina suspected Teddy.
Teddy blamed old electrical wiring.
Luca said nothing.
The newspapers were less restrained.
FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL LINKED TO INTERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING NETWORK.
FERRETTI SHIPPING RECORDS EXPOSE JANUS OPERATION.
MISSING BUSINESSMAN VITTORIO FERRETTI ARRESTED.
And the headline Luca hated most:
MAFIA HEIR HELPED DISMANTLE FAMILY CRIME EMPIRE.
“I’m not an heir,” he muttered.
Hope, sitting at his kitchen island eating cereal from an oversized bowl, looked at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She had planned to leave two days after Breakwater House.
She had been at Luca’s mansion for twenty-three days.
Not because Luca asked her to stay.
He had learned better.
Instead, Marta kept finding reasons Hope couldn’t leave.
The guest room curtains needed replacing.
The doctor wanted to check Hope’s arm.
Teddy’s shoulder was “acting strange.”
Dominic apparently required assistance with a computer password despite having operated international businesses since before Hope was born.
Every excuse was terrible.
Hope understood all of them.
She stayed anyway.
Luca entered the kitchen wearing a dark suit.
Hope looked him over.
“You look expensive.”
“I am expensive.”
She snorted.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“The man the newspapers think murders people over table reservations.”
“I have never murdered anyone over a reservation.”
“Comforting.”
“Maiming remains unconfirmed.”
Hope stared.
Luca smiled.
She threw a blueberry at him.
He caught it.
Marta entered.
“No throwing food.”
They both looked guilty.
Marta pointed at Luca.
“And you have court.”
“I know.”
“At ten.”
“I know.”
“And Hope has an appointment.”
Hope’s smile vanished.
Marta folded her arms.
“Therapy.”
“I remember.”
Luca looked at Hope but wisely said nothing.
She had begun trauma therapy twelve days earlier.
The first session lasted seventeen minutes before she walked out.
The second lasted thirty-four.
Yesterday, she completed an hour.
Luca had never praised her.
She appreciated that.
Praise made it feel like she was performing recovery for someone else.
Instead, after each appointment, he asked one question.
Coffee or food?
Then he took her wherever she chose.
Today, she said, “Coffee.”
He nodded.
“After court.”
Hope frowned.
“I can drive myself.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you taking me?”
“Because I want coffee.”
“You hate the coffee shop near Dr. Patel.”
“I have suffered worse.”
Marta turned away to hide a smile.
The federal hearing began at ten.
Samuel Ortiz sat at one table.
Vittorio Ferretti at another.
Both had been denied bail.
Dr. Calvin Mercer had been arrested at Logan Airport after attempting to leave for Iceland.
His cooperation had broken open the medical side of Janus.
He admitted he had found Elias’s capsule hidden inside Hope’s trauma kit after the explosion.
Elias had apparently written a note.
KEEP WITH WHITAKER. SHE’LL KNOW.
Mercer panicked.
Janus operatives were already searching the hospital.
So he concealed the capsule beneath Hope’s damaged tissue during surgery.
He claimed he was protecting the evidence.
Hope believed he was protecting himself.
Both could be true.
The biggest shock came halfway through the hearing.
An assistant U.S. attorney stood.
“We have obtained financial evidence identifying seventeen additional Janus facilitators, including three port officials, two former military contractors, one sitting judge, and multiple corporate officers.”
Reporters exploded into whispers.
Luca sat beside Hope.
He felt her hand close around his.
She noticed.
Started to release him.
He turned his palm upward and held on.
The prosecutor continued.
“Evidence supplied by Elias Ferretti and Hope Whitaker was essential to identifying these individuals.”
Hope went rigid.
Cameras turned.
Luca leaned toward her.
“Breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
“You’re attempting murder through hand pressure.”
She realized she was crushing his fingers.
“Sorry.”
“Keep going if it helps.”
Hope almost laughed.
The judge ordered additional indictments sealed.
Outside the courthouse, reporters swarmed.
“Miss Whitaker!”
“Hope!”
“Were you romantically involved with Elias Ferretti?”
She stopped.
Luca’s head snapped toward the reporter.
“No,” Hope said.
Another reporter shouted.
“Then why did he trust you?”
Hope stared at the microphones.
Three years earlier, she would have fled.
Now she stood.
“Because he was my friend.”
The crowd quieted slightly.
“He was irritating, reckless, terrible at cards, and brave when bravery actually mattered.”
Luca lowered his eyes.
Hope continued.
“He discovered people were being hurt and refused to look away. That’s why he died.”
