Chapter 12 - The Man Vincent Couldn’t Kill
Daniel had known the scaffold was compromised.
He went anyway because he believed he could photograph the sabotage before anyone arrived.
He had underestimated Camilla.
The revelation devastated Sophia in a different way.
Daniel had chosen the risk.
He had not chosen death.
But he had knowingly stepped toward danger.
His letter apologized.
I know you'll be angry. You should be. Loving you didn't make every decision I made right.
Sophia read that line repeatedly.
It freed her from something she had not realized she carried.
She could love Daniel without pretending he had been perfect.
She could grieve him without freezing her own life beside his grave.
The letter ended:
Live, Soph. Please don't turn loving me into a reason to stop living after me.
Sophia cried until there were no tears left.
Vincent sat outside the room.
He never entered until she invited him.
When she finally opened the door, he stood.
“Did you know?”
“About the letter? Yes.”
“How long?”
“Daniel gave it to me before his death.”
“Why now?”
“He told me to give it to you only when you knew everything else.”
Sophia laughed through tears.
“You two were infuriating.”
“Yes.”
“He knew that.”
“Yes.”
She leaned against Vincent.
He hesitated before wrapping an arm around her.
There was no kiss.
Not yet.
Just two people standing beside the memory of someone they both loved.
Then Vincent’s phone rang.
Federal custody.
Luca Castellano had suffered a medical emergency during transport.
He had escaped.
Vincent’s expression changed.
The past was not finished.
Luca had one destination left.
The estate.
Vincent increased security.
Sophia refused to run.
Hours passed.
Nothing.
At midnight, Vincent found the study window open.
On his desk lay Anthony Castellano’s ring.
Luca was inside.
Vincent followed faint blood marks into the old west wing.
He found his uncle in the abandoned ballroom.
Luca was wounded.
“You could have left,” Vincent said.
“I couldn't let Anthony’s empire die.”
“It died years ago.”
“You killed it.”
“No. Men like you did.”
Luca raised a gun.
Vincent did not.
“You won't shoot?”
“Daniel asked me to be better.”
“Daniel is dead.”
“But I'm not.”
Luca fired.
The bullet missed.
Vincent disarmed him.
He could have killed Luca.
Everyone would have understood.
Instead, he stepped back.
Police arrested him minutes later.
Sophia watched from the staircase.
Vincent had finally defeated the man he couldn't kill by refusing to become him.
But as officers led Luca outside, he looked at Sophia.
“You think Daniel told you everything?”
She stiffened.
Luca smiled.
“There’s another recording.”
“Where?”
He laughed.
“Ask your daughter.”
Sophia turned.
Mia stood halfway down the stairs.
May you like
She was holding her stuffed fox.
And from inside it, Daniel’s voice suddenly began playing a recording nobody had heard before.
