CHAPTER 14 — THE EMPIRE FALLS
Matteo survived.
The bullet damaged his liver, but Dr. Hale and the surgical team saved him.
He woke three days later to the sound of Nico laughing.
Liana sat beside the hospital bed with the baby on her lap.
Matteo opened his eyes.
“You stayed.”
“You still owe me wages.”
His weak smile made her cry.
Carlo DeLuca was charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, racketeering, smuggling, bribery, and dozens of other crimes.
The families who had supported him turned on one another.
The Varric empire collapsed in less than six weeks.
Warehouses were seized. Accounts were frozen. Officials resigned. Police officers were arrested.
Matteo testified for seventeen days.
He did not lie to save himself.
He admitted what he had ordered, what he had ignored, and what he had allowed others to do in his name.
The court sentenced him to five years under a cooperation agreement, with the possibility of release after three.
Before he was taken away, Matteo transferred every legitimate asset not seized by the government into a trust for Nico.
A second trust was created in Samuel Graves’s name.
It funded emergency medicine for children whose parents could not afford treatment.
Liana did not forgive Matteo quickly.
She visited him once a month.
Sometimes they spoke about Nico.
Sometimes about Elena.
Sometimes about Samuel.
During one visit, Matteo asked why she kept coming.
Liana looked through the glass between them.
“Because punishment and abandonment are not the same thing.”
Nico learned to walk while Matteo was imprisoned.
He took his first steps toward a photograph of his father.
His first clear sentence was, “Mama, call Da.”
Every evening, Liana told him about both of his mothers.
She told him Elena had been brave.
She told him Elena had fought to give him a life free from fear.
She also told him that love did not erase the past.
It made people responsible for what they did next.
Matteo was released after three years and four months.
When he stepped through the prison gates, he carried no expensive watch and wore no tailored suit.
Liana waited beside a modest blue car.
Nico stood in front of her.
He was almost four.
For a moment, the child stared at the unfamiliar man.
Matteo’s face fell.
Then Nico ran.
“Da!”
Matteo dropped to his knees.
Nico crashed into his arms.
The former mafia boss held his son and wept openly beneath the morning sun.
Liana stood nearby.
When Matteo finally looked at her, he did not ask whether she had forgiven him.
He only said, “Thank you for keeping him safe.”
May you like
She stepped closer.
“Now help me raise him.”
