Chapter 7 - THE PRICE OF A MOTHER
Isabella demanded Elena decode three banking keys.
In exchange, she would release her.
We knew she was lying.
Damiano offered a trade.
Original ledger.
For Elena.
Location:
Abandoned theater in Brooklyn.
Victor loved old buildings.
Places with hidden exits.
We arrived at midnight.
Isabella stood on stage.
Elena tied to a chair.
Victor beside her.
Alive.
Older than photographs.
Elegant.
Unhurried.
"Damiano."
"Victor."
He looked at me.
"Sophia Marin."
Then smiled.
"The invisible sister."
I hated him immediately.
"You threatened my daughter."
"Technically, Elena's."
Damiano stepped forward.
"Careful."
Victor laughed.
"You've become sentimental."
"Expensive mistake to test."
The ledger was inside a black case.
Victor wanted proof.
Damiano opened it.
Original handwritten books.
Keys.
Names.
Victor's life's work.
He almost looked emotional.
Then said:
"Give it to Isabella."
Damiano didn't move.
Victor placed a gun against Elena's head.
I screamed.
Damiano tossed the case.
Isabella caught it.
Opened.
Then froze.
Empty pages.
Decoy.
Victor fired.
But Elena dropped sideways with the chair.
The bullet missed.
Lights exploded.
Damiano's teams entered.
Chaos.
I ran toward Elena.
Isabella grabbed me.
Knife against my throat.
"Stop!"
Everyone froze.
Her breath came fast.
She was no longer the polished woman in silver.
She looked terrified.
"You took everything from me."
I whispered:
"I didn't take anything."
"You had nothing."
"Exactly."
That confused her.
"You were a maid."
"I still am."
"You became important because of him."
"No."
I looked toward Emma's father.
"I became important because I stopped believing women like you when they told me I wasn't."
Her grip tightened.
Then Elena kicked her knee.
I dropped.
Damiano moved.
Isabella hit the floor.
Weapon kicked away.
Matteo restrained her.
Victor fled backstage.
Enzo pursued.
A gunshot.
Then another.
Victor reached the roof.
Damiano followed.
I shouldn't have.
I did.
On the roof, rain covered old tar and rusted signs.
Victor stood near the edge.
Gun pointed at Damiano.
"You think you're different from your father?"
Damiano lowered his weapon slightly.
"Yes."
Victor laughed.
"Salvatore said the same thing."
"He built something rotten."
"And you inherited it."
"Then I'll dismantle it."
That genuinely shocked Victor.
"You'd throw away everything?"
"No."
Damiano looked at him.
"I'll keep what's legitimate."
"And the rest?"
"Burn."
Victor shook his head.
"You're weak."
Damiano smiled.
"My daughter disagrees."
Victor fired.
Damiano moved.
Enzo shot Victor's weapon from his hand.
Victor stumbled near the edge.
For one second, Damiano could have let him fall.
Victor almost expected it.
Instead, Damiano grabbed his wrist.
Saved him.
Police sirens approached below.
Victor stared.
"Why?"
Damiano pulled him back onto the roof.
"Because you don't get to become another dead man everyone lies about."
Victor was arrested alive.
So was Isabella.
Elena survived.
The ledger went to prosecutors.
And the East Coast underworld changed overnight.
But consequences came.
Damiano's own businesses were investigated.
Several lieutenants resigned.
Some were arrested for older crimes.
News outlets called it the Moretti collapse.
Damiano called it cleaning house.
For the first time, I understood what he wanted.
Not to become a better Mafia king.
May you like
To stop being one.
That terrified his allies more than war.
