Chapter 9 - The Last Thing Matteo TookMatteo didn't run.
That should have warned them.
Instead of fleeing the state, he went directly to the Moretti estate.
He knew the tunnels.
Their grandfather had built an emergency passage from the old wine cellar to a maintenance shed beyond the eastern wall.
Only three living people knew.
Luca.
Rosa.
Matteo.
By the time security understood how he entered, Matteo had already reached the main house.
Rosa discovered him first.
She was arranging flowers in the dining room.
"Matteo."
He looked terrible.
Bruised.
Unshaven.
Desperate.
"Where's Luca?"
"No."
"Aunt Rosa."
"You've caused enough pain."
"Where is he?"
"Not here."
"Elena?"
Rosa's expression betrayed her.
Matteo smiled.
"Upstairs."
Rosa stepped between him and the staircase.
"I won't let you."
Matteo's face twisted.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"You already have."
He pushed past.
Rosa grabbed him.
Matteo shoved her away.
She fell.
The sound brought Elena from the library.
She saw Rosa on the floor.
Then Matteo.
"Run," Rosa gasped.
Elena ran toward the kitchen.
Matteo followed.
She grabbed a knife.
He laughed.
"You?"
Elena's hand shook.
"Stay back."
"You still don't understand."
"What?"
"I don't care about the ledger anymore."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because Luca chose you."
The answer chilled her.
"This was never about money with you."
"Not at the end."
Matteo's eyes were wet.
"He chose everyone over me."
"No."
"You don't know."
"He protected you for years."
"He judged me!"
"Because you murdered people!"
"You think you're better?"
"No."
Elena lowered the knife slightly.
"But I know being hurt doesn't give you permission to hurt everyone else."
Matteo flinched.
The words reached somewhere deep.
For one moment, he looked exhausted.
Then sirens sounded outside.
His expression hardened.
"You called them."
"No."
Luca had.
He arrived moments later.
He entered the kitchen alone.
Again.
But this time Matteo didn't have a gun.
He had a knife.
Elena stood between them.
"Luca."
"I'm here."
Matteo laughed.
"Of course you are."
Luca looked toward Rosa.
She was conscious.
Gabriel was helping her.
Relief crossed Luca's face.
Matteo saw it.
"You worry about everyone."
"Yes."
"Except me."
"That's not true."
"Then prove it."
Matteo held the knife out.
"Let me leave."
Luca stared.
"I can't."
"So you choose prison for your own brother?"
"I choose stopping you."
"Same thing."
"No."
Luca took a step.
"I should have stopped you years ago."
Matteo's chin trembled.
"I loved you more than anyone."
"I know."
"I wanted to be you."
"I never wanted that for you."
"Why?"
Luca's eyes filled.
"Because I hated being me."
Silence.
Even Elena stared.
Luca continued.
"I wanted you to have a normal life. A wife. Kids. Sundays where nobody carried a gun."
"You gave me the freight company."
"I thought it would give you something legitimate."
"You never respected me."
"I trusted you with everything."
Matteo's grip weakened.
"You were my little brother."
"I still am."
Luca swallowed.
"Yes."
The knife lowered an inch.
Police shouted from outside.
Matteo looked toward the windows.
Panic returned.
He grabbed Elena.
The knife rose.
Luca froze.
"Don't."
Matteo whispered into Elena's ear.
"He'll always choose you now."
Elena looked at Luca.
She saw terror in his face.
Not for himself.
For her.
"Matteo," she whispered.
"What?"
"You could still choose something else."
"There's nothing else."
"There is."
"What?"
"Stop."
One word.
That was all.
Stop.
Stop blaming Luca.
Stop chasing power.
Stop turning every wound into another person's wound.
Stop.
Matteo's arm trembled.
Police entered.
Guns raised.
"Drop the knife!"
Matteo looked at Luca.
Luca shook his head.
"Don't make them shoot you."
Matteo's face crumpled.
"Would you care?"
Luca answered instantly.
"Yes."
"After everything?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you're my brother."
Matteo began sobbing.
The knife fell.
It struck the marble floor with a small metallic sound.
Officers rushed him.
He didn't resist.
As they handcuffed him, Matteo looked back.
"I'm sorry."
Luca could not speak.
The doors closed behind his brother.
And Luca finally broke.
Not dramatically.
He simply sat on the kitchen floor.
Elena knelt beside him.
For years, everyone had feared Luca Moretti because they thought nothing could break him.
They were wrong.
His brother could.
Elena put her arms around him.
This time Luca didn't pull away.
He buried his face against her shoulder.
"I failed him."
"No."
"I should've known."
"You can't save someone by becoming responsible for every choice they make."
"He was my brother."
"He still is."
Luca looked at her.
"And you can love him without protecting him from consequences."
Those words stayed with him.
Months later, Matteo pleaded guilty.
His cooperation exposed Salvatore's remaining network and several corrupt officials.
The agreement spared him life imprisonment but guaranteed decades behind bars.
Luca visited once.
Neither man knew what to say at first.
Finally Matteo asked, "Is Elena okay?"
"Yes."
"Rosa?"
"She complains about her hip because she enjoys making me guilty."
Matteo laughed.
It sounded like the boy Luca remembered.
Then Matteo looked down.
"Don't forgive me."
"I haven't."
Matteo nodded.
"But maybe someday."
Luca's voice cracked.
"Maybe."
Outside the prison, Elena was waiting.
She didn't ask what happened.
She simply took his hand.
For once, that was enough.
But one final battle remained.
The legal ownership hearing regarding the Russo trust.
Everything Luca had inherited was about to be decided.
May you like
And Elena already knew what she planned to do.
She just hadn't told him.
