Chapter 13 - When the Empire Began to Burn
Luca stared at his mother's photograph.
He knew her face.
Older.
Thinner.
But Sofia.
Alive.
The image had been taken in Switzerland.
Isabella explained that Gabriel had kept Sofia hidden for years after the attempted murder.
She survived.
Gabriel discovered it and used threats against Luca to keep her silent.
Eventually she escaped.
She had lived under another identity.
Luca felt betrayed.
Then guilty for feeling betrayed.
They traced her to a small village.
Luca went alone at first.
Natalie waited nearby.
He found Sofia tending flowers behind a modest house.
Mother and son stared at each other across twenty feet.
Sofia dropped the watering can.
"Luca."
He couldn't move.
She crossed the distance.
Then he became a child again.
Natalie watched from the car as Luca embraced his mother.
Later Sofia explained everything.
She had believed Gabriel would kill Luca if she returned.
She had monitored him from afar.
She knew what he had become.
And what he had refused to become.
"I'm proud of you," she told him.
Those words broke him more than grief ever had.
Sofia returned.
She confirmed Samuel's identity.
The trust was settled.
The legitimate Moretti company survived.
Months of chaos finally slowed.
Then an arson attack destroyed one of Luca's hotels.
Nobody died.
But a symbol was painted outside.
Gabriel's symbol.
Impossible.
Gabriel was in federal custody.
Unless someone else had inherited his war.
Police traced the arsonist.
One of Enzo's former men.
The attack wasn't ordered by Gabriel.
It was revenge.
Luca realized violence would keep reproducing itself if he continued living as a symbol of the old organization.
He made a public announcement.
Moretti Holdings would sell every asset connected to his family's former criminal network.
Proceeds would fund restitution programs and legitimate worker-owned businesses.
Old allies called him weak.
Natalie knew better.
Walking away from inherited power required more courage than keeping it.
That night, Luca found her on the balcony.
"I have something for you."
She eyed him.
"If it's groceries, we're past that."
He smiled.
It was a key.
"To what?"
"My house."
Natalie went quiet.
"That's dangerously domestic."
"I've faced worse."
She accepted it.
Then Luca reached into his pocket again.
Natalie's heart jumped.
But it wasn't a ring.
It was a folded grocery receipt.
The original one.
Mom. Friday. Promise.
"You kept this?"
"It ruined my life."
She laughed.
"It improved your life."
"Debatable."
He kissed her.
Then his phone rang.
Sofia.
Luca answered.
His expression changed immediately.
"What?"
Natalie watched his face.
Sofia said something.
Luca whispered, "That's impossible."
He ended the call.
"What happened?"
Luca looked at Natalie.
May you like
"Gabriel escaped custody."
Then every light in the house went out.
