Chapter 17 - THE LAST ROMANO WAR
Peace lasted three years.
Then one surviving Bellandi faction tried to rebuild.
Not a giant war.
Not armies in restaurants.
Money.
Threats.
Old debts.
They approached Luca.
Wanted his name.
His reputation.
His old network.
Luca refused.
They threatened his legitimate businesses.
He sold them.
They approached Marco.
Marco refused.
They tried to use Vittorio from prison.
He refused too.
Interesting.
Age had changed everyone.
Then a man followed Matteo home from school.
Security stopped him.
No weapon.
Only a message.
Romanos don’t retire.
Luca went pale.
Emma waited for the old response.
Violence.
Orders.
Private retaliation.
Instead, Luca called federal investigators.
Then local police.
Then the school.
He documented everything.
Emma stared.
“What?”
“You called the police.”
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
“Shut up.”
She smiled.
The Bellandi remnants were arrested months later in a broader extortion case.
No shootout.
No revenge execution.
Luca testified.
Publicly.
That ended his remaining myth.
Some old associates called him traitor.
Luca said,
“Good.”
Matteo deserved a father more than Chicago needed a legend.
Vittorio died in prison the following year.
Before death, he asked to see Luca.
Luca went.
Emma did not.
That belonged to them.
Vittorio apologized for Sofia.
Not for wanting control.
For underestimating what control would cost.
Luca asked,
“Did you ever love me?”
Vittorio answered,
“Too much like property.”
That sentence stayed with him.
He returned home and hugged Matteo for so long the boy complained.
“Dad.”
“Can’t breathe.”
Luca released him.
May you like
Choice.
Even hugs require it.
