Chapter 13 - THE CHOICE NO MORETTI HAD EVER MADE
Everyone expected Dominic to fight the trust clause.
He didn’t.
He called his attorneys.
Then accountants.
Then federal prosecutors.
Over the next six months, Dominic Moretti dismantled the part of his inheritance nobody believed a Moretti would surrender.
Illegal gambling partnerships ended.
Protection money stopped.
Shell companies were closed.
Businesses tied to criminal activity were sold or placed under independent review.
People predicted war.
Some predicted Dominic’s death.
Instead, something stranger happened.
The legitimate businesses became more profitable.
Shipping.
Real estate.
Hospitality.
Construction.
Thousands of employees who had spent years pretending not to know what happened in back rooms suddenly discovered they preferred regular paychecks to police raids.
Marco struggled most.
“So what am I now?”
Dominic looked up from a financial report.
“Chief security officer.”
“That sounds boring.”
“You have dental insurance.”
Marco stared.
“I preferred crime.”
“You’ll adjust.”
Grace laughed for ten minutes when Dominic told her.
The DeLuca trust was restored.
Rose’s share covered every remaining cancer bill.
Nathan received advanced prosthetics and enough money to return to college.
He chose mechanical engineering.
“I’m building legs,” he announced.
Grace cried.
Nathan told her to stop being embarrassing.
She cried harder.
Grace’s own share could have allowed her never to work again.
She returned to St. Catherine’s.
Dominic did not understand.
“You’re wealthy.”
“I’m a nurse.”
“You complain about twelve-hour shifts constantly.”
“Yes.”
“You cried because administration changed the coffee brand.”
“It was terrible coffee.”
“You’re impossible.”
She smiled.
“And yet.”
“And yet.”
Their dinners became regular.
Then private.
Then something neither named for months.
Grace refused bodyguards unless the threat level justified them.
Dominic learned to ask.
He failed occasionally.
She reminded him.
He corrected himself.
Leo adored her.
That scared Grace more than Dominic did.
“I don’t want him attaching to me if this doesn’t work.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Then we go slowly.”
No pressure.
That answer made her love him a little.
She hated that.
Vanessa testified against Carlo and Adrian.
She received no fairy-tale redemption.
She lost friends.
Her engagement.
Access to her father’s wealth while assets were frozen.
But she also began telling the truth.
For the first time in her life, that had to be enough.
Carlo Bellini eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud, obstruction, attempted kidnapping, and charges connected to the explosion.
Anthony and David Rizzo were convicted on related offenses.
Evidence reopened investigations into Sofia’s and Elena’s deaths.
The final conclusions were painful.
Sofia’s crash had been deliberately arranged by Vincent Moretti with Carlo’s help.
Elena’s fatal collision had been caused by a Bellini contractor after she threatened to expose the financial scheme.
Dominic stood at Elena’s grave when prosecutors confirmed it.
Grace stayed several feet away.
Giving him space.
Eventually he held out his hand.
She took it.
“I should have found her.”
“You tried.”
“Not hard enough.”
“You searched for years.”
“I believed she left me.”
“She wanted you to believe that.”
He stared at Elena’s name.
“I lost six years with Leo.”
“Yes.”
Grace refused to give him comforting lies.
“But you have now.”
Dominic looked toward Leo placing flowers beside Elena’s stone.
“Yes.”
That mattered.
One month later, Dominic received the final item recovered from Carlo Bellini’s seized archive.
A video Elena recorded the morning she died.
She sat at her kitchen table with Leo coloring beside her.
“If you’re watching this, Dominic, then either I finally became brave enough to send it…”
She smiled sadly.
“…or I ran out of time.”
Dominic’s eyes filled.
Then Elena said:
“There is something about Grace Bennett you should know.”
Grace stared.
“What now?”
Elena looked directly through the camera.
“I didn’t choose her only because Rose spoke highly of her.”
A pause.
“I met Grace once.”
Grace stopped breathing.
“When?”
May you like
Elena smiled on the screen.
“She just doesn’t remember me.”
