Chapter 16 - The Secret Vittorio KeptFederal agents moved closer.
Vittorio raised both hands.
“I’m not resisting.”
Luca remained standing with one hand gripping the table.
“Then explain.”
Vittorio looked at Maya.
Elena stepped immediately in front of her.
“Don’t look at my daughter.”
Vittorio almost smiled.
“She has your courage.”
Elena’s voice became colder.
“And none of yours.”
Vittorio looked back at Luca.
“You believe I wanted the trust.”
“You did.”
“Yes.”
“But money came later.”
Luca waited.
Vittorio glanced toward the agents.
Then he spoke.
“Your father was losing control of you.”
Luca said nothing.
“You wanted legitimacy.”
“You wanted to close businesses that had supported the family for generations.”
“So he poisoned me.”
“He wanted you weak for three weeks.”
Vittorio’s mouth twisted.
“Just long enough to frighten you.”
Luca felt disgust.
“And you continued it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Vittorio’s eyes hardened.
“Because I saw what happened when you disappeared.”
Luca frowned.
“The organization stabilized.”
“Your father depended on me.”
“Everyone depended on me.”
There it was.
Not money.
Not inheritance.
Power.
Vittorio had spent his life standing behind Luca’s father.
Then behind Luca.
The wheelchair finally allowed him to stand in front.
“You liked being needed.”
Vittorio smiled bitterly.
“I built everything while your name sat on the door.”
Luca shook his head.
“So you destroyed my body because you wanted credit.”
“I preserved the empire.”
“You preserved yourself.”
Vittorio’s composure cracked.
“You think you can turn generations of power into hotels and investment companies?”
“Yes.”
“You think people will simply forgive what the Costellos have done?”
“No.”
Luca looked toward the federal agents.
“That’s why I’m giving them everything.”
Vittorio froze.
For the first time, genuine panic appeared.
“What?”
“The accounts.”
“The properties.”
“The shell companies.”
“Everything.”
Vittorio stepped forward.
“You idiot.”
Agents restrained him.
“You’ll destroy the family.”
Luca looked toward Maya.
“No.”
“I’m finally protecting it.”
Vittorio laughed wildly.
“You think the government will let you walk away?”
“I don’t expect them to.”
That answer silenced him.
Luca had already accepted financial penalties.
Possible charges connected to operations conducted under his authority.
He had negotiated nothing for himself.
Only protection for innocent employees.
Elena.
Maya.
Families who had no part in the crimes.
Vittorio suddenly looked older.
“You would sacrifice everything?”
Luca lowered himself carefully into the wheelchair.
“Not everything.”
He reached for Maya’s hand.
“This stays.”
Vittorio stared.
Agents led him toward the door.
Then he stopped.
“There’s one more thing.”
Marco tensed.
Vittorio looked at Luca.
“Ask Elena why she really came to Chicago twelve years ago.”
Elena’s face changed.
Luca saw it.
Vittorio smiled.
“There.”
“That expression.”
Luca turned toward Elena.
“What is he talking about?”
She stared at the floor.
The room emptied slowly as agents removed Vittorio.
Maya was taken outside by Marco.
Finally, Luca and Elena remained alone.
“Elena.”
She closed her eyes.
“I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
She looked at him.
“When we met that summer…”
Her voice trembled.
“I already knew the Costello name.”
Luca felt something inside him drop.
“You told me you didn’t.”
May you like
“I lied.”
And after surviving betrayal from his father, his uncle, his doctor, his attorney, and his secretary, Luca realized the woman he trusted most had been keeping a secret too.
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