Chapter 27 - SOFIA’S SCARS
Sofia did not deny it.
She sat on the porch the next morning.
Maya and Tommy were at school.
Nicholas had gone to meet Damian after release.
Elena remained inside.
Luca wanted this conversation alone.
“You were Vale’s patient.”
“Yes.”
“How old?”
“Eleven.”
Luca went cold.
“What did he do?”
“Tests.”
“What kind?”
“Neurological.”
“VR-17?”
“Early version.”
Luca gripped the cane.
“You were a child.”
“I noticed.”
“Did Enzo know?”
“Yes.”
Luca closed his eyes.
“Of course.”
Sofia looked toward the lake.
“He told me it was treatment.”
“For what?”
“Nothing.”
“You were healthy?”
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
“Because I was disposable.”
Luca looked at her.
She said it without drama.
That made it worse.
“Enzo had already given me away.”
“I existed outside the family.”
“If something happened, no one connected me to him.”
Luca felt sick.
“Our father used you before he used me.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mother know?”
“No.”
“Vale?”
“He told Enzo the research might benefit the family later.”
“What happened to you?”
“Seizures.”
“Memory gaps.”
“Numbness.”
“I spent six months in hospitals under another name.”
“How did it stop?”
“Michael Reed.”
Luca stared.
“The accountant?”
“He was working on medical billing.”
“He noticed invoices.”
“He asked questions.”
“He contacted Teresa.”
“Mom was dead.”
“Supposedly.”
“So Reed knew she was alive?”
“Eventually.”
“Did he help you?”
“Indirectly.”
“He moved documents.”
“He threatened Vale.”
“Then years later he gathered evidence again.”
“And I sent Vescari after him.”
Sofia looked at Luca.
“Yes.”
The word cut.
Luca swallowed.
“I helped kill the man who tried to help you.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know.”
“No.”
“Does that matter?”
Sofia thought.
“Some.”
Not absolution.
Enough truth.
Luca looked toward his hands.
“I am sorry.”
“I know.”
“Do you forgive me?”
“No.”
He nodded.
Sofia continued.
“Maybe someday.”
He looked up.
“That is more than I expected.”
“Don’t get comfortable.”
He almost smiled.
Damian came home that afternoon.
No gates opening dramatically.
No captains.
No black cars.
Nicholas waited near the front steps.
Damian stepped from a government vehicle carrying one duffel bag.
He saw his son.
Stopped.
Nicholas walked toward him.
For one second, both looked uncertain.
Then Nicholas hugged him.
Damian closed his eyes.
Luca watched from the doorway.
Maya ran past him.
“Uncle Damian!”
Damian laughed.
She hugged him too.
Tommy followed more cautiously.
“You look skinnier.”
Damian stared.
“Thank you?”
“Prison food?”
“Mostly.”
Elena smiled.
The house filled.
Dinner happened.
Messy.
Ordinary.
Sofia and Damian argued over pasta.
Maya interrupted.
Nicholas laughed.
Tommy stole bread.
Luca sat at the table and thought about every formal dinner Enzo had hosted.
Perfect plates.
Quiet children.
Controlled conversation.
This was better.
Far better.
After dinner, Damian and Luca went to the baseball field.
“Walk?”
Damian asked.
“Slowly.”
They moved.
Luca used the cane.
Damian matched his pace.
Neither spoke for a while.
Then Damian said.
“I’m sorry.”
Luca looked ahead.
“For which thing?”
“Exactly.”
They almost laughed.
Damian continued.
“I knew enough to tell you.”
“I didn’t.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
“I was afraid of losing power.”
“Partly.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid you’d hate me.”
“Correct.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid Father’s secrets would destroy us.”
“They did.”
Damian looked toward the house.
“Not all of us.”
Luca stopped.
“Do you want forgiveness?”
“Yes.”
“Then you may have to wait.”
“I know.”
Luca looked at him.
“But you’re my brother.”
Damian’s eyes filled.
“Still?”
“Yes.”
“That is not the same as trust.”
“I know.”
“Trust comes slower.”
“Fair.”
They continued.
At the backstop, Damian looked toward the porch.
“Are you going to marry Elena?”
Luca almost tripped.
“That is not your business.”
“So yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Go back to prison.”
Damian laughed loudly.
Luca realized he had missed that sound.
The answer, however, was not yes.
Not yet.
Luca asked Elena what she wanted.
Not whether she wanted him.
Something broader.
“What kind of life?”
She stared.
“That is suspicious.”
“Why?”
“Men only ask that before proposing or moving.”
“I am doing neither.”
“Good.”
He paused.
