Chapter 9 - The Last Enemy
We traced the photograph to someone I had trusted for twelve years.
Victor Salvi.
My chief financial officer.
Respectable.
Married.
Two daughters.
No criminal record.
And according to Marco's hidden files, the man who had laundered Adrian's money through my legitimate companies.
Victor disappeared before we could reach him.
Then fifty million dollars vanished from a Vitali account.
He was preparing to run.
But he wanted one thing first.
Revenge.
I sent Clara and Rosie to a secure property in Vermont.
Clara refused.
Again.
“You cannot solve every problem by locking me somewhere.”
“I can try.”
“You don't own me.”
“I know.”
“Then stop behaving like you do.”
I lost my temper.
“I'm trying to keep you alive!”
“And I'm trying to live!”
Silence.
Clara's eyes filled.
“I spent years running because Marco told me to. Then I hid because Ferretti frightened me. I'm done building Rosie's life around dangerous men.”
That hurt because I was one of those men.
She saw it.
“I didn't mean you.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Lorenzo—”
“I am dangerous.”
She stepped closer.
“You can be.”
“That's not reassuring.”
“But you choose what you do with it.”
Her palm touched my cheek exactly as Rosie had on the day of the wedding.
“You protect people. Adrian controlled them. That's the difference.”
I closed my eyes.
“I love you.”
The words escaped before I could stop them.
Clara went completely still.
I opened my eyes.
“Well.”
“Well?” she whispered.
“I had planned that better.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Try again.”
“I love you.”
She smiled.
“I love you too.”
We kissed.
Then Rosie yelled from the hallway.
“Are you kissing again?”
Clara laughed against my mouth.
That evening, Victor called.
He wanted Marco's original drive in exchange for leaving the country permanently.
I knew he was lying.
So did Clara.
We arranged the exchange at the abandoned Vitali shipping terminal.
This time, I didn't leave Clara behind.
We went together.
Victor waited inside.
“You always were sentimental, Lorenzo.”
“You always were boring, Victor.”
His smile vanished.
“I made your family billions.”
“You stole millions.”
“A rounding error.”
“You helped Adrian murder my father.”
His eyes hardened.
“Your father would have destroyed everything.”
“No. He would have destroyed you.”
Victor drew his weapon.
So did I.
But Clara was faster.
“Don't.”
Victor turned his gun toward her.
That was his mistake.
I rose from the wheelchair.
No braces.
No assistance.
One step.
Then another.
Victor stared.
“You—”
I hit him.
Not elegantly.
Not powerfully.
But hard enough.
His gun skidded across the floor.
Clara kicked it away.
My guards entered.
Victor was finished.
As police took him out, he looked back.
“You think this makes you whole?”
I looked at my wheelchair.
Then Clara.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
I continued.
“I was whole before I stood up.”
His smile disappeared.
Three months later, Adrian pleaded guilty after Victor agreed to testify.
The organization they had built collapsed.
I withdrew the Vitali family from every illegal operation still attached to our name.
It cost money.
Influence.
Several old alliances.
I didn't care.
For the first time, the empire I controlled could survive daylight.
Clara moved out of the servants' wing.
Not into my bedroom.
She insisted on her own suite.
“For Rosie,” she said.
“Of course.”
“And because you're annoying.”
“Also fair.”
One spring afternoon, I found Rosie decorating my cane.
Pink ribbon.
Again.
“Why?”
“It needs flowers.”
“It absolutely does not.”
She ignored me.
Clara watched from the doorway.
I stood.
Walked slowly toward her.
Twenty steps.
No assistance.
Clara's eyes shone.
When I reached her, I kissed her forehead.
“I need to ask you something.”
Her expression changed.
“Lorenzo.”
“What?”
“If you propose because Rosie has been harassing you—”
“She has.”
From behind us Rosie shouted, “You're welcome!”
I laughed.
Then reached into my pocket.
Clara stopped breathing.
I lowered myself carefully.
Not onto one knee.
My body still couldn't do that.
Instead, I sat on the garden bench before her and held out a ring.
“The last time I waited at an altar, I thought standing beside someone was proof of love.”
Clara's eyes filled.
“I know better now.”
I took her hand.
“Stay beside me however we have to stand, sit, fall, or crawl.”
She laughed through her tears.
“That's the least romantic proposal I've ever heard.”
“Is that a yes?”
She kissed me.
Rosie screamed.
I smiled against Clara's lips.
“I'll interpret that as yes.”
But before Clara could answer, Rosie ran toward us carrying something behind her back.
“Wait!”
We turned.
May you like
She was holding the silver bell from my first wedding.
And inside it was one final folded piece of paper neither of us had ever seen.
