Chapter 6 - Before Five Dons
Serafina Conti entered without fear.
That was the first thing Luca noticed.
Not her age.
Not the blue box.
Not even the two men behind her.
Fear.
She had none.
She looked seventy.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Wearing a dark green coat and black gloves.
She could have been arriving for dinner.
Isabella stepped forward.
“Serafina.”
Serafina smiled.
“Isabella.”
“You should have stayed dead.”
“So should you.”
Luca positioned himself between Serafina and Emma.
Elena pulled Emma behind her.
Serafina noticed.
Her smile widened.
“The great Luca Romano finally discovered he has a daughter.”
“What do you want?”
“I wanted peace prevented.”
“You failed.”
“Did I?”
“The dons are alive.”
“For now.”
Marco shifted.
Serafina looked at him.
“Still loyal, Marco?”
“More than your friends.”
“Your brother wasn't.”
Gabriel entered from behind.
“My loyalty changed when I learned what you did.”
Serafina sighed.
“Men become sentimental with age.”
Luca pointed toward the blue box.
“Put it down.”
She did.
“Open it.”
“Elena already knows what's inside.”
“I asked you.”
Serafina opened the lid.
Letters.
Photographs.
Financial ledgers.
A small cassette tape.
Luca stared.
Serafina picked up one photograph.
It showed Luca’s father with Isabella, Gabriel, Vittorio Caruso, and Serafina herself.
Dated thirty-two years earlier.
“We built everything together,” Serafina said.
“Then you destroyed it.”
“No. Men destroyed it. I learned to profit from their stupidity.”
“By killing my father?”
“He became inconvenient.”
Isabella lunged forward.
Gabriel held her back.
Serafina barely reacted.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“You admit it.”
“Admission isn't evidence.”
Carlo lifted his phone slightly.
“It is when you're being recorded.”
For the first time, Serafina’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
Then she smiled again.
“You think I came here without insurance?”
Luca looked at the two men behind her.
They were nervous.
Serafina wasn't.
“What insurance?”
“Five families received packages twenty minutes ago.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“What packages?”
“Evidence.”
“Real?”
“Enough of it.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That you planned to murder them.”
Marco swore.
Serafina continued.
“Your desk. Your building. Your security credentials. A device placed where only your people could access it.”
“You planted it.”
“Can you prove that?”
Luca looked at Sofia.
Serafina followed his gaze.
“Ah. The bride.”
Sofia stepped forward.
“You used me.”
“I educated you.”
“You threatened Emma.”
“I encouraged discretion.”
“She’s a child.”
Serafina’s smile vanished.
“Children grow into adults. Adults become leverage.”
Luca moved before anyone realized.
He crossed the distance between them and stopped inches from Serafina.
His voice was quiet.
“Say another word about my daughter.”
Serafina studied him.
Then looked beyond him toward Emma.
“Your daughter.”
Luca did not flinch.
“Yes.”
Elena stared at him.
Sofia did too.
Luca turned toward everyone.
For six years, Emma had been hidden.
For six years, Elena had protected her.
For six years, Luca had lived in the same world as his child without knowing.
That ended now.
He looked at Emma.
Then at Elena.
“Elena Bellini and Emma are under my protection.”
Serafina laughed.
“Your protection hasn't been impressive today.”
Luca ignored her.
“Elena is not my maid anymore.”
Elena blinked.
“Luca—”
“No.”
“What are you doing?”
“What I should have done years ago if I'd known.”
He faced Sofia.
She understood before he said it.
The engagement was finished.
No dramatic accusation.
No public humiliation.
Only truth.
“Sofia.”
She swallowed.
“I know.”
“I won't marry you.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know.”
“This arrangement ends today.”
“Yes.”
Serafina smiled.
“And there goes the Caruso alliance.”
Sofia turned.
“No.”
Serafina’s smile faded.
Sofia removed the engagement ring.
She placed it on the table.
