Chapter 9 - SOMETIMES SURVIVING IS THE MISSION
Six months changed Newport.
Samuel Ortiz pleaded guilty after prosecutors confronted him with testimony from three Janus operators, records from Elias’s archive, and evidence supplied by Dr. Mercer.
Vittorio refused every deal.
Then two trafficking survivors identified him personally.
His trial became national news.
Ferretti Maritime lost contracts.
Luca sold three companies, closed two shell corporations, and voluntarily placed the legitimate shipping business under independent compliance oversight.
The old men around him called it weakness.
Luca fired the ones who did.
By spring, half of Rhode Island’s underworld had decided Luca Ferretti was either becoming respectable or losing his mind.
Teddy insisted those were not mutually exclusive.
Hope changed too.
She rented her apartment for six months without missing a payment.
She started working at a trauma clinic in Providence.
Not as a doctor.
Not yet.
She began as an emergency medical technician and patient advocate.
The first time she entered an ambulance, she had a panic attack in the parking lot.
She went home.
The next morning, she came back.
By the fifth month, new hires were asking her for advice.
Her relationship with Luca remained unofficial for exactly eleven days.
Then Marta introduced Hope at a charity dinner as “Luca’s girlfriend.”
Hope choked on water.
Luca calmly said, “Accurate.”
Apparently that settled it.
They fought.
Frequently.
Hope accused him of overprotecting.
Luca accused her of treating injuries with duct tape and spite.
She hated his security protocols.
He hated her motorcycle.
She bought the motorcycle specifically because he hated it.
They also learned quieter things.
Luca discovered Hope slept better with the bedroom door cracked open.
Hope learned Luca hated basements but loved early mornings.
He discovered she cried during dog movies.
She discovered he secretly funded a music program for children and threatened Teddy with unemployment when she found out.
Neither repaired the other.
That was the point.
They simply stopped requiring the other person to pretend nothing hurt.
On a warm Saturday in May, Luca drove Hope to a military cemetery outside Boston.
She knew where they were going before he said anything.
Elias Ferretti’s grave sat beneath a maple tree.
Hope stopped twenty feet away.
“I’ve never been here.”
“I know.”
“I couldn’t.”
“I know.”
She looked at Luca.
“I hate when you’re emotionally mature.”
“My therapist is very expensive.”
Hope laughed through sudden tears.
They approached.
The stone was simple.
ELIAS MATTHEW FERRETTI
BELOVED SON AND BROTHER
HE WENT BACK FOR OTHERS
Hope covered her mouth.
“You added that.”
“Yes.”
She knelt.
For a while, she said nothing.
Luca stood several feet away.
Giving her space.
Finally Hope whispered, “You idiot.”
Wind moved through the trees.
“You were supposed to come home.”
Luca looked away.
Hope placed something at the base of the stone.
A packet of hot sauce.
Luca laughed.
“He’d approve.”
“I found thirty of them in my old deployment bag.”
“He probably planted them.”
Hope wiped her eyes.
“I’m sorry I left.”
Luca’s chest tightened.
She was not speaking to him.
“I know you told me to run. I know there was nothing I could do.”
Her voice broke.
“But I’m still sorry.”
Luca crouched beside her.
Hope continued.
“I spent three years thinking surviving meant I had abandoned you.”
Luca took her hand.
“What do you think now?”
Hope read the inscription.
HE WENT BACK FOR OTHERS.
Then she remembered Elias’s recording.
Sometimes surviving is the mission.
“I think he knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That if one of us made it home, maybe the story wasn’t finished.”
Luca squeezed her hand.
“No.”
Hope looked at him.
“It wasn’t.”
They remained until sunset.
Then Luca drove her back to Newport.
She expected dinner.
Instead, he turned toward the estate.
“What are you doing?”
“Kidnapping.”
“Poorly. I know where you live.”
“Technicality.”
When they reached the mansion, dozens of cars filled the drive.
Hope frowned.
“What is this?”
Luca looked suspiciously innocent.
“You’ll see.”
