Chapter 6 - The Friend at the Gate
Serena ran.
Damiano was beside her before she reached the stairs.
They found Lucia standing in the upstairs corridor with Mrs. Caruso.
She wasn’t hurt.
She was pointing toward the window.
“There!”
A black car sat beyond the estate gates.
Damiano recognized it.
Marco.
His phone rang.
Marco’s name appeared.
Damiano answered.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Marco laughed softly.
“Still dramatic.”
“Why are you here?”
“To finish this.”
“Then come inside.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“No. You’re scared.”
Silence.
Damiano continued.
“You had the photograph. You knew about Isabella. You knew what your father did. And for twelve years you stood beside me pretending you were my brother.”
“I was your brother.”
“No.”
Damiano looked at Serena and Lucia.
“Nico was my brother.”
Marco’s voice hardened.
“My father made one mistake.”
“He betrayed mine.”
“He was trying to survive.”
“So was Isabella.”
“That woman ruined him.”
“Your father ruined himself.”
Silence.
Then Marco said, “Give me the records.”
“No.”
“You don’t even need them.”
“I do now.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucia almost lost her mother over them.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“So that’s it? A maid and her kid walk into your house and suddenly you’ve grown a conscience?”
Damiano’s eyes hardened.
“No. A three-year-old reminded me I still had one.”
Serena looked at him.
Outside, the car door opened.
Marco stepped out.
His hands were visible.
Empty.
Damiano went downstairs.
“Stay here,” he told Serena.
She caught his arm.
“Don’t do something Lucia will have to make you apologize for.”
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
“I’ll try.”
He walked outside.
Marco waited beyond the gate.
The two men faced each other through the iron bars.
“Open it,” Marco said.
“No.”
“You think I came here to hurt you?”
“I think you stopped knowing what you came to do a long time ago.”
Marco looked exhausted.
“I wanted the records destroyed.”
“They won’t be.”
“My family name—”
“Your father’s choices are not yours.”
Marco stared at him.
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Damiano stepped closer to the gate.
“I spent twenty years blaming myself for Nico.”
Marco said nothing.
“Isabella’s evidence gave me something your father took away.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
Marco lowered his eyes.
Behind Damiano, a small voice called out.
“Uncle Marco?”
Damiano turned sharply.
Lucia stood on the front steps beside Serena.
Marco looked up.
Lucia held Mr. Buttons.
“Why did you lie?”
Marco’s face crumpled for just a second.
He recovered.
But Damiano saw it.
So did Serena.
Lucia walked down one step.
“You said you were Mommy’s friend.”
“I know.”
“Friends don’t make mommies scared.”
“No.”
“You did wrong things.”
Marco laughed weakly.
“Two?”
Lucia shook her head.
“A lot.”
For the first time, Marco Bellini had no answer.
He looked at Damiano.
“What happens now?”
“You leave.”
“Just like that?”
“You tell me everything you know. You disappear from our business. You never go near Serena or Lucia again.”
“And if I don’t?”
Damiano’s expression answered without words.
Marco nodded slowly.
He placed Damiano’s stolen phone on the ground.
Then he pushed it through the bars.
“I’m tired, Dami.”
Damiano hadn't heard that childhood nickname in years.
“I know.”
“I really did think I was protecting my family.”
“So did Isabella.”
Marco looked toward Serena.
“I’m sorry.”
Serena said nothing.
Then Marco looked at Lucia.
“I’m sorry, little one.”
Lucia hugged her rabbit.
“You have to mean it.”
Marco’s eyes became wet.
“I do.”
Lucia nodded.
“Okay.”
Marco returned to his car.
Damiano watched until the taillights disappeared.
Serena came to stand beside him.
“Is it over?”
Damiano looked down at the old phone in his hand.
“The part involving Marco is.”
“And the rest?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“The rest is up to us.”