“My father and I disagree about many things. But neither of us will stand with you.”
“Your father is a coward.”
“Maybe.”
Sofia lifted her chin.
“But today I'm choosing what kind of woman I become.”
Luca looked at Elena.
Then Emma.
Before five dons.
Before his mother.
Before his advisers.
Before the woman he had once planned to marry.
He made his choice.
“Elena.”
She stared at him.
“I can't undo six years.”
“No.”
“I can't ask you to trust me because we share a child.”
“No.”
“But I can tell everyone in this room that Emma is mine.”
Elena's breath caught.
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“Serafina threatened you because of me too.”
“She threatened me because she thinks I’m leverage.”
“You are.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
Luca continued.
“You are Emma’s mother. That makes you family.”
Serafina laughed.
“Careful, Luca. That sounded almost like a claim.”
Luca turned toward her.
“It is.”
The room fell silent.
“Elena Bellini stands with me.”
Elena whispered, “You don't get to decide that.”
Luca looked at her.
“You're right.”
Then he faced Serafina again.
“So I'll say it differently. Anyone who threatens Elena or Emma answers to me.”
Marco stepped beside him.
“So do I.”
Gabriel joined.
“And me.”
Isabella took Elena’s hand.
“And me.”
Sofia stepped forward.
Serafina looked at her in disbelief.
Sofia said, “And me.”
For the first time, Serafina looked surrounded.
Not by weapons.
By choices she no longer controlled.
Her phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Luca watched.
Serafina turned toward the door.
The five dons entered.
Marchetti first.
Falcone.
Santoro.
Russo.
Deluca.
Serafina stared.
“You were supposed to leave.”
Marchetti smiled thinly.
“We changed our minds.”
Luca looked at Carlo.
Carlo shrugged.
“I may have told them where we were.”
Marchetti stepped closer to Serafina.
“I received your package.”
Serafina regained composure.
“Then you know Romano betrayed you.”
Marchetti lifted a paper.
“I know the evidence was too perfect.”
Falcone added, “And all five packages arrived from the same courier network.”
Santoro smiled.
“Caruso-owned.”
Sofia spoke.
“Not my father’s order.”
Serafina looked toward the exit.
Two of her men stepped backward.
Marchetti said, “We compared notes.”
Deluca added, “Something we should have done years ago.”
Russo tossed a folder onto the table.
“Your companies profited from every dispute between us.”
Serafina remained silent.
Luca realized what was happening.
The peace meeting had succeeded.
Not because they signed a document.
Because someone tried to destroy them together.
Serafina reached into her coat.
Carlo reacted instantly.
“Hands where we can see them.”
She stopped.
Nobody fired.
Nobody needed to.
Serafina slowly removed a phone.
She placed it on the table.
“I suppose this is the part where you all congratulate yourselves.”
“No,” Luca said.
“This is the part where you answer questions.”
She looked at him.
“You think you've won?”
“I think you lost control.”
Serafina smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“The device beneath your desk was only the first message.”
Marco stepped closer.
“What other message?”
Serafina looked directly at Isabella.
“The second was delivered to Luca’s house this morning.”
Luca went cold.
“What was delivered?”
Serafina smiled.
“A letter.”
“From whom?”
“Your father.”
Luca stared.
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then how?”
“I kept one thing he wrote before I killed him.”
Isabella whispered, “Serafina, don't.”
Luca looked at his mother.
“What is in that letter?”
Serafina’s smile deepened.
“Something Isabella has spent thirty years making sure you never learned.”
Luca turned toward his mother.
Her face had collapsed.
He took one step toward her.
“What did my father write?”
Isabella said nothing.
Then Luca’s phone vibrated.
His home security system had detected someone inside his private study.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
The envelope lay on his father’s old desk.
May you like
His name was written across the front.
LUCA—IF I AM DEAD, ASK YOUR MOTHER WHAT SHE PROMISED SERAFINA.
