Chapter 17 - Victor’s Confession
Victor Valenti surrendered without resistance.
That frightened Dante more than a gun.
Federal agents searched him.
Nothing.
No weapon.
No device.
He requested one thing.
Five minutes alone with Lena.
Dante refused instantly.
Lena did not.
“I want to hear him.”
“No.”
“He murdered my mother.”
“Exactly.”
“I need to hear why.”
“You know why.”
“I know what everyone else says.”
Lena looked at Dante.
“I need him to say it.”
Dante hated the idea.
But Gabriel’s final letter had told Lena to make Dante earn her trust.
Trust required choice.
Finally he nodded.
“Glass wall.”
Victor sat inside an interview room.
Lena entered.
Dante watched from outside.
Victor looked at her.
“Elena had your expression.”
“Don’t talk about her like you loved her.”
“I did.”
“No.”
Victor almost smiled.
“Love and possession are often confused.”
“Not by good people.”
Victor looked down.
“Your mother embarrassed me.”
“By leaving?”
“By choosing Gabriel.”
“You already said that.”
“That wasn’t the real betrayal.”
Lena waited.
“She found evidence my father had killed ours.”
Lena frowned.
“What?”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Elena and I shared a mother.”
“I know.”
“Our father died when we were children.”
“So?”
“She later discovered he hadn’t died naturally.”
Lena slowly understood.
“The Valenti family killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wanted out.”
History repeating itself.
Gabriel wanted out.
Elena wanted out.
Sofia tried to expose them.
Victor chose the opposite path.
Instead of breaking the cycle, he became it.
“My mother wanted justice.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“She wanted to destroy the family.”
“Maybe the family deserved it.”
His eyes hardened.
“People like you say that because you never built anything.”
Lena looked at him.
“I built a life on double shifts and sixty-dollar grocery budgets while you inherited ships and murdered people to keep them.”
Victor flinched.
“You think power is building.”
She shook her head.
“You only protected what other people built.”
Behind the glass, Dante almost smiled.
Victor leaned forward.
“I killed Elena because she would never stop.”
Lena’s breath caught.
There it was.
Direct.
Plain.
“I followed her for years.”
Victor continued.
“She moved apartments. Changed jobs. Changed names.”
Lena’s eyes filled.
“She was terrified because of you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you love her?”
Victor looked almost offended.
“She was my sister.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Silence.
Lena whispered, “You loved controlling her.”
Victor stared.
“When she discovered Paul had lied about Dante, she planned to contact him.”
Dante closed his eyes outside the room.
Victor continued.
“She had written the letter.”
“What letter?”
“To Dante.”
Lena’s pulse changed.
“What happened to it?”
“I took it after the crash.”
Dante entered the room immediately.
“Where?”
Victor smiled.
“I knew you were listening.”
Dante grabbed the table.
“Where is Elena’s letter?”
Victor leaned back.
“My lawyer has it.”
“Why keep it?”
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“You.”
Dante’s expression became cold.
Victor continued.
“If I died suddenly, copies would be released with documents suggesting you ordered Elena killed.”
Lena stared.
“You fabricated evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Did you fabricate evidence against Gabriel too?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Why surrender now?”
Victor looked at the ledger.
“Because Domenico is dead.”
“You worked for him.”
“I tolerated him.”
“Why surrender?”
Victor leaned forward.
“Because someone worse took control.”
Silence.
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Victor smiled.
“You still haven’t figured it out.”
Dante stared.
Victor continued.
“Who benefited every time the Brotherhood turned against itself?”
Nobody answered.
“Who had access to Sofia in the hospital?”
Dante’s face changed.
“Paul?”
“No.”
Victor smiled wider.
“Who convinced Paul that I had his daughter?”
Paul had claimed Victor kidnapped Emily.
But what if someone else arranged it?
Lena whispered, “Who?”
Victor looked toward the glass.
At Isabella.
Dante turned.
Isabella stood beyond the window.
Her face went white.
Victor said:
“Your precious godmother.”
Chaos followed.
Matteo moved first.
Isabella ran.
Two agents chased her.
Lena stared after her.
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“She learned well.”
Dante rushed into the hallway.
“Isabella!”
She reached the church door.
Agent Shaw blocked her.
Isabella stopped.
Tears streamed down her face.
Dante approached.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
She shook her head.
“Not about everything.”
Lena stepped forward.
“You helped Victor?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Isabella looked at her.
“I created the fire plan.”
Lena froze.
“You said my mother did.”
“She lit it.”
“Because you told her to.”
“Yes.”
Dante stared.
“And Paul’s daughter?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“I moved her.”
Paul’s face appeared in the doorway behind them.
He had been brought to identify records.
“What?”
Isabella turned.
Paul looked destroyed.
“You moved Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Victor took her.”
“No.”
Paul stopped breathing.
Isabella whispered, “I did.”
“Why?”
“To force you to betray Gabriel.”
Paul staggered backward.
Everyone became silent.
Lena looked at Isabella.
“Why would you do that?”
Isabella cried.
“Because Gabriel was going to expose my husband too.”
Frank Marchetti.
One of the founders.
Isabella had spent decades presenting herself as Gabriel and Elena’s protector.
But twenty-seven years earlier she had chosen her own husband.
Her own family.
Her own security.
And Gabriel died.
Paul whispered, “Where is Emily?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
For the first time, true horror appeared on her face.
“She’s alive.”
Paul collapsed into a chair.
Dante stared at Isabella.
“You let him believe his daughter was dead for twenty-seven years.”
Isabella whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Paul began sobbing.
No one comforted him.
Not yet.
He had done terrible things.
But the cruelest wound of his life had been a lie.
Lena looked at Isabella.
“Where is she?”
Isabella answered.
“Vermont.”
Paul looked up.
“Under what name?”
Isabella whispered:
“Emma Reed.”
Paul covered his face.
His daughter had been alive all this time.
May you like
And suddenly the war against Victor was no longer the only reckoning waiting for them.
---
