Chapter 7 - The Empty Chair Was Empty No More
One year later, Il Corvo Nero looked almost exactly the same.
Amber chandeliers.
Polished floors.
Old leather booths.
Soft saxophone music.
But Alessandro's table beside the arched window had changed.
There were four chairs now.
One for him.
One for Isabella.
One for Sofia.
And one that technically belonged to nobody because Bruno refused to use furniture properly.
“Bruno!”
Sofia laughed as the German Shepherd moved beneath the table.
Alessandro looked down.
“What's he doing?”
“Nothing.”
“That means he's doing something.”
Sofia tried to look innocent.
Alessandro leaned under the table.
Bruno was eating an expensive steak from a plate.
Alessandro straightened.
“Sofia.”
“Yes, Dad?”
“That was my dinner.”
“He was hungry.”
“He has eaten twice.”
“He had a difficult childhood.”
Isabella laughed.
“You've been teaching her that.”
“I absolutely have not.”
Luca approached the table.
He wore a gray suit now instead of black.
Alessandro's legitimate businesses had grown faster than anyone expected. More importantly, nobody was dying over territory anymore.
“Everything finished?” Alessandro asked.
“Last warehouse passed inspection.”
“And Jersey?”
“Clean.”
“Good.”
Luca smiled at Sofia.
“Your father's becoming respectable.”
Sofia looked horrified.
“No.”
Isabella laughed.
Alessandro shook his head.
“Go home, Luca.”
“With pleasure.”
After he left, Isabella reached across the table.
“I have something for you.”
She placed a small box in front of Alessandro.
He opened it.
Inside was an old leather dog collar.
Restored.
The same collar Bruno had torn while escaping after the crash.
Alessandro lifted it.
“You kept this?”
“Of course.”
Attached to it was a small silver plate.
Three words were engraved into the metal.
HE FOUND HOME.
Alessandro stared at it.
Sofia leaned closer.
“Do you like it?”
He looked toward Bruno.
The Shepherd sat beside him, older, healthier and considerably heavier.
“I do.”
Sofia smiled.
“Mommy says Bruno saved us.”
“He did.”
“And he saved you too.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“You were alone.”
The words were simple.
They struck deeper than anything complicated could have.
Sofia pointed around the table.
“Now you're not.”
Alessandro looked at Isabella.
Then his daughter.
Then the dog who had crossed miles of city streets with bleeding paws because he refused to abandon the people he loved.
Years earlier, Alessandro had believed loyalty belonged to men who swore oaths.
He had been wrong.
Some men had betrayed him after decades.
A frightened dog had trusted him after seconds.
Alessandro reached down.
Bruno immediately placed one paw on his knee.
“Still ordering me around?”
The dog's tail struck the floor.
Sofia giggled.
“He says yes.”
Alessandro smiled.
“Of course he does.”
Isabella reached across the table and took his hand.
“Ready to go home?”
Once, that question would have meant returning to a silent mansion.
Tonight, it meant something completely different.
Alessandro stood.
“Yeah.”
Sofia grabbed his hand.
Isabella took the other.
Bruno walked ahead of them.
They crossed the restaurant together.
At the entrance, Bruno suddenly stopped.
Alessandro nearly walked into him.
“What now?”
The dog looked back.
One year earlier, Alessandro had seen that exact look.
Come.
This time, Bruno's tail wagged.
Sofia pulled Alessandro forward.
“Come on, Dad.”
Alessandro followed.
Outside, the city glittered beneath the night sky.
He had spent half his life building an empire because he believed power could guarantee that nobody would ever take anything from him again.
A dog had taught him otherwise.
Power hadn't brought Isabella back.
Fear hadn't brought Sofia into his life.
Money hadn't given him a family.
Bruno had simply appeared at his table one night and asked the most feared man in New York to follow him.
Alessandro had followed.
And at the bottom of a dark ravine, he had found everything he thought he had lost.
Isabella slipped her hand into his.
Sofia ran ahead with Bruno.
“Dad! Hurry!”
Alessandro smiled.
“I'm coming.”
May you like
And this time, when his family called him home, Alessandro Moretti didn't make them wait.
:::
