Chapter 9 - The Requiem
The safehouse in Como was a secluded villa,
hidden deep within the mountains.
It was beautiful,
but I felt like a ghost haunting its halls.
Emma was safe,
playing with a new set of toys,
but her blue rabbit was gone,
lost in the fire.
Two days passed with no word from Alessandro.
I paced the floors,
staring at the phone,
waiting for a sign that he was alive.
On the third night,
the gates opened.
A single car drove up the winding path.
Alessandro stepped out,
looking older,
as if the last few days had aged him a decade.
He walked into the house,
and I ran into his arms.
He held me so tight I could barely breathe,
his face buried in the crook of my neck.
"It’s done,"
he whispered.
"Ricci is dead."
"The entire network has been dismantled."
"He was the one who sold Julian out,"
"because he feared Julian was too soft for the business."
"He thought I would be easier to control."
He pulled back,
looking at me with an intensity that made me tremble.
"I’ve made a decision,"
he said.
"I’m stepping down."
"The twelve families will be governed by a council,"
"but I’m done with the blood."
"I want a life,"
"with you,"
"and with Emma."
"But the Moretti name,"
I started,
"it will always be a target."
"Then we will change it,"
he said.
"We will go where no one knows us,"
May you like
"and I will spend the rest of my life making up for the pain my family caused yours."
***