“Unless you want either.”
Elena laughed.
“What do I want?”
“Yes.”
“A smaller house.”
Luca stared.
“What?”
“This place is ridiculous.”
“It has sentimental value.”
“It has thirty-two bathrooms.”
“Twenty-eight.”
“That correction proves my point.”
He smiled.
“What else?”
“A job that isn’t cleaning your house.”
“You don’t clean anything anymore.”
“I know.”
“I want nursing school.”
Luca blinked.
“You never told me.”
“I wanted it before Maya.”
“Then life happened.”
“You’ll go.”
Elena frowned.
“That sounded like Costello ordering.”
“Sorry.”
He tried again.
“Would you like help making that possible?”
“Yes.”
“Better?”
“Much.”
“What else?”
She looked toward the field.
“I want Maya to know cousins.”
“Friends.”
“School.”
“I want Tommy to stop believing every good thing expires.”
“I want Nicholas to be allowed to decide where he belongs.”
“I want you to learn how to make dinner.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“That is extreme.”
“You asked.”
He smiled.
“And us?”
Elena looked at him.
“I want us to stop treating twelve years ago like a contract.”
“What does that mean?”
“We loved each other.”
“Maybe.”
“We lost each other.”
“Now we’re different.”
“If this works, I want it to work because of who we are.”
“Not because we owe the past a happy ending.”
Luca nodded.
“Agreed.”
She touched his face.
“That was surprisingly mature.”
“I’m offended.”
“Good.”
Sofia’s medical files became critical evidence in Vale’s trial.
She testified.
So did Luca.
So did Teresa.
So did Celia.
Nicholas refused.
He had the right.
Damian supported him.
Vale’s attorneys attacked everyone’s credibility.
Criminals.
Liars.
Conspirators.
People with plea agreements.
The strategy worked sometimes.
Then Anna Reyes’s records entered evidence.
Meticulous.
Dated.
Scientific.
Hard to dismiss.
The jury saw Luca’s blood samples.
Sofia’s childhood tests.
Teresa’s records.
Maya’s stolen genetic results.
Vale stopped looking confident.
One evening during trial, Tommy asked Luca.
“Do you think my mom knew this would happen?”
“What?”
“All the court stuff.”
“No.”
“Then why save everything?”
“Maybe because she wanted someone to have a chance.”
Tommy looked down.
“Was she trying to save you?”
“Maybe.”
“Did she know me?”
“She definitely knew you.”
“No.”
Tommy frowned.
“I mean the way you know Maya.”
Luca smiled softly.
“Yes.”
“She wrote about you.”
“What?”
Luca had read one personal notebook authorities returned.
Anna described Tommy’s first baseball glove.
His fear of thunderstorms.
The way he refused peas.
Tommy cried.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Luca sat beside him.
No advice.
No speech.
Just there.
Sometimes showing up was enough for one minute.
Then the next.
Vale was convicted.
Every major count.
The courtroom remained silent.
Luca felt no triumph.
Only an ending.
Hale’s trial continued.
Pierce began serving his sentence.
Teresa’s health declined.
Nothing dramatic.
Age.
Stress.
Years catching up.
She asked Luca to visit alone.
He went.
She gave him the cheap ring he had bought for Elena twelve years earlier.
Luca stared.
“You had it.”
“Enzo found it.”
“He threw it away.”
“I kept it.”
“Why?”
“Because it was the first thing you ever bought that had nothing to do with being a Costello.”
Luca held the ring.
“Should I use it?”
Teresa smiled.
“That is none of my business.”
He almost laughed.
Then her expression changed.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked at her.
“For all of it.”
Luca did not say he forgave her.
He was not there yet.
Instead, he took her hand.
“I know.”
For once, those words were enough.
That night, Luca opened the little ring box.
Elena found him.
She looked at it.
Then at him.
“No.”
Luca stared.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were thinking.”
“I was.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Why?”
“Because if you propose with a ring your supposedly dead mother stole from your criminal father after he tried to poison you, our wedding story will sound insane.”
Luca laughed until his leg hurt.
Elena took the box.
She looked at the ring.
Then softened.
“Keep it.”
“For what?”
“The past.”
She kissed him.
“If you ever ask me, buy a new one.”
“How expensive?”
“Normal.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I know.”
They smiled.
Then the front door opened.
Nicholas ran inside.
His face was white.
“Damian’s gone.”
Luca stood too quickly.
“What?”
“He left a note.”
The note contained one sentence.
I HAVE TO FINISH WHAT FATHER STARTED.
May you like
Below it was Victor Hale’s hospital address.
And Damian had taken a gun.
