Chapter 9 - The Family Leo Never Knew
Leo was outside in seconds.
The woman had disappeared into pedestrian traffic.
Marco searched surrounding blocks.
Nothing.
Ara examined security footage.
The woman appeared on three cameras.
Then vanished near a subway entrance.
"Your sister?" Ara asked.
"I don't have one."
"Apparently your family specialized in that sentence."
Leo almost smiled.
They traced the pendant.
It had belonged to Vittorio.
A photograph from 1988 showed him wearing it.
Gabriel remembered something.
Before marrying Elena, Vittorio had been engaged.
The woman's name was Teresa Marino.
She became pregnant.
The engagement ended.
Teresa left New York.
Nobody knew what happened to the child.
Leo stared.
"My father had another daughter."
"Possibly," Gabriel said.
They found Teresa in Boston.
She was the woman outside Laura.
Her daughter was named Lucia.
Forty-six years old.
A physician.
Completely uninvolved in crime.
Teresa had approached Leo because news reports about Rossi Maritime's restructuring convinced her he had escaped the life Vittorio once feared.
Lucia agreed to meet.
Leo expected manipulation.
Instead, Lucia walked into a café carrying an old birthday card.
Vittorio's handwriting.
He had secretly contacted her for years.
Stopped shortly before his supposed death.
Lucia had believed he abandoned her.
Leo told her the truth.
They compared letters.
Memories.
Photographs.
For the first time, Leo discovered a part of his father unconnected to violence.
Vittorio sent Lucia books.
Paid tuition anonymously.
Remembered birthdays.
He had failed both children differently.
Yet loved both.
Lucia looked at Leo.
"I don't want money."
"I didn't offer."
"Good."
"I have enough relatives asking for it."
She laughed.
Leo realized they had the same laugh.
That hurt.
And healed something.
Weeks became months.
Lucia met Ara.
They liked each other immediately, which Leo found suspicious.
Gabriel and Sofia slowly rebuilt a relationship with their daughter.
Not marriage.
Not pretending the lost years never happened.
Simply presence.
Daniel stopped receiving mysterious envelopes.
Anthony's testimony dismantled the final Serrano operations.
Enzo accepted a plea agreement.
Marco visited him in prison.
Leo didn't ask what they discussed.
Some wounds belonged to other people.
One year after the night outside Laura, Rossi Maritime held its first annual legitimate shareholders' dinner.
Leo hated every minute.
Ara loved watching him suffer.
"You look miserable."
"I've attended interrogations more enjoyable than this."
"Smile."
"No."
"Investors like smiles."
"I don't care."
"You should."
Leo forced something resembling a smile.
Ara laughed.
Later, they escaped onto a balcony.
Leo looked at her.
"One year."
"Since what?"
"Since I discovered you're terrible at choosing dinner companions."
"Daniel helped save your life."
"Still don't like him."
"You invited him tonight."
"Marco invited him."
Ara leaned against the railing.
Leo took her hand.
"Remember the house?"
"The one you claimed wasn't a proposal?"
"It wasn't."
"Correct."
"I bought it."
"I know."
"I live there now."
"I know."
"Your toothbrush is there."
"Scandalous."
"Half your clothes are there."
"You have better closets."
Leo took a breath.
Ara noticed.
"You're nervous."
"No."
"You are."
"I've faced armed men with less difficulty than this."
Ara smiled.
Leo reached into his jacket.
This time the box contained a ring.
Ara's smile vanished.
"Now I'm proposing."
"Apparently."
"No speech."
"Thank God."
He frowned.
"I had one."
"Please don't."
"Fine."
Leo lowered himself onto one knee.
Several people inside noticed through the window.
Ara covered her mouth.
Leo looked up.
"I spent most of my life believing power meant never needing anyone."
Her eyes filled.
"Then you walked into my office and spent five years proving I couldn't survive a Tuesday without you."
She laughed through tears.
"I don't want to own you."
His voice softened.
"I want to choose you. Every day. If you'll choose me too."
Ara whispered, "Yes."
Leo blinked.
"I hadn't asked the actual question."
"Leo."
"Right."
He smiled.
She pulled him up and kissed him.
Applause erupted inside.
Leo groaned.
Ara laughed.
Then Marco appeared at the balcony door.
His expression was serious.
Leo sighed.
"Please tell me nobody is dead."
"No."
"Arrested?"
"No."
"Blackmail?"
"No."
"Then go away."
Marco held out an envelope.
"This arrived for Ara."
No sender.
Ara opened it.
Inside was a wedding photograph.
Not theirs.
Gabriel and Sofia.
Taken thirty years earlier.
Behind them stood Vittorio and Elena.
On the back, Vittorio had written:
MAKE SURE OUR CHILDREN GET A BETTER ENDING THAN WE DID.
Ara handed it to Leo.
He stared for a long time.
Then looked at her engagement ring.
May you like
For once, the past had not arrived as a threat.
It had arrived as permission.
