Chapter 10 - The Man Who Had Hired Me to Save Himself Started Learning How to Live Again, and I Realized I Was No Longer Staying for the SalaryMonths passed.
Enzo learned to walk with a cane.
His business empire changed.
Criminal operations closed.
Legitimate companies remained.
He testified against Paolo.
I testified.
Gabe entered treatment for gambling addiction.
We rebuilt our relationship slowly.
He apologized.
I didn't immediately forgive him.
But I stayed.
My mother was buried beside my grandmother.
Enzo came with me.
Afterward, he said:
“You don't have to carry what she did.”
“I know.”
“You're allowed to love someone and still reject what they did.”
I nodded.
He understood because he knew.
His own family had betrayed him.
We were more alike than either of us wanted.
Then Enzo gave me a folder.
My photographs.
The same black folder from the beginning.
But there was one new page.
A note.
She wasn't chosen because she was desperate.
She was chosen because she survived.
I stared at him.
“Did you write this?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
He smiled.
“My brother.”
“Marco?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He believed we'd need someone who wasn't afraid of us.”
I laughed.
“That's a terrible recruitment strategy.”
“It worked.”
May you like
He took my hand.
“I'd say so.”
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