Chapter 10 - THE TRADE AT THE OLD CHURCH
The meeting was arranged through attorneys and law enforcement.
Not through mafia soldiers.
That was my condition.
Carlo wanted the watch.
We wanted the journal.
The exchange location was an abandoned church outside Rome.
The same church where my parents married.
That detail felt deliberate.
Cruel.
I stayed in a secured location while authorized investigators handled the operation.
Alessandro hated that.
I could tell.
But he didn't argue.
Another change.
Carlo arrived carrying a leather satchel.
The watch was presented as part of the controlled exchange.
The original evidence inside had already been preserved.
What happened next was documented.
Carlo opened the satchel.
Inside was my father's journal.
Letters.
Original trust papers.
And financial records linking Bellini Maritime to Vittorio's companies.
Carlo apparently believed he could negotiate his way out.
He couldn't.
The journal belonged to my father's estate.
The financial evidence expanded the investigation.
And Carlo's recorded statements at the meeting created additional problems for him.
When Lucia told me it was over, I didn't feel triumphant.
I felt empty.
“He raised me,” I whispered.
She nodded.
“I know.”
“He taught me to drive.”
“I know.”
“He sat beside me at Dad's funeral.”
My voice broke.
“And all those years, he knew.”
Lucia took my hand.
Grief didn't become simpler just because the person who betrayed you deserved consequences.
That evening, Alessandro came to see me.
He remained outside until I invited him in.
I liked that.
We sat in silence for several minutes.
Then I said:
“My whole family was built on lies.”
He looked at me.
“So was mine.”
I smiled sadly.
“That's not comforting.”
“No.”
Then he placed the antique watch on the table.
The evidence compartment had been documented, and the physical watch was returned after examination.
The engraving still read:
Thirteen years behind us. The rest of our lives ahead.
I stared at it.
“I hate that sentence.”
Alessandro nodded.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He picked up the watch.
“You wrote it for a man who didn't exist yet.”
My throat tightened.
“What?”
“The man you thought I was going to become after the wedding.”
I looked at him.
“And now?”
He slowly removed the watch.
“I don't deserve the rest of your life because I owned thirteen years of your past.”
For the first time, he placed the watch in front of me.
Not as a symbol of us.
As mine.
“You decide what happens to it.”
My eyes filled.
Then he said something else.
“I’ve begun dismantling the parts of my organization that made it possible for men like Carlo and Vittorio to use violence as leverage.”
I stared.
“You're leaving the life?”
“I'm trying to build one I can explain without lying.”
My throat tightened.
Before I could respond, Lucia called.
The journal contained a final sealed letter.
Written by my father.
Addressed to Alessandro.
May you like
And on the envelope were the words:
READ THIS ONLY IF YOU BREAK HER HEART.
