Chapter 11 - THE MAN EVERYONE BLAMED
Teresa Romano was not murdered.
That mattered.
She died of a heart attack during Stefano’s forced entry.
No gunshot.
No staged execution.
Truth resisted dramatic convenience.
Vittorio had been taken.
Stefano wanted access to his private financial network.
Without Vittorio, millions in hidden assets were unreachable.
Luca could have let him disappear.
A week earlier, he might have.
Instead he said,
“We find him.”
Emma looked surprised.
“You hate him.”
“Yes.”
“He plotted against you.”
“Yes.”
“He tried to take Matteo.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Luca looked at his son.
“Matteo doesn’t need me teaching him that family only matters when it deserves to.”
Emma felt something in her chest shift.
That was not absolution.
It was change.
Federal investigators wanted Luca’s help locating Stefano.
In exchange, they wanted information on Romano operations.
Luca understood the price.
The organization.
The thing his father left him.
The source of his power.
Possibly his freedom.
Marco opposed cooperation.
At first.
Then Luca asked:
“How many more Sofias?”
Marco went silent.
That ended the argument.
Luca began talking to federal prosecutors.
Not full immunity.
No magical clean slate.
He had committed crimes.
Financial offenses.
Illegal gambling operations.
Extortion-related conduct.
He would face consequences.
But much of the violence attributed publicly to Luca had been carried out through Gianni, Stefano, Vittorio, or unaffiliated crews.
The truth was complicated.
Still criminal.
Still serious.
Emma refused to romanticize it.
One night Luca asked,
“Do you think I’m a bad man?”
She stared at him.
“That is an unfair question.”
“Why?”
“Because you want a one-word answer to thirty-eight years.”
He smiled faintly.
“Fine.”
“Do you think I’ve done bad things?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I can change?”
“I think changing and escaping consequences are different.”
The smile disappeared.
“Fair.”
Emma sat beside Matteo.
“You keep asking whether you can become better.”
“Maybe start by becoming accountable.”
Luca looked at her.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“It isn’t.”
She paused.
“That’s why it matters.”
Federal agents traced Stefano through one of Vittorio’s hidden accounts.
A farmhouse in Wisconsin.
Vittorio was found alive.
Bruised.
Furious.
Humiliated.
Stefano escaped minutes before the raid.
Again.
Vittorio met Luca in a secure hospital room.
Neither embraced.
Vittorio looked at Matteo through the glass.
“I never wanted him hurt.”
Luca’s voice was cold.
“You wanted to take him.”
“I wanted the trust.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Vittorio looked older.
“Power is temporary.”
“Control over Bianchi Holdings could have stabilized the family.”
“For who?”
“For us.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“There is no us anymore.”
Vittorio admitted conspiring with Bellandi.
Admitted siphoning money.
Admitted planning to challenge Luca’s guardianship.
But denied Sofia’s murder.
The recordings supported that.
Then Vittorio gave them the most important clue yet.
Stefano was not running alone.
Someone had financed his survival for twelve years.
Not Vittorio.
Not Gianni.
A Bianchi executive.
Sofia’s own family.
Her uncle.
Charles Bianchi.
The chairman of Bianchi Holdings.
The man who would lose control of the company once Matteo’s trust activated.
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The mafia war had never been only Romano business.
Half the motive came from Sofia’s bloodline.
