Chapter 11 - Penny's Choice
The name was Anthony Moretti.
Lorenzo's father.
Penny stared at it.
Then at Lorenzo.
"No."
Elaine sat down.
"It's true."
Penny was Lorenzo's half-sister.
The revelation rearranged decades.
Anthony had an affair with Elaine.
Gabriel discovered it.
Noah and Penny were Anthony's children.
That made them Moretti heirs.
It also explained Gabriel's obsession.
If Elaine's evidence became public, Gabriel didn't simply lose his criminal network.
He lost control of assets Anthony had secretly placed in trust for his younger children.
Penny laughed bitterly.
"So this entire nightmare is inheritance?"
"No," Elaine said. "It's power."
Penny wanted none of it.
Lorenzo surprised everyone.
"Good."
"What?"
"Refuse it."
Gabriel expected them to fight over money.
Instead, Lorenzo offered to relinquish any contested assets connected to Penny and Noah.
Penny understood.
Take away Gabriel's leverage.
They met federal investigators.
Elaine gave names.
Lorenzo gave documents.
Noah gave testimony.
Penny gave Derek's reports.
The machinery around Gabriel began collapsing.
Businesses were frozen.
Associates were arrested.
Accounts were seized.
But Gabriel remained missing.
Three days later, Penny returned to her apartment for the first time.
The broken parts of her old life were everywhere.
Derek's coffee mug.
His jacket.
A photograph of them smiling at the beach.
Penny took down the photograph.
She didn't smash it.
She placed it in a box marked EVIDENCE.
Then she packed his belongings.
Rachel arrived to help.
When Penny opened the door, Rachel burst into tears.
"I thought I'd lost you."
Penny hugged her.
"I almost lost myself."
They packed until midnight.
For the first time, Penny told Rachel everything.
Rachel didn't ask why she'd stayed.
She asked what Penny needed now.
The difference mattered.
At 12:14 a.m., Penny received an email.
From Derek.
Scheduled before his arrest.
One attachment.
A video.
Derek appeared onscreen.
"If Gabriel gets away, he'll go where this began."
Penny leaned closer.
"Pier Nine isn't the beginning. The restaurant is."
Her stomach tightened.
Derek continued.
"Ask who chose your anniversary reservation."
Penny froze.
She hadn't.
Derek had.
He had deliberately brought her there.
Why?
Because Lorenzo would be there.
The entire confrontation suddenly looked different.
Derek knew Lorenzo's schedule.
The memory card under the wineglass.
The threat.
Had Derek intentionally created a scene?
Had he wanted Lorenzo to intervene?
Penny replayed the video.
At the end, Derek said:
"I did terrible things to you. Nothing I'm about to tell you excuses them. But that night, I knew Gabriel had ordered your death."
Penny stopped breathing.
"I threatened you because I needed Lorenzo to hear me."
She stared at the screen.
May you like
Derek's final sentence began.
"And the person Gabriel paid to kill you was..."
