Chapter 6 - The Last Lie
I went downstairs.
Not alone.
Marco entered through the service passage.
Matteo took the utility stairs.
Isabella stayed behind with Elena.
The basement had once been my father's private wine cellar.
Vittorio had turned it into a fortress.
Lily sat in a chair.
She wasn't tied.
Sofia lay nearby holding her shoulder.
Alive.
Blood soaked her sleeve.
Vittorio stood behind Lily.
His gun wasn't pointed at her.
That distinction mattered.
Even monsters created rules for themselves.
“Give me the recorder,” he said.
I held it up.
“Let them go.”
“Sofia can leave.”
“And Lily.”
“No.”
“Why her?”
“Because Marco will burn the world for her.”
“So will I.”
Vittorio smiled sadly.
“I know.”
“You raised me better than this.”
“I raised you to survive.”
“You raised me to believe family mattered.”
“It does.”
“Then prove it.”
His smile disappeared.
“You sound like Salvatore.”
“Good.”
“No. Salvatore's morality made him weak.”
“His morality made people loyal.”
“And where did loyalty get him?”
I moved closer.
“Eleven years later, we're all still fighting for him.”
That landed.
Vittorio's hand trembled.
Lily looked at me.
“Uncle Dante?”
“I'm here.”
“Daddy said you'd come.”
“I always will.”
Vittorio glanced toward her.
That second was enough.
Marco emerged.
“Lily!”
Vittorio spun.
Matteo came from the other side.
“Put it down, Father.”
Vittorio froze.
Marco grabbed Lily.
I pulled Sofia behind cover.
For several seconds Vittorio stared at Matteo.
“You chose them.”
“I chose the truth.”
“I am your father.”
“You used me.”
“I protected you.”
“You made me betray the only people who treated me like family.”
Vittorio raised his gun.
Matteo didn't.
“Don't.”
“You're weak.”
“No.”
Matteo's voice remained calm.
“I finally stopped being afraid of you.”
Vittorio fired.
I moved.
The bullet struck the wall.
Marco returned fire.
Vittorio dropped.
Silence.
Lily buried her face against Marco.
I approached Vittorio.
He was alive.
Shot through the shoulder.
His weapon lay several feet away.
He looked up at me.
“You can't turn me over.”
“Watch me.”
“Your name will be destroyed.”
“Then I'll rebuild it.”
“Everything your father built—”
“My father didn't build this.”
I looked around.
“Fear built this.”
Police sirens approached.
For the first time in my adult life, I had called them myself.
Federal investigators received copies of the ledger, the recording, and Elena's evidence.
Vittorio would face charges for murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, financial crimes, and more.
The empire he had created inside ours collapsed within hours.
But one question remained.
Why had Sofia drugged Elena?
At the hospital, she told us.
“Vittorio ordered me to.”
Elena stared at her.
“You could have killed me.”
“I changed the dose.”
“Why?”
“Because he was watching me.”
Sofia had been forced to cooperate after Vittorio discovered she knew Isabella was alive.
She had drugged Elena lightly enough to survive.
Then deliberately left Lily free.
“Why send Lily to Dante?” Marco asked.
Sofia smiled weakly.
“Because Vittorio underestimated children.”
Lily had carried every piece of evidence without knowing it.
The pendant.
The key.
The flash drive.
The recorder.
And most importantly, the truth.
Three days later, Elena recovered.
Sofia survived surgery.
Matteo turned himself in voluntarily and agreed to testify.
My mother returned to the estate.
Marco did too.
For the first time since I was twenty-one, my family sat at the same table.
It should have felt impossible.
Instead it felt unfinished.
Because Vittorio had said something during interrogation.
There was one more person.
Someone who had helped him the night my father died.
Someone whose identity was not on the ledger.
I visited Vittorio in custody.
“Name them.”
He smiled.
“No.”
“Why protect them?”
“I'm not protecting anyone.”
“Then tell me.”
“Because some truths should stay buried.”
I leaned closer.
“You taught me never to leave an enemy behind.”
Vittorio laughed.
“That was before I realized you were better at this than Salvatore.”
“Name them.”
His smile faded.
“You already invited them back into your home.”
I stood.
My blood went cold.
“Who?”
Vittorio leaned toward the glass.
The guard approached behind him.
Vittorio whispered one word.
I couldn't hear it.
“What?”
He repeated it.
This time I did.
Sofia.
I left immediately.
I called Marco.
No answer.
Elena.
No answer.
Isabella.
No answer.
Then my phone received a message from the estate security system.
FRONT DOOR OPEN.
I pulled up the camera.
Sofia stood inside my entrance hall.
She wasn't alone.
A man stood beside her.
Older.
Scarred.
Someone I recognized from the photograph Elena had hidden beneath the chair.
The fourth face.
The face someone had scratched away.
May you like
He looked directly into the security camera.
Then he smiled.
