Chapter 8 - WHAT SOPHIA KNEW
Dante was captured before he reached open water.
Lorenzo did not execute him.
Every man on the dock expected him to.
Even Dante seemed to.
Instead, Lorenzo looked toward Hunter holding Leo.
Her earlier words echoed inside him.
Think like a father.
Not a boss.
“Take him upstairs.”
Nico stared.
“Boss?”
“Alive.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“You’ve become exactly what Sophia wanted.”
Lorenzo looked at him.
“Yes.”
The answer silenced everyone.
Lorenzo collapsed thirty seconds later.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder without hitting an artery.
Dr. Halloran treated him in the mansion medical room while Hunter remained nearby with Leo.
By dawn, the estate was secure again.
Celia gave a full statement.
She had been approached by Dante six weeks earlier.
He knew her younger brother had gambling debts.
He paid them.
Then he offered her more money to take a private nursing position at the Rossi estate.
At first, he asked for information.
Leo’s weight.
Medication.
Feeding schedule.
Then he asked Celia to add something to prepared bottles.
She claimed she had been told it would only create temporary symptoms.
By the time she realized Leo was dying, Dante threatened her brother.
“I kept telling myself I would stop.”
Celia sat in Lorenzo's study with Nico recording every word.
“But every day he looked worse.”
Hunter stood in the doorway.
Celia looked at her.
“When you fed him, I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That it was never his body.”
Celia cried harder.
“It was us.”
Hunter felt anger rise.
“You watched him starve.”
“I know.”
“You sat beside him.”
“I know.”
“You heard him cry.”
Celia covered her face.
Hunter wanted to hate her.
Part of her did.
But she also saw a frightened woman who had made terrible choices one compromise at a time.
Lorenzo entered wearing a sling.
His face was pale.
Nico stood.
“You should be resting.”
“I’ll rest when my house stops producing traitors.”
Celia looked up.
Lorenzo sat opposite her.
“Who planted the bomb?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“Dante didn't do it personally.”
“No.”
“Who?”
“He used contractors.”
“Names.”
“I only heard one.”
Lorenzo waited.
“Caleb Shaw.”
Nico's face changed.
Lorenzo noticed.
“You know him?”
“He was Moretti security.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
The pieces connected.
Dante had used a Moretti man to build the bomb.
After Sophia died, the evidence naturally pointed toward the Moretti family.
Lorenzo had done exactly what Dante expected.
He started a war.
While Lorenzo burned his enemies, Dante erased financial trails and consolidated control.
Hunter looked at Lorenzo.
“You were manipulated.”
“That doesn't excuse what I did.”
She was surprised by the answer.
Lorenzo looked toward the window.
“I buried men because I wanted someone to pay.”
“I never stopped long enough to ask whether I was right.”
Hunter said nothing.
There was no comforting answer.
Some guilt deserved to remain.
Nico placed another file on the desk.
“We recovered Dante's phone.”
“What’s on it?”
“Messages.”
“Transfers.”
“Recordings.”
He hesitated.
“And communications about Sophia.”
Lorenzo's hand tightened.
“Show me.”
One message had been sent the morning of the gala.
CAR MUST NOT REACH THE ESTATE.
Another arrived minutes after the explosion.
L DEAD?
Dante had replied.
ALIVE.
WOMAN DEAD.
BABY UNKNOWN.
Hunter looked away.
Lorenzo read every line.
His face showed nothing.
Then he reached the final message.
Two weeks after Leo's birth.
IF CHILD SURVIVES, LORENZO RECOVERS.
IF CHILD DIES, HE BREAKS.
BEGIN SLOWLY.
Hunter felt sick.
Lorenzo shut the phone off.
Dante had not wanted Leo dead only for money.
He wanted Lorenzo destroyed.
Sophia's death had not been enough.
He wanted Lorenzo to watch his son die too.
Hunter walked to the nursery.
Leo was sleeping.
She sat beside him.
A few minutes later Lorenzo joined her.
He remained in the doorway.
“I almost lost him because I trusted the wrong person.”
Hunter shook her head.
“You almost lost him because someone betrayed you.”
“There’s a difference.”
“Is there?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
“If you turn betrayal into proof that you can never trust anyone again, Dante still wins.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
Hunter touched Leo's tiny hand.
“You don’t have to trust everyone.”
“Just learn who deserves it.”
Lorenzo looked at his son.
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you?”
“Deserve it?”
“Yes.”
Hunter considered.
“I broke into your nursery.”
“You saved my son.”
“I insult you constantly.”
“I noticed.”
“I brought Tommy into your life without knowing it.”
“That one isn’t yours.”
Hunter looked down.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
“I trust you with Leo.”
Her eyes lifted.
For Lorenzo Rossi, there was no greater sentence.
Hunter understood that.
Her throat tightened.
“Then I won't fail him.”
May you like
Lorenzo looked at her for a long moment.
“I know.”
