Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Ara stared upward.
Her mother, Sofia Valenti, stood beside Anthony Serrano.
Impossible.
Ara had attended her funeral too.
For eleven years she had believed one parent dead.
Now both were alive.
Sofia descended the stairs.
Ara shook her head.
"No."
"Ara."
"Don't."
Sofia stopped.
Anthony smiled.
"Family reunions are emotional."
Leo pointed his gun at him.
"Untie Gabriel."
Anthony laughed.
"You're still your father's son."
Leo's eyes became cold.
"That's not a compliment."
Sofia interrupted.
"Anthony, enough."
Something in her voice changed the room.
Anthony obeyed.
Leo noticed immediately.
Sofia was not his prisoner.
She was above him.
Ara realized the same thing.
"You run this?"
Sofia looked at her daughter.
"Not exactly."
"Stop speaking in riddles!"
Her voice echoed.
Sofia flinched.
Ara's eyes filled.
"You let me bury both of you."
Gabriel shouted from the chair.
"Sofia, tell her."
"Quiet."
Sofia turned toward Leo.
"Your father discovered an internal network using his organization for trafficking, extortion, and political bribery."
Leo's expression remained unreadable.
"He tried dismantling it."
"He failed."
"No. He nearly succeeded."
Sofia explained that after Vittorio's death, the network fragmented but survived.
Anthony inherited one branch.
Others remained hidden.
Sofia had infiltrated them.
Ara stared.
"You abandoned me to infiltrate criminals?"
"I kept you alive."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Her voice cracked.
"I didn't need protection. I needed parents."
Sofia looked devastated.
Leo stepped beside Ara.
Not in front.
Beside.
Her hand brushed his.
He took it.
Ara did not pull away.
Sofia noticed.
"So Vittorio's plan worked."
Leo frowned.
"What plan?"
Sofia looked at their joined hands.
"Keeping Ara near you."
Ara immediately released him.
"My employment."
Sofia nodded.
"Vittorio knew Leo would inherit everything. He also knew Leo would need someone who wasn't afraid of him."
Leo looked offended.
"I have plenty of people who aren't afraid."
Ara looked at him.
"Name three."
He considered.
"Not relevant."
Even Gabriel almost smiled.
Then Anthony became impatient.
"The ledger."
Leo held it up.
"Release them."
Anthony signaled.
Marco and Enzo were pushed from another room.
Both alive.
Gabriel's restraints were removed after technicians disconnected the wires.
Leo tossed the ledger onto the concrete.
Anthony picked it up.
"Pleasure doing business."
Sofia suddenly drew a pistol.
She aimed at Anthony.
"No."
Anthony froze.
Sofia looked at Leo.
"That ledger is a copy."
Leo understood.
Anthony did not.
Until police sirens sounded.
Daniel had contacted a federal prosecutor using evidence Gabriel supplied years earlier.
Anthony ran.
Marco tackled him.
Shots erupted from outside.
Leo pulled Ara behind a concrete barrier.
Sofia returned fire.
Within minutes, Anthony's men surrendered.
Anthony was arrested.
But Sofia disappeared during the chaos.
Ara found only her mother's scarf near an open service door.
She stood staring at it.
Leo approached.
"She left."
"Again."
"We'll find her."
Ara looked exhausted.
"Why?"
"Because you want answers."
"And if I don't?"
"Then we don't."
Ara looked at him.
"You'd stop?"
"For you?"
Leo paused.
"Yes."
Back at the safe house, sunrise approached.
Gabriel slept under guard.
Marco had a bruised face but was alive.
Daniel worked with prosecutors.
Ara sat alone in the kitchen.
Leo made coffee.
Or tried.
The machine produced something resembling mud.
Ara stared at the cup.
"What is that?"
"Coffee."
"That's an accusation against coffee."
"Drink it."
She tasted it.
Her face twisted.
Leo laughed.
Ara stared at him.
She had never heard him laugh.
Not really.
It changed his entire face.
"You should do that more."
"What?"
"Look human."
"Don't spread rumors."
She smiled.
Silence settled.
Then Leo said, "I'm sorry."
Ara blinked.
"For what?"
"Following you. Reading your notebook. Acting like your life belonged to me."
She studied him.
"That sounded painful."
"It was."
"Good."
He smiled faintly.
Ara reached across the counter.
Her fingers touched his.
Leo looked down.
"You said you didn't like imagining me with someone."
"I didn't."
"Why?"
He finally answered.
"Because somewhere along the way, you became the person I look for when I walk into a room."
Ara's eyes softened.
"Leo—"
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice spoke.
Sofia.
"Ara, listen carefully. Anthony wasn't the person who killed Vittorio Rossi."
Ara looked at Leo.
Sofia continued.
"The person who did is still beside Leo."
The line went dead.
May you like
Ara slowly lowered the phone.
Behind Leo, someone entered the kitchen.
