Chapter 6 - The Grandmother Who Wanted the Empire
Vera Moretti arrived with twenty men.
She entered the estate like a queen reclaiming a throne.
Leo stood in front of Leora.
“Why?”
Vera smiled.
“Because your father was weak.”
“He tried to leave.”
“He tried to destroy what our family built.”
“What did you build?”
“Power.”
“You built fear.”
“Fear is power.”
Leora stepped forward.
Vera looked at her.
“You're the problem.”
Leo moved.
“She stays.”
Vera smiled.
“Then you both die.”
The confrontation ended when federal agents stormed the estate.
Vera escaped.
But before leaving, she revealed something.
“She knows what happened to your mother.”
Leo froze.
His mother's death had always been the deepest wound.
Now there was a possibility he could learn the truth.
Leora refused to let him chase Vera alone.
They followed evidence to an old hospital.
There they found records proving Leo's mother had survived the original attack.
She had died hours later.
Not from the bullet.
From poison.
Someone had injected her after surgery.
The nurse who administered the medication had vanished.
The nurse's name was Elena Ward.
They found her in Vermont.
She confessed.
Vera had paid her.
Leo finally learned the truth.
His mother had sacrificed herself trying to expose the network.
His father had blamed himself.
Leo had blamed himself.
Neither had been responsible.
The discovery broke him.
Leora held him.
He cried against her shoulder.
“I spent my whole life thinking I killed her.”
“You didn't.”
“I should have known.”
“You were a child.”
“I was twenty.”
“You were still someone else's son.”
He held her tighter.
“I love you.”
She whispered:
“I love you too.”
They returned to Blackwood.
Vera was waiting.
She had kidnapped Sophie's doctor.
Leora's world collapsed.
“She'll kill him?”
“If you don't sign the trust.”
Leo looked at her.
“Don't.”
Leora shook her head.
“My sister's life.”
“I'll find another way.”
“There isn't time.”
They went to the final meeting.
Vera demanded everything.
Leo signed the first document.
Then Leora revealed the real surprise.
She had copied Vera's records.
Every transfer.
Every payment.
Every name.
Everything had already been sent to federal investigators.
Vera stared.
“You.”
Leora smiled.
“You underestimated the maid.”
Police entered.
Vera was arrested.
The Moretti network collapsed.
Leo's father had already surrendered.
The legitimate businesses were preserved.
The criminal operations were destroyed.
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And Leora's sister received full medical treatment.
For the first time in years, Leora could breathe.
