Chapter 9 - THE LAST SECRET
Lorenzo survived.
Sophia did not believe it until she saw him open his eyes at Northwestern Memorial the next afternoon.
He had lost too much blood before Emma found him.
The repeated strain had worsened everything.
But the surgeons were optimistic.
The police officer outside his room was less optimistic about Lorenzo’s freedom.
Matteo’s arrest had opened investigations into years of Duca operations.
Vincent spent twelve hours with federal prosecutors.
Marco spent nine.
Lorenzo’s attorneys spent almost all of their time looking angry.
Sophia didn’t care.
Lorenzo was alive.
Her mother was alive.
Nico was alive.
Emma was currently coloring on a legal pad in the hospital waiting room.
Biscotti had been returned to the estate under direct supervision.
For once.
Dr. Ricci was arrested.
Gabriella visited him.
Sophia did not.
Then Detective Naomi Brooks asked to speak with Sophia.
They sat near the hospital cafeteria.
Brooks placed the missing coat button in an evidence bag on the table.
“That button is the reason we can connect Ricci directly to the cellar.”
Sophia looked at it.
“And the scissors?”
“Leather fibers on the broken blade match Ricci’s gloves. The paint matches equipment stored at the clinic.”
Emma’s craft scissors had done what dozens of armed men had failed to do.
They had preserved the truth.
Brooks placed another item on the table.
Lorenzo’s broken pocket watch.
“The memory card contained more than the audio you heard.”
“What else?”
“A financial file.”
Sophia frowned.
“Lorenzo hid financial records inside a watch?”
“Apparently he enjoys drama.”
“That sounds like him.”
Brooks almost smiled.
“The records show Lorenzo began quietly dismantling his family’s criminal businesses eighteen months ago.”
Sophia stared.
“He was planning to leave?”
“To convert everything he legally could and cooperate on what he couldn’t.”
“Did anyone know?”
“Only one person.”
“Vincent?”
“No.”
“Marco?”
“No.”
Brooks pushed a document toward her.
“His father.”
Sophia’s breath caught.
Giuseppe Duca had not opposed Lorenzo’s reforms.
He had supported them.
The old man had spent the final year of his life helping Lorenzo move legitimate employees, pensions, and companies away from criminal operations.
Matteo discovered it.
That was why Giuseppe became dangerous.
“And Ricci?” Sophia asked.
Brooks sighed.
“His role is complicated.”
Ricci had altered Giuseppe’s medication.
But not to kill him.
Giuseppe had suffered a genuine cardiac event.
Ricci had panicked because Matteo threatened Gabriella and forced him to falsify the exact timeline of death, allowing Matteo to manipulate several trust transfers.
Ricci had spent years trapped by the first lie.
Every compromise made the next easier.
Until eventually he was helping men bind Lorenzo beneath his own home.
“So did he kill Giuseppe?”
“No.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Lorenzo needed to know.
When she entered his room, he was staring at the Chicago skyline.
“You’re supposed to rest.”
“I’ve been informed.”
“You don’t listen?”
“I’ve also been informed.”
Sophia pulled a chair beside the bed.
“They know what happened to your father.”
He looked at her.
She told him everything.
When she finished, Lorenzo said nothing for a long time.
“He supported me.”
“Yes.”
“I thought he believed I was destroying his legacy.”
“He was helping you.”
Lorenzo turned toward the window.
“He never said it.”
“Maybe he thought you knew.”
“We were Italian men in a criminal family, Sophia. Nobody knew anything unless it was yelled.”
She laughed softly.
He smiled.
Then the humor disappeared.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“With Matteo?”
“With you.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“The prosecutors have offered preliminary terms.”
Her stomach tightened.
“What terms?”
“Full cooperation. Asset forfeiture from illegal businesses. Testimony.”
“And prison?”
“Possibly.”
“How long?”
“They don’t know.”
Sophia looked down.
Lorenzo continued.
“I’m accepting.”
Her head lifted.
“You haven’t even negotiated.”
“My lawyers are negotiating.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“I know.”
He looked tired.
“But if I spend the rest of my life telling Emma that power doesn’t excuse cruelty, I can’t ask another rule for myself.”
Sophia’s throat tightened.
“You didn’t create everything your family did.”
“No.”
“You stopped some of it.”
“Yes.”
“You saved people.”
“Sometimes.”
“And you did terrible things too?”
Lorenzo looked directly at her.
“Yes.”
There was no pride.
No performance.
Just truth.
Sophia nodded.
“Then tell the truth.”
“I will.”
She stood.
He caught her hand.
“Sophia.”
She looked down.
“I need to say something before my attorneys turn my life into twelve binders.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It is.”
He swallowed.
“You and Emma need to leave the estate.”
Her heart dropped.
“What?”
“If people know you matter to me—”
“Stop.”
“This is not an argument.”
“It is now.”
“Sophia.”
“You don’t get to protect people by deciding they disappear.”
His face hardened.
“I almost got your entire family killed.”
“Matteo did.”
“Because of me.”
“Because of his choices.”
Lorenzo looked away.
Sophia understood suddenly.
He was afraid.
Not of prison.
Of loving something he could lose.
She squeezed his hand.
“Emma found you because she loves you.”
He looked back.
“She is three.”
“She’s very decisive.”
That earned a small laugh.
“And me?” he asked quietly.
Sophia’s heart pounded.
“What about you?”
“Why did you come to the clinic?”
“My mother was there.”
“After you found her.”
Silence.
Sophia hated her mother for being right.
“I thought you might need help.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting while you’re attached to three machines.”
He smiled.
“Coward.”
“Rest.”
She reached the door.
“Sophia.”
She turned.
Lorenzo looked strangely vulnerable.
“When I get out of this bed, I’m asking again.”
Her face warmed.
“Then you’d better survive physical therapy.”
That night, Sophia returned home with Emma.
She found an envelope taped to her apartment door.
No stamp.
No name.
Inside was a photograph of Lorenzo leaving the hospital years earlier with his father.
Someone had drawn a black X across Lorenzo’s face.
May you like
On the back were six words.
MATTEO WAS NEVER THE LAST ONE.
