Chapter 10 - The Truth About Luca
Luca had known he might die.
That knowledge changed Jonathan more than the death itself.
For years Jonathan had imagined his brother blindsided.
Wrong place.
Wrong men.
Wrong night.
The message in Notebook Eleven proved otherwise.
Luca had understood the danger.
He had also understood Jonathan's likely reaction.
Anger.
Revenge.
War.
Exactly what Dominic needed.
Jonathan took the notebook to Rebecca.
Federal investigators authenticated the ink.
Luca's writing matched old records.
The timing fit.
Rebecca eventually reconstructed the final days.
Luca had uncovered Atlantic Meridian.
He suspected Dominic.
But not enough to confront him.
Luca met Salvatore because he needed access to Bianke shipping records.
He met Peter Lang because Peter controlled accounting data.
He involved Rocco because he needed one person inside the Moretti circle.
Then Luca made one mistake.
He confronted Marco.
Marco was already compromised.
Not fully loyal to Dominic.
Not fully innocent either.
He warned Dominic that Luca knew too much.
Dominic arranged the meeting where Luca died.
The truth was less cinematic than Jonathan had imagined.
No dramatic execution.
No gang ambush.
Dominic met Luca inside a parked car.
They argued.
Luca threatened to expose everything.
Dominic's driver struck Luca during the struggle.
The injury killed him.
Then Dominic staged the scene.
Jonathan listened to Rebecca explain it.
His face remained still.
"Who was the driver?"
"Dead."
"How?"
"Overdose two years ago."
"Convenient."
"Possibly."
Jonathan looked out the window.
For three years he had wanted the name of Luca's killer.
Now he had it.
And nothing improved.
Luca remained dead.
Teresa remained a mother who buried her son.
The war remained real.
The men harmed in retaliation did not return home.
Truth did not reverse consequences.
It merely stopped lies from creating new ones.
Jonathan visited Dominic in federal detention.
Rocco objected.
Meline did too.
Jonathan went anyway.
His uncle entered behind thick glass.
Orange uniform.
Gray hair.
Still proud.
Jonathan picked up the phone.
Dominic smiled.
"Come to gloat?"
"No."
"Then why?"
"I wanted to see you."
"Here I am."
Jonathan studied him.
"Did Luca beg?"
Dominic's smile disappeared.
"No."
"Was he afraid?"
"No."
"Did he mention me?"
Dominic looked away.
Jonathan waited.
Finally Dominic said, "He said you'd kill everyone."
Jonathan closed his eyes.
"And?"
"He asked me not to let you."
Irony almost made Jonathan laugh.
The man killing Luca had heard Luca worry about Jonathan becoming a killer.
"What did you say?"
"I told him you were already one."
Jonathan absorbed that.
Maybe Dominic had been right then.
Maybe not now.
Dominic leaned closer.
"You think putting on clean suits and paying taxes changes what you are?"
"No."
"You're a Moretti."
"Yes."
"Blood doesn't change."
"No."
"Then why pretend?"
Jonathan looked at him calmly.
"Because behavior does."
Dominic laughed.
"You'll come back."
"To what?"
"Power."
Jonathan shook his head.
"You never understood power."
Dominic's face hardened.
"Neither did I."
Jonathan hung up.
He never visited again.
Outside the prison, Meline waited in her car.
Jonathan was surprised.
"What are you doing here?"
"You texted Rocco that you were coming."
"Rocco told you?"
"I threatened him with poor floral service for life."
Jonathan got in.
Meline looked at him.
"How was it?"
"Empty."
She nodded.
They sat.
Finally Jonathan said, "Luca told Dominic I'd kill everyone."
"Would you have?"
"Three years ago?"
"Yes."
Jonathan thought.
"Maybe."
"And now?"
"No."
Meline watched him carefully.
"Because of Daniel?"
"Partly."
"Me?"
"Partly."
"What else?"
"Because Luca asked me not to."
Meline's eyes softened.
Jonathan stared at his hands.
"I spent my whole life thinking restraint meant being calm while doing terrible things."
She said nothing.
"I never yelled. Never drank. Never lost control."
"You were proud of that."
"Yes."
He laughed bitterly.
"But I still hurt people."
Meline looked through the windshield.
"Control isn't the same as goodness."
"I know."
"Now."
"Yes."
She reached across the console.
Placed her hand over his.
Jonathan froze.
It was the first time she had touched him voluntarily since Broad Street.
He did not close his hand around hers.
He simply let it remain.
After a minute, Meline whispered, "I missed you."
Jonathan's throat tightened.
"Don't say anything."
He nodded.
"I missed you when I hated you."
He nodded again.
"I missed you when Daniel kicked."
Her eyes filled.
"I wanted to call you."
Jonathan looked down.
"I wish you had."
"I know."
"But I understand why you didn't."
That mattered.
Meline turned toward him.
"I don't want the man you were."
"I don't either."
"I don't know whether the man you're becoming will last."
"Neither do I."
She almost smiled.
"That's the most honest thing you've said."
Jonathan looked at her.
"Can I kiss you?"
Meline stared.
Then laughed softly.
"You asking permission is still strange."
"Is that a no?"
She shook her head.
"No."
Jonathan leaned closer.
Slowly.
Nothing urgent.
Nothing claimed.
Their kiss was brief.
Careful.
Meline pulled away first.
Jonathan did not chase it.
"That's all," she said.
"Okay."
She smiled.
"You're getting annoyingly good at that word."
"Okay."
She laughed.
For the first time, the future felt possible.
Then Rebecca called.
The Atlantic Meridian case was moving to indictment.
Dominic.
Voss.
Marco.
Two officials.
Three freight executives.
And one more person.
Salvatore Bianke.
Not for Luca's death.
For obstruction.
He had destroyed port records after learning federal investigators were asking questions.
Vivien's father was going down.
When Jonathan told her, Vivien was silent.
Then she said, "Good."
He expected pain.
He heard it anyway.
"He's still your father."
"Yes."
"Do you want me there?"
"For what?"
"When they arrest him."
Vivien paused.
"You'd come?"
"Yes."
She exhaled.
"Why?"
Jonathan thought about everything that had happened since the wedding.
"Because you were there when Daniel was almost born in a limousine."
Vivien laughed through tears.
"Fair."
Salvatore surrendered two days later.
Vivien stood across the street.
Jonathan beside her.
No alliance.
No wedding.
No contract.
Just two people watching an old world end.
Vivien whispered, "Do you know what's funny?"
"What?"
"If we'd gotten married, our fathers would have called it peace."
Jonathan looked at the courthouse.
"And this?"
May you like
She smiled sadly.
"This might actually become it."
