Chapter 3 - The Woman Luca Had Buried Twenty Years Ago

Rome was gray when we landed.

One black car waited.

James gave the driver an address.

Luca looked at him.

"Hotel?"

"No."

"Villa?"

"Apartment."

Luca frowned.

"My parents are hiding in an apartment?"

James nodded.

"Your mother refused the villa."

Victoria looked out the window.

"My mother's villa?"

"Yes."

James continued:

"Anna said she had lived in enough houses paid for by other people's secrets."

Forty minutes later, we stopped on a quiet street.

Old stone building.

Green shutters.

No guards outside.

Luca did not move.

His hand rested on the door handle.

James waited.

Finally Luca asked:

"What do I say?"

James smiled sadly.

"You've had thirteen years to be angry."

"That's not what I asked."

"No."

James looked at him.

"But it's the answer."

Luca opened the door.

We climbed three flights.

James knocked once.

Then twice.

The door opened.

A woman stood there.

Late fifties.

Gray-streaked dark hair.

Thin scar from her jaw to her neck.

Luca stopped.

She stopped too.

No one needed an introduction.

Anna Ferraro whispered:

"Luca."

His face changed.

The mafia boss disappeared.

The thirty-three-year-old man disappeared.

For one second, he looked like a boy.

"Mom?"

Anna covered her mouth.

Then nodded.

Luca did not move toward her.

Neither did she.

Twenty years of grief stood between them.

Finally Anna said:

"You have your father's beard."

Luca laughed once.

Then started crying.

Not loudly.

He looked away.

Anna stepped forward.

"May I?"

Luca looked at her.

Then nodded.

She hugged him.

His arms stayed at his sides for one second.

Then wrapped around her.

Hard.

Victoria turned away.

James watched like a man who had carried this moment for too long.

A second voice came from inside.

"Anna?"

Luca released her.

An older man appeared in the hallway.

Tall.

Gray beard.

Walking cane.

Marco Ferraro.

Luca stared.

His father stopped.

No smile.

No speech.

Just:

"Son."

Luca walked toward him.

Then punched him.

Victoria gasped.

Marco hit the wall.

James stepped forward.

Marco raised one hand.

"No."

Luca stood over him.

"You were alive."

Marco touched his lip.

"Yes."

"Thirteen years."

"Yes."

"You let me bury you."

"I know."

Luca's fists tightened.

Marco looked at him.

"If you need another one, do it now."

Anna said:

"Marco."

Luca stared at his father.

Then lowered his hand.

"No."

Marco nodded.

"Good."

Luca's voice shook.

"I don't want to waste another minute hitting someone who already wasted thirteen years."

Marco closed his eyes.

That hurt more.

We entered the apartment.

Simple furniture.

No luxury.

A photograph stood on a shelf.

Marco and Anna.

Taken recently.

Luca stared at it.

"You've been together how long?"

Anna answered:

"Eleven months."

"You found each other last year."

"Yes."

Luca looked at Marco.

"And before that?"

"Hiding separately."

"From Adrian Dane?"

Anna looked at Victoria.

Victoria lowered her eyes.

Then Anna said:

"Mostly."

Luca noticed the word.

"Mostly?"

Marco sat.

"Adrian was not the only danger."

Luca crossed his arms.

"Start at the beginning."

Anna took a breath.

"Your mother did not die."

Marco looked at Luca.

"You know that now."

Anna continued:

"But the death certificate was real."

Victoria frowned.

"How?"

Anna looked at her.

"Your father arranged it."

Victoria went pale.

Luca did not look at her.

Anna continued:

"Twenty years ago, I discovered money moving through Ferraro shipping companies."

Luca asked:

"Illegal money?"

"Yes."

"For my father?"

Marco answered:

"For me."

Silence.

Luca turned.

Marco did not hide.

"I was laundering money."

Anna looked at Luca.

"Your father was not innocent."

Marco nodded.

"I wasn't."

Luca stared at him.

"For Adrian?"

Marco said:

"With Adrian."

That was worse.

Luca's face hardened.

Marco continued:

"We built the network together."

"Then why did he want Mom gone?"

Anna answered:

"Because I found the second ledger."

Luca frowned.

"What second ledger?"

Marco looked at Victoria.

"The one Adrian kept from me."

Victoria whispered:

"What was in it?"

Anna said:

"Payments for kidnappings."

The room became still.

"Bribes."

Another pause.

"Two murders."

Victoria sat down.

Luca stared at Marco.

"You didn't know?"

"No."

Anna said:

"I believed him."

Luca looked at her.

She continued:

"Marco was a criminal."

Marco lowered his eyes.

"But he was not doing what Adrian was doing."

Luca asked:

"What happened when you confronted them?"

Anna replied:

"I never reached Marco."

She looked at Victoria.

"Your father reached me first."

Victoria shook her head.

"No."

Anna's voice stayed calm.

"He told me Luca would die if I spoke."

Luca stopped breathing.

Anna continued:

"He showed me photographs of your school."

Luca looked at his father.

Marco closed his eyes.

Anna said:

"Then he gave me two choices."

"Which were?"

"Disappear."

A pause.

"Or bury my son."

Luca looked away.

Anna's eyes filled.

"I chose you."

No one spoke.

Victoria whispered:

"And my mother?"

Anna looked at her.

"Helen found me three months later."

Victoria froze.

"My mother knew from the beginning?"

"No."

Anna shook her head.

"She learned what Adrian had done."

"What did she do?"

"She helped me stay dead."

Victoria began crying.

Anna continued:

"Then she married Marco."

Luca turned toward his father.

"You married the woman who helped hide Mom from you?"

Marco said:

"I did not know."

Luca laughed bitterly.

"Of course you didn't."

Marco did not defend himself.

Anna continued:

"Helen believed marrying Marco was the safest way to learn what Adrian was doing."

Victoria stared.

"My mother married him to investigate my father?"

"At first."

Anna looked at Marco.

"Then she loved him."

Marco looked down.

Luca's expression changed.

"Did you love her?"

Marco answered:

"Yes."

Anna did not flinch.

Luca looked between them.

"And you two are together now."

Anna said:

"Life is not clean, Luca."

He laughed without humor.

"I'm starting to notice."

Victoria took the brass key from her purse.

"My mother left this."

Anna looked at it.

Her face changed.

"Where did you find that?"

"In her desk."

Marco stood.

James whispered:

"Helen's box."

Anna nodded.

Luca held out his hand.

Victoria gave him the key.

"Where is it?"

Marco looked at the clock.

Then at the rain outside.

"At the villa."

Luca said:

"Then we go."

Anna shook her head.

"Not yet."

He frowned.

"Why?"

She looked directly at Victoria.

"Because before she opens that box, Victoria needs to tell you why Adrian knew about your engagement six months before you proposed."

Victoria froze.

Luca slowly turned toward her.

"What?"

Anna continued:

"Your proposal was not a surprise to her father."

Luca stared at Victoria.

"How?"

Victoria began to cry again.

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Then whispered:

"Because he helped make sure you would ask."