Chapter 10 - The Sister Who Had Been Missing for Sixteen Years Asked Me to Build a Family Without FearMaya chose medical school.
I supported her.
She moved into an apartment near campus.
The first time she left, I felt empty.
I had spent months protecting her.
Now she wanted independence.
“You're going to be okay,” she told me.
“I know.”
“Then why are you hovering?”
“Habit.”
She laughed.
“You're still Danny.”
I smiled.
“Always.”
We stayed close.
She became a doctor.
I built legitimate businesses.
No criminal operations.
No secret accounts.
No political manipulation.
The Moretti name was rehabilitated slowly.
Not erased.
Not glorified.
Just transformed.
Maya's graduation was one of the best days of my life.
She wore her medical gown.
I sat in the audience.
When her name was called, she looked at me.
I stood.
She laughed.
Afterward, she hugged me.
“You came.”
“Of course.”
“I knew you would.”
We returned to New York.
There was one last thing.
Our father's final estate.
He had left it to us.
Not the money.
The house.
We decided to turn it into a foundation headquarters.
A place for families harmed by the old empire.
Domestic violence shelters.
Scholarships.
Legal support.
Medical care.
The old dining room became a clinic.
The library became a school.
The security room became an office.
The basement became a memorial.
A plaque displayed six names.
People who had died because of the Moretti legacy.
Our parents.
Our grandfather.
Victims.
At the bottom:
LET THIS BE THE LAST GENERATION TO PAY FOR THEIR MISTAKES.
Maya looked at it.
“Do you think that's enough?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because nothing erases what happened.”
She nodded.
“But?”
“We can make sure it doesn't happen again.”
She smiled.
Then she asked:
“What about love?”
I looked at her.
“What about it?”
“Are you ever going to fall in love again?”
I laughed.
“That's none of your business.”
“I'm your sister.”
“Exactly.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You're impossible.”
I smiled.
Then someone knocked.
Chloe.
She had finished her cooperation with prosecutors.
She wanted to apologize again.
This time, I listened.
“I don't expect you to take me back.”
“You shouldn't.”
“I know.”
She looked at Maya.
“I am sorry.”
Maya nodded.
“I believe you.”
Chloe looked surprised.
“Do you forgive me?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“But I don't hate you.”
Chloe cried.
That was enough.
She left.
I watched through the window.
Maya stood beside me.
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe someday.”
“Maybe.”
May you like
I didn't know.
But for the first time, the possibility didn't frighten me.
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