A reporter asked, “Do you blame the Ferretti family?”
Hope looked toward Luca.
“I blame the people who made the choices.”
Another voice.
“Is Luca Ferretti one of them?”
Hope faced the cameras.
“No.”
Luca looked at her.
“He had a chance to become exactly what the men before him were,” Hope said. “He didn’t.”
Luca’s throat tightened.
“That matters.”
They escaped into the SUV.
Teddy pulled away.
For two blocks, nobody spoke.
Then Luca said, “You defended me.”
Hope stared out the window.
“I stated facts.”
“You called me morally redeemable on television.”
“I absolutely did not.”
“I heard it.”
“You have trauma-related hallucinations.”
Teddy coughed into his fist.
Luca smiled.
At the coffee shop, Hope ordered an enormous vanilla latte.
Luca ordered espresso.
“You really do hate joy,” she said.
“Sugar is not joy.”
“Your childhood explains so much.”
His smile faded only slightly.
Hope noticed.
“Sorry.”
“No.”
He looked out the window.
“Don’t be.”
She waited.
Luca had begun therapy too.
Not because anyone forced him.
That surprised Hope more than anything.
His therapist specialized in childhood trauma and men who preferred punching furniture over discussing emotions.
Apparently business was excellent.
“My therapist asked me what I wanted,” Luca said.
Hope smiled.
“Terrifying question.”
“Extremely.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him stability.”
“That sounds fake.”
“It was.”
“What did you actually want?”
Luca looked at her.
“You.”
Hope stopped.
The coffee shop noise faded.
Luca continued before she could speak.
“That’s not me asking you for anything.”
“Luca—”
“I know you may leave.”
Hope stared at him.
“I know you’re rebuilding your life. I know I’m… complicated.”
“You have armed security at a coffee shop.”
“They’re discreet.”
A man pretending to read a newspaper four tables away immediately looked down.
Hope snorted.
Luca continued.
“I don’t want gratitude. I don’t want you staying because of Elias. I don’t want you feeling safe only because my walls are high.”
His eyes held hers.
“I want you to choose whatever comes next.”
Hope’s throat tightened.
“And if I choose leaving?”
“I drive you wherever you want.”
“No guards?”
“No.”
“No tracking?”
“No.”
“No mysterious men ensuring I’m safe from across the street?”
Luca hesitated.
Hope raised an eyebrow.
He sighed.
“No mysterious men.”
“Good.”
They finished their coffee.
Outside, Hope stopped beside the SUV.
“I need to show you something.”
She handed Luca an envelope.
Inside was a lease.
Small apartment.
Providence.
Luca read it.
His chest tightened.
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
He nodded slowly.
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I’ll have Teddy—”
“No.”
“Right.”
Hope touched his arm.
“I need a home that’s mine.”
He looked at her.
“I know.”
“I need to know I can sleep inside because I chose the walls.”
“I know.”
“And I need a job that isn’t delivering food until two in the morning.”
“I know.”
She smiled faintly.
“You keep saying that.”
“It prevents me from saying several less helpful things.”
Hope laughed.
Then she grew serious.
“This isn’t goodbye.”
Luca looked up.
“No?”
“No.”
Her hand slid behind his neck.
She kissed him.
Brief.
Soft.
Enough to erase every thought from Luca Ferretti’s mind.
Hope stepped back.
His expression made her grin.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
She walked toward the SUV.
Luca remained beside the curb.
Teddy lowered the passenger window.
“Boss?”
Luca didn’t move.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We should probably leave.”
Luca touched his mouth.
“Did she just—”
“Yes.”
“Right.”
Teddy smiled.
Hope leaned across the back seat.
“Are you coming?”
Luca got in.
The next morning, he helped carry two cardboard boxes into Hope’s new apartment.
He complained about the stairs.
She accused him of being spoiled.
He bought her absolutely nothing.
Because she had specifically ordered him not to.
Instead, he placed one object on the kitchen counter.
Elias’s old photograph.
The five of them standing beneath the Syrian sun.
Hope touched the frame.
“I thought you should have it,” Luca said.
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because he trusted you first.”
Hope’s eyes filled.
Luca headed toward the door.
“Dinner Friday?”
“Is that an order?”
He glanced back.
“Extremely aggressive invitation.”
Hope smiled.
“Seven o’clock.”
Luca left.
Hope locked the door behind him.
Then unlocked it.
Then locked it again.
Her own door.
Her own apartment.
Her own choice.
She leaned against it and smiled.
For the first time in years, she had somewhere to disappear to.
May you like
And for the first time in years, she didn’t want to.
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