The rear garden had been transformed.
Tables beneath white lights.
Music.
Marta directing caterers like a general.
Dominic wearing a suit and complaining that Teddy had chosen terrible wine.
Raina laughing near the fountain.
Hope stared.
“What did you do?”
Luca took her hand.
“Something Elias wanted.”
She looked at him.
Near the water stood a new sign.
THE ELIAS FERRETTI FOUNDATION FOR SURVIVORS
Hope stopped breathing.
Luca explained quietly.
“The assets seized from the Janus shell companies are tied up for years. But I had money that came from businesses built during my father’s time.”
Hope looked at him.
“I don’t want it.”
“So you gave it away?”
“Not all.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Luca.”
“Teddy says I remain annoyingly wealthy.”
Teddy raised his glass from across the lawn.
“Tragically.”
Luca smiled.
“The foundation funds trauma treatment, emergency housing, and legal support for trafficking survivors and veterans.”
Hope’s eyes filled.
“And?”
Luca looked nervous.
Luca Ferretti.
Nervous.
Hope immediately became suspicious.
“What?”
“There is also a medical scholarship.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Luca.”
“It isn’t for you.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Technically.”
“Luca.”
“It’s open application.”
“You created a scholarship I happen to qualify for?”
“Thousands of people qualify.”
“You are unbelievable.”
“You said you wanted to finish nursing school.”
“I said someday.”
“Someday is famously unreliable.”
Hope stared at him.
Then punched his shoulder.
He winced.
“That was my injured shoulder.”
“It healed six months ago.”
“I remember pain.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve been told.”
She kissed him anyway.
People nearby pretended not to watch.
Marta did not bother pretending.
Later, after speeches and dinner, Hope stood alone near the seawall.
Luca joined her.
“Too much?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry.”
“I didn’t say I hated it.”
He smiled.
They watched the harbor.
Hope said, “I applied.”
“For what?”
“The nursing program.”
Luca turned.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
His face lit.
She pointed at him.
“Do not buy the school.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You thought about it.”
“Briefly.”
Hope laughed.
Luca reached into his pocket.
She immediately stepped backward.
“No.”
He froze.
Hope stared at the small black box.
“Luca.”
He looked genuinely alarmed.
“This is not what you think.”
“You are holding a ring box.”
“It contains a ring.”
“That is generally how this works.”
“But I’m not asking you to marry me.”
Hope blinked.
“That might be the most offensive proposal in history.”
Luca laughed.
“No. Listen.”
He opened the box.
Inside was a simple silver ring.
No diamond.
Engraved around the inside were four words.
SURVIVING IS THE MISSION.
Hope’s eyes filled.
“It was Elias’s phrase,” Luca said.
“I know.”
“I had it made for you.”
She looked at him.
“No question?”
“No question.”
“No obligation?”
“None.”
“Then why are your hands shaking?”
Luca looked down.
“They’re not.”
“They absolutely are.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
Hope held out her hand.
Luca slipped the ring onto her finger.
Perfect fit.
Of course.
“You guessed my size?”
“Marta.”
“Traitor.”
From thirty yards away, Marta shouted, “I HEARD THAT.”
Hope laughed.
Then she leaned against Luca.
For once, neither needed anything else.
Not promises.
Not forever.
Just now.
And now was good.
Until a black SUV stopped at the mansion gates.
Teddy’s phone buzzed.
His expression changed.
Luca noticed immediately.
“What?”
Teddy walked toward them.
“Federal agents.”
Hope’s stomach dropped.
“Why?”
Teddy looked grim.
“They found a surviving Janus account.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“And?”
“It contains a scheduled payment.”
“To who?”
Teddy looked directly at Hope.
“The payment was created three years ago.”
Hope went cold.
“Who was supposed to receive it?”
Teddy handed her the phone.
The name on the screen nearly stopped her heart.
HOPE WHITAKER.
Luca stared.
Someone had paid Janus five hundred thousand dollars.
In Hope’s name.
May you like
Three days before Elias died.
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