Chapter 10 - THE TRUTH BETWEEN THEM
Elena was moved to a federal medical facility.
Doctors began reducing the sedatives that had controlled her for two years.
Her memory returned in fragments.
Some moments were sharp.
Others disappeared mid-sentence.
Luca was brought to see her three days later.
Chloe stayed near the door.
Dominic watched through reinforced glass.
Elena sat upright in bed when Luca entered.
For several seconds, mother and son stared at each other.
Luca clutched the gray wolf.
Then Elena opened her arms.
He ran.
The sound he made was not a word.
It was grief leaving a child’s body.
Elena held him and cried into his hair.
“I came back.”
Luca shook his head.
“You went away.”
“I know.”
“Daddy killed you.”
“No.”
She pulled back and held his face.
“Daddy did not know Vittorio planned to hurt me.”
Luca looked toward the window.
Dominic stood behind the glass.
Elena did not soften the truth.
“But Daddy made choices that helped Vittorio.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Luca looked confused.
“Bad?”
“Yes.”
“Daddy bad?”
Elena paused.
“Daddy did bad things.”
“That is different from deciding he can never do good again.”
Chloe watched Dominic absorb the mercy he had not earned.
Elena continued.
“You do not have to be close to him until you feel safe.”
Luca nodded.
For once, an adult gave him choice.
After the visit, Elena asked to speak with Dominic.
He entered alone.
Chloe remained outside with Luca.
Through the glass, she saw Dominic stop several feet from the bed.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“You buried someone.”
His face twisted.
“I ordered Nightingale captured.”
“You built a system where captured people disappeared.”
“I never ordered your death.”
“You ordered other deaths.”
He did not deny it.
Elena looked toward Luca.
“I wanted to leave because I discovered the trafficking.”
“And because you were becoming Vittorio.”
Dominic sat.
“I thought power protected us.”
“It protected your pride.”
“Why didn’t you trust me?”
“I tried.”
She looked at him steadily.
“You searched my phone before asking why I was afraid.”
“You believed your uncle because he told you a story where anger was useful.”
Dominic lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena’s expression did not change.
“Do not offer me words because you have finally run out of commands.”
He nodded.
“What do you want?”
“A divorce.”
Pain crossed his face.
“Yes.”
“Full custody until Luca’s therapist says otherwise.”
“Yes.”
“Your cooperation with the federal investigation.”
“Yes.”
“And the end of the organization.”
Dominic looked up.
The Russo name had shaped his entire life.
His father built the empire.
Vittorio expanded it.
Dominic inherited it at twenty-seven.
Leaving meant weakness in the only language he had been taught.
Then he looked through the glass at Luca.
“Yes.”
Elena seemed surprised.
“Just like that?”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice was quiet.
“Not just like that.”
“It will cost everything.”
“But yes.”
Agent Reyes entered with legal documents.
Dominic agreed to provide records, testimony, and financial access.
In exchange, prosecutors would consider reduced charges and protection for employees uninvolved in violent crimes.
No immunity.
Dominic did not ask for it.
Chloe found him later in the hospital corridor.
He stood alone near a vending machine.
The most feared man in Chicago held a paper cup of coffee he had not touched.
“How is Luca?” he asked.
“With Elena.”
“Good.”
Chloe started to pass.
“Your mother is awake,” he said.
She stopped.
Rebecca had been transferred to the same secure hospital.
“She asked for you.”
Chloe found her mother pale but smiling.
“You look terrible,” Rebecca said.
“You were shot.”
“And you still look terrible.”
Chloe laughed and cried at the same time.
She sat beside the bed.
“You knew Elena chose me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I promised.”
“She selected me two years ago?”
“Elena watched you at the daycare.”
“She saw the way you handled a child who had stopped speaking after abuse.”
“She said Luca might need someone who did not treat silence like defiance.”
“Why wait?”
“Vittorio controlled every agency near the family.”
“Elena arranged Wellington as a backup.”
“After she disappeared, I kept the file hidden.”
“Then who activated it?”
Rebecca looked toward the door.
“Matteo.”
He had found Elena’s instructions months earlier.
He pushed the agency to recruit Chloe when Luca’s previous nanny used punishment.
Vittorio discovered the plan and allowed it because Rebecca’s medical bills gave him leverage.
Everyone had used Chloe’s desperation.
Even those trying to help.
“I had a right to know,” Chloe said.
“Yes.”
Rebecca did not defend herself.
“I was afraid you would refuse.”
“I might have.”
“I know.”
“That was my choice.”
“I know.”
The pattern appeared everywhere.
People calling secrecy protection.
Rebecca squeezed her hand.
“I’m sorry.”
This apology felt different.
No demand.
No justification.
Only acknowledgment.
Chloe stayed until her mother slept.
When she returned to the corridor, Luca was gone.
Elena’s room stood open.
A nurse lay unconscious near the door.
Dominic ran from the elevator.
“What happened?”
Chloe found a note on Elena’s bed.
One sentence.
BRING DOMINIC TO THE OLD STOCKYARD ALONE.
Beneath it was Luca’s drawing of the black wolf and crown.
May you like
Vittorio had escaped federal custody during transport.
And this time, he had taken both Elena and Luca.
