Chapter 14 - ISABELLA’S FINAL MOVE
Federal vehicles surrounded the cannery.
FBI.
State Police.
Federal marshals.
Aleandro stared at the flashing lights.
“This is not good.”
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“You think?”
Raffaele struggled to sit up.
“Carlo must’ve tipped them.”
“No,” a woman’s voice said.
Lucia stepped through the warehouse door.
Aleandro stared.
“You?”
Lucia nodded.
“I called them.”
His face hardened.
“You set us up.”
“I saved what’s left of this family.”
Federal agents entered behind her.
Weapons raised.
“Guns down!”
Aleandro looked at Elena.
Then Sofia.
Then Marco’s body.
Slowly, he placed his weapon on the floor.
Raffaele did the same.
An agent approached Lucia.
“You have the evidence?”
“Yes.”
She handed him a folder.
Aleandro stared at her.
“What did you do?”
“What Isabella asked me to do twenty years ago.”
Elena froze.
“You knew?”
Lucia looked at her.
“Your mother mailed me a letter six months before she died.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She made me promise not to unless someone came after you.”
Elena’s anger rose.
“Everybody in this family loves promises that ruin other people’s lives.”
Lucia accepted the blow.
“You’re right.”
The lead agent stepped closer.
“Aleandro Moretti?”
“Yes.”
“You’re being detained pending an investigation into several federal offenses.”
Sofia grabbed Aleandro’s hand.
“No.”
Everybody stopped.
The agent looked down.
Sofia frowned at him.
“He got shot.”
The agent blinked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So hospital first.”
Elena almost laughed.
The agent looked at Aleandro.
Aleandro shrugged.
“She’s difficult.”
Sofia glared at him.
“Say sorry.”
He looked down at her.
“For what?”
“For saying I’m difficult.”
Aleandro stared at her.
Then smiled.
“I’m sorry.”
The grand lesson had finally been learned.
Hours later, Aleandro lay in a hospital bed under guard.
The bullet had passed through without hitting anything vital.
Raffaele was in surgery.
Elena sat beside Sofia in the waiting area.
Lucia approached carrying the torn rabbit.
“He fixed it.”
Elena looked up.
“What?”
Lucia handed Sofia the toy.
The ear had been awkwardly sewn back on with black thread.
Sofia smiled.
“Mr. Moretti did it?”
“Before surgery.”
Elena swallowed.
Of course he had.
Lucia sat beside her.
“There’s something else.”
She handed Elena another envelope.
The writing was Isabella’s.
Elena closed her eyes.
“How many letters did my mother hide?”
“Enough to make us all look stupid.”
That sounded like something Elena might have said.
She opened it.
My Elena,
If the Morettis ever find you, you must understand that Aleandro was never the man I feared.
He was the reason I survived.
Elena read slowly.
I left him because I loved him enough to know that Vittorio would use us to destroy him.
I planned to return when it was safe.
It never became safe.
I should have told him about you.
That was my greatest mistake.
Elena wiped her eyes.
The letter continued.
Do not inherit my fear.
Do not inherit their hatred.
If Aleandro is still alive, tell him I never stopped loving him.
And tell him I forgave him long before he learned to forgive himself.
Elena cried silently.
Sofia climbed into her lap.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Why are you sad?”
“I miss Grandma.”
Sofia hugged her.
“She’s in heaven.”
“I know.”
“She can see us.”
Elena kissed her forehead.
“I hope so.”
Across the hallway, Aleandro stood in his hospital doorway.
He had heard everything.
His eyes were wet.
Elena looked at him.
Neither spoke.
Then an FBI agent approached Aleandro.
“We need to talk.”
Aleandro nodded.
The agent lowered his voice.
“Carlo Vescari wasn’t the last name on Isabella’s ledger.”
Aleandro’s expression changed.
“Who was?”
May you like
The agent looked toward Lucia.
“Your sister.”
