Chapter 10 - THE LAST WARRoman surrendered to federal authorities at nine the next morning.
No handcuffs outside.
No cameras invited.
No performance.
Gabriel insisted on coming.
Roman knelt in front of him beside the courthouse steps.
“I may not come home tonight.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Because you’re a criminal?”
Roman flinched.
“Yes.”
Josephine stood several feet away.
Elena held Marco against her chest.
The premature baby had been discharged two days earlier.
Gabriel stared at his father.
“Did you kill people?”
Roman did not look away.
“I ordered things that hurt people.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Roman swallowed.
“No. I never personally killed anyone.”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“But people died because of you?”
Roman closed his eyes briefly.
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked down.
Roman did not reach for him.
He waited.
Finally Gabriel whispered, “I hate that.”
“You should.”
“I don’t hate you.”
Roman’s face broke.
Gabriel stepped into his arms.
Roman held him.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to spend a long time proving that.”
Gabriel pulled back.
“You better.”
Roman almost smiled.
Then he entered the courthouse.
The hearing lasted hours.
Bail was granted under strict conditions due to his cooperation.
Electronic monitoring.
Travel restrictions.
Asset controls.
No contact with known criminal associates except through counsel.
He emerged into cold afternoon air.
Josephine waited.
“So,” she said.
Roman lifted his ankle slightly beneath his trouser.
“Very fashionable.”
“I’ve seen worse.”
“Have dinner with me.”
“You’re federally monitored.”
“That’s not a no.”
She smiled.
Then gunfire erupted.
Glass shattered behind them.
People screamed.
Roman tackled Josephine to the pavement.
Federal marshals drew weapons.
Another shot struck a courthouse column.
Roman covered her body with his.
“Stay down.”
She felt blood.
“Roman?”
“Not mine.”
A marshal nearby had been hit in the shoulder.
Josephine crawled toward him.
Roman tried to stop her.
She looked back.
He stopped himself.
Choice.
Her choice.
He nodded once.
Josephine moved.
Police found the shooter abandoned in a parking garage.
Not Salvatore.
A young man who owed Salvatore’s network money.
But on his phone was a scheduled message.
MIDWIFE NEXT.
Roman read it.
Everything inside him went cold.
That evening, authorities insisted Josephine relocate temporarily.
This time, she agreed.
Not because Roman ordered it.
Because she chose.
She moved into Elena’s house with Gabriel and baby Marco.
Roman stayed at a nearby monitored property.
The strange arrangement became almost domestic.
Josephine helped Elena through postpartum recovery.
Gabriel did homework at the kitchen table.
Roman learned to warm bottles.
Badly.
“You’re holding it wrong,” Josephine said.
“It’s a bottle.”
“And you’re losing to it.”
“I run multinational companies.”
“You ran them.”
Roman glared.
Josephine smiled.
Marco spit milk onto Roman’s shirt.
Elena laughed so hard her incision hurt.
For four days, they lived almost peacefully.
On the fifth, Salvatore came.
Not with twenty men.
Alone.
He entered through the back door just before dawn.
Gabriel saw him first.
The boy froze in the hallway.
Salvatore raised one finger to his lips.
Gabriel ran.
Salvatore caught him.
Josephine woke to a crash.
She stepped into the hallway.
Salvatore held Gabriel against his chest.
Gun to the boy’s side.
Josephine stopped.
Elena appeared behind her carrying Marco.
Her face went white.
“Uncle.”
“Put the baby down.”
Elena obeyed, placing Marco in a bassinet.
Salvatore looked tired.
Older than before.
“You destroyed this family.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“No. You did.”
His eyes flashed.
“Call Roman.”
Josephine did.
Roman answered on the first ring.
“Josephine?”
“Salvatore is here.”
Silence.
Then Roman’s voice changed.
“Is anyone hurt?”
“No.”
“Gabriel?”
Salvatore took the phone.
“Come alone.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“Let him go.”
“Come home.”
“This was never my home.”
Salvatore smiled.
“Then come say goodbye.”
Roman arrived eleven minutes later.
Federal agents were already tracking his monitor.
He knew police would follow.
He entered through the front door with empty hands.
Salvatore stood in the living room.
Gabriel beside him.
Josephine near Elena.
Marco crying in the bassinet.
Roman stopped.
“Let him go.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You finally look like your father.”
“No.”
“No?”
“My father would have come armed.”
Salvatore’s eyes narrowed.
“You think being weak makes you different?”
Roman looked at Gabriel.
“No.”
He looked at Josephine.
“It makes me done.”
Salvatore laughed.
“You’re never done.”
“Yes.”
Roman stepped forward.
“You can kill me. You can burn every warehouse. Take every account. Every name.”
Another step.
“But there is no empire left to take.”
Salvatore’s smile vanished.
“I turned it over.”
“You turned over pieces.”
“All of it.”
Roman’s voice was calm.
“The offshore accounts. The judges you paid. The union contacts. The customs officers. The old ledgers.”
Salvatore went pale.
“You’re lying.”
“Uncle Pietro’s notebook too.”
That destroyed him.
Salvatore’s hand trembled.
“You had no right.”
Roman looked around the room.
At his son.
His sister.
His nephew.
Josephine.
“I finally understood something.”
“What?”
“My father called the organization family because it made obedience sound like love.”
Salvatore’s eyes burned.
Roman continued.
“But family doesn’t ask children to inherit enemies.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“Family doesn’t kidnap pregnant women.”
Elena began crying.
“Family doesn’t threaten clinics.”
Josephine’s eyes filled.
“And family does not demand blood to prove loyalty.”
Salvatore screamed.
“Enough!”
The gun shifted.
Gabriel flinched.
Roman stopped.
“Take me.”
Salvatore stared.
“Let Gabriel go. Take me.”
“No,” Gabriel whispered.
Roman looked at him.
“It’s okay.”
“No!”
Gabriel kicked backward.
Salvatore stumbled.
Josephine moved.
Roman moved faster.
He slammed into Salvatore.
The gun fired.
Elena screamed.
Roman and Salvatore crashed into a table.
Josephine pulled Gabriel away.
Federal agents burst through the doors.
“Drop the weapon!”
Salvatore rolled.
The gun pointed toward Roman.
Roman had a clear chance to grab it.
He didn’t.
He raised both hands.
Salvatore stared.
For a strange second, everything stopped.
He could shoot.
Roman knew it.
Salvatore knew it.
Then Gabriel shouted.
“Dad!”
Salvatore looked at the boy.
Something changed.
Maybe he saw Roman at ten.
Maybe he saw his brother.
Maybe fifty years of choices finally reached the end.
His arm lowered.
Agents tackled him.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Salvatore did not resist.
It was over.
Actually over.
Roman remained on his knees.
Josephine crossed the room.
“You hit?”
“No.”
She touched his face.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel ran to him.
Roman wrapped his son in both arms.
Elena joined them.
Marco cried.
Josephine stood beside the strange, damaged, imperfect family Roman had nearly lost.
Salvatore was led toward the door.
He stopped.
Looked back.
“Roman.”
Roman lifted his head.
Salvatore’s voice was quiet.
“What are you without all of this?”
Roman looked at Josephine.
Then Gabriel.
Then Elena and Marco.
May you like
He smiled.
“I guess I finally get to find out.”
