Chapter 14 - The Last CommandRosa didn't answer.
Victor stepped closer.
“Ask her.”
Norah's eyes filled with tears.
“Grandma?”
Rosa looked at her.
“I made a deal.”
“With Victor?”
“Yes.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“What deal?”
Rosa whispered:
“I gave him the location of the original ledger.”
Victor smiled.
“And in return?”
Rosa looked at Norah.
“Your life.”
Norah stared.
Rosa continued.
“He promised to let you disappear.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“You gave him the ledger?”
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“She gave me a false location.”
Rosa looked at him.
“You never realized.”
“You think that saved her?”
“It did.”
Victor's smile faded.
Rosa turned to Dominic.
“I had one chance.”
“You could have told me.”
“You would have come for me.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor would have killed you.”
Dominic fell silent.
Rosa looked at Norah.
“I lied because I loved you.”
Norah wiped her eyes.
“I needed the truth.”
“I know.”
Victor suddenly raised his weapon.
Dominic moved.
Gunfire erupted.
Glass shattered.
The candle fell.
Fire spread across the tablecloth.
Frank tackled Victor.
Matteo shot the weapon from Victor's hand.
Elena rushed into the room.
Victor fought like a cornered animal.
He grabbed Rosa.
Put a knife to her throat.
“Drop your weapons.”
Nobody moved.
Victor's eyes fixed on Norah.
“You are the only reason they hesitate.”
Norah stared at him.
“You're wrong.”
Victor smiled.
“Am I?”
“You think family is weakness.”
Victor tightened the knife.
“It is.”
Norah took one step forward.
“No.”
She looked at Salvatore.
At Dominic.
At Matteo.
At Claire.
At Rosa.
Then she understood the word that had started everything.
“Famiglia.”
Victor's hand trembled.
Salvatore's eyes filled.
Norah continued.
“You spent twenty-six years trying to turn us against each other.”
Another step.
“But you missed one thing.”
“What?”
“We kept finding each other.”
Victor's face changed.
Dominic moved.
Frank moved.
Matteo moved.
Victor tried to drag Rosa backward.
Rosa drove her elbow into his ribs.
The knife dropped.
Dominic tackled him.
They crashed into the burning dining table.
Victor punched Dominic.
Dominic hit him back.
Again.
Again.
Until Matteo pulled his brother away.
Victor looked up.
Sirens sounded outside.
Victor smiled through blood.
“You think police are coming for me?”
He laughed.
“I own half of them.”
Norah held up the ledger.
“No.”
She turned the pages.
“The other half just got everything you hid.”
The doors burst open.
Federal agents stormed the mansion.
Victor was arrested.
Salvatore watched silently.
Dominic stood beside Norah.
Claire held Rosa's hand.
For the first time, the Moretti family stood together without a gun between them.
Then an agent approached.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic turned.
“There is one problem.”
“What?”
“We found a second ledger.”
“Where?”
The agent looked at Norah.
“In your grandmother's room.”
Norah frowned.
“I checked that room.”
The agent handed her a small black notebook.
On the first page was a single name.
DOMINIC MORETTI.
Under it:
FATHER.
The next page contained a photograph.
Dominic as a young man.
Standing beside Victor.
And in the corner of the image was a woman Norah had never seen.
On the back of the photograph were five words:
She knows who killed Claire.
Norah looked at her mother.
Claire's face turned pale.
“No.”
“What?”
Claire whispered:
“That's not a woman.”
Norah looked again.
It was a man.
Standing in shadow.
Wearing the same silver rose pendant.
May you like
Claire's voice broke.
“That's your grandfather's twin.”
