Chapter 9
Serena laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes the mind rejected pain by treating it as absurd.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Arthur slid an envelope across the table.
“Believe evidence.”
Dante didn’t move.
Arthur’s gun remained steady.
“Open it,” Arthur told Serena.
She approached cautiously.
Inside were hospital documents.
Photographs.
Letters.
Patricia’s handwriting.
Serena read.
Her face slowly emptied of color.
Dante watched her.
“What does it say?”
She couldn’t answer.
Arthur did.
“Patricia had an affair before she married Vincent.”
Serena looked up sharply.
“With whom?”
“Thomas Bellini.”
Dante froze.
Marco’s father.
Arthur smiled.
“Yes.”
Serena whispered, “Marco?”
“Your half-brother.”
The room became silent.
Dante struggled to process it.
Thomas Bellini had been his father’s closest friend.
He died when Marco was young.
Arthur continued.
“Vincent discovered the affair after Serena was born.”
“Why keep her?” Dante asked.
“Pride.”
Arthur shrugged.
“Admitting his wife had another man’s child would have humiliated him.”
Serena stared at the letters.
Suddenly pieces of her childhood rearranged themselves.
Vincent’s coldness.
His obsession with obedience.
His insistence that she prove loyalty.
She had spent her entire life trying to earn love from a man who viewed her existence as an insult.
Dante saw her breaking.
“Serena.”
Arthur interrupted.
“There’s more.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
“Enough.”
“No. She deserves truth.”
Arthur looked at Serena.
“Thomas Bellini didn’t die naturally either.”
Serena closed her eyes.
Dante already knew.
“Vincent.”
Arthur nodded.
“He discovered Thomas planned to reveal everything.”
Serena whispered, “So he killed him.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped?”
Arthur smiled sadly.
“I always helped.”
Dante moved suddenly.
Arthur fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Serena dropped.
Dante overturned the table and charged.
Arthur fired again.
Dante struck his wrist.
The gun fell.
They fought in darkness and scattered lamplight.
Arthur was older, but desperation made him dangerous.
Serena reached the weapon first.
She picked it up.
“Stop!”
Both men froze.
Serena pointed the gun.
Arthur looked at her.
“Go ahead.”
Her hands shook.
“You destroyed our families.”
“I exposed what they were.”
“You created half of it.”
Arthur smiled.
“Then kill me.”
Serena stared down the sights.
Dante watched her carefully.
“Serena.”
She looked at him.
He didn’t tell her what to do.
That mattered.
Her choice.
Finally, Serena lowered the weapon.
“No.”
Arthur’s expression changed.
“You’re weak.”
“No.”
Serena wiped tears from her face.
“I’m finished letting men like you decide who I become.”
Police arrived minutes later.
Arthur was arrested again.
This time there would be no quiet transfer.
No compromised guards.
No secret escape.
The following morning Serena asked Marco to meet them.
He arrived expecting business.
Instead, Serena placed the documents on the table.
Marco read them.
Once.
Twice.
Then he looked at her.
“My father?”
Serena nodded.
Marco sat down heavily.
“So you’re…”
“Apparently.”
Neither knew what to say.
Then Marco laughed.
Serena stared.
“What?”
He shook his head.
“I spent years calling you Mrs. Cavali.”
Despite herself, Serena laughed too.
“What should you call me now?”
“Trouble.”
Dante interrupted.
“That’s already my name for her.”
Serena elbowed him.
Marco smiled.
It was awkward.
Painful.
But something new began.
They ordered DNA testing.
The results arrived days later.
Arthur had told the truth.
Marco and Serena shared a father.
Patricia finally told Serena everything.
Thomas Bellini had been the love of her life.
Her family forced her to marry Vincent.
Thomas wanted them to run away.
Patricia had been too frightened.
When Serena was born, Thomas knew immediately she was his.
He loved her from a distance.
Vincent eventually discovered the truth.
Thomas died soon afterward.
Patricia had spent decades living with guilt.
Serena listened.
Then asked one question.
“Did he love me?”
Patricia began crying.
“More than anything.”
Serena cried too.
Later that night, Dante found her on the terrace.
“Another secret,” she whispered.
“Hopefully the last.”
“I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Dante stood beside her.
“Yes, you do.”
She looked at him.
“You’re the woman who stood against her father to save a husband she thought didn’t love her.”
“That sounds reckless.”
“It was.”
She smiled.
“You’re the woman who saved her mother after being threatened by her.”
“Also reckless.”
“Extremely.”
He took her hand.
“Your blood doesn’t decide who you are.”
Serena leaned against him.
For the first time, she rested her head naturally against his shoulder.
Dante kissed her hair.
Then Serena whispered, “I don’t want this penthouse anymore.”
He looked down.
“What?”
“Too many ghosts.”
Dante understood.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Somewhere nobody has been murdered, betrayed, blackmailed, or held hostage.”
“That eliminates most properties connected to our families.”
She laughed.
“Then somewhere new.”
Dante smiled.
“Find it.”
Serena looked surprised.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
She studied him.
“What if I choose somewhere small?”
“I’ll survive.”
“No private elevator?”
“I’ll struggle.”
“No marble?”
“Now you’re being unreasonable.”
She laughed again.
And for the first time, Dante realized the sound of his wife laughing had begun to replace the memory of her crying.
But one final battle remained.
May you like
Vincent Romano’s trial was approaching.
And prosecutors wanted Serena to testify against the man who had raised her.
