Chapter 9 - The Meeting At The Harbor
Two days later,
Sophia woke up.
She was in a private clinic in the city,
guarded by the only three men Alessandro still trusted.
He sat by her bed,
the ledger resting on his knees.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
he asked,
his voice low.
She looked at him,
her eyes filled with a weary sadness.
"I thought you would kill her,"
she said.
"The Bianchis and the Morettis... there was never any peace."
"I wanted her to grow up knowing how to clean a floor,
not how to fire a gun."
"I wanted her to be free."
Alessandro reached out and took her hand,
his touch surprisingly gentle.
"She is free,"
he said.
"And she’s safe."
"But the war isn't over,
Sophia."
"The men who sent Dante are still out there."
"They want the Bianchi name to die with her."
Sophia sat up,
her face hardening with a strength he hadn't seen before.
"Then let them come,"
she said.
"I have spent three years hiding."
"I won't hide anymore."
Alessandro nodded,
a plan already forming in his mind.
He wouldn't wait for them to find him.
He would draw them out,
into the light,
where he could finish them once and for all.
He called the leaders of the other families,
the men who had watched from the sidelines as he built his empire.
He told them he was stepping down.
He told them he was handing over the Moretti name to whoever was strong enough to take it.
But he had one condition.
A meeting at the harbor,
at midnight,
to sign the papers.
It was a trap,
and they all knew it.
May you like
But greed is a powerful motivator,
and they couldn't resist the chance to take the throne.
