Chapter 6 - The Twenty-Five Percent Everyone Wanted

They flew to Geneva the next morning.

Luca.

Sofia.

Celeste.

Elias.

Arthur stayed behind.

Marco came under security.

Nobody trusted him.

The bank vault was private.

Old.

Quiet.

The manager brought out a steel case.

Two keys.

Sofia had one.

Marco had the other.

They turned them together.

The case opened.

Inside was the original ownership deed.

Sofia Moretti.

Twenty-five percent of Moretti Maritime.

Signed.

Notarized.

Valid.

Luca looked at his mother.

“This means Father never owned all of the company.”

“No.”

“It means I do not either.”

“No.”

Marco folded his arms.

“My twenty-five remains mine.”

Luca looked at him.

“If your documents are real.”

Marco smiled.

“They are.”

The manager brought another file.

Marco’s certificate.

Real.

Twenty-five percent.

Luca calculated.

His father had controlled fifty.

Sofia twenty-five.

Marco twenty-five.

Luca inherited Dante’s fifty.

He had never owned the company outright.

Arthur’s supposed merger agreement was built on false ownership.

Celeste looked at Luca.

“What happens now?”

He answered:

“Mother decides what happens to her shares.”

Sofia looked surprised.

“You are not going to ask for them?”

“No.”

“Luca.”

“They were stolen from you.”

Silence.

Marco watched him.

Sofia looked at her son.

“What would you do with fifty percent if Marco and I refused you control?”

Luca shrugged.

“Own fifty percent.”

Marco laughed.

“You would accept that?”

Luca looked at him.

“I would accept reality.”

Marco’s smile faded.

Sofia’s eyes filled.

Then the manager slid one final envelope across the table.

“This was deposited with the deed.”

Sofia frowned.

“By whom?”

“Dante Moretti.”

Luca went still.

“My father?”

“Yes.”

“Date?”

“Nine years ago.”

The month before Dante died.

Luca opened it.

Inside was a confession.

Signed.

Recorded with witnesses.

His father admitted forging documents.

Admitted using Arthur.

Admitted threatening Sofia.

Admitted paying investigators to locate her.

Admitted imprisoning her.

Celeste looked sick.

Luca kept reading.

Then stopped.

“What?”

Sofia asked.

He looked at Arthur’s name.

“My father says Arthur helped you escape the second time.”

Sofia frowned.

“No.”

Marco went still.

Luca continued.

“Dante says Arthur discovered where you were being held.”

Sofia stared.

“And?”

“He gave Marco the location.”

Marco looked away.

Sofia’s face changed.

“You never told me.”

Marco said nothing.

Luca read on.

“Arthur refused payment.”

Celeste started crying.

Luca looked at her.

Then at Sofia.

“Arthur betrayed you once.”

“Yes.”

“But later helped save you.”

Sofia whispered:

“I didn’t know.”

Marco snapped:

“He was trying to save himself.”

Luca looked at him.

“My father says Arthur had already transferred evidence to a lawyer.”

Marco’s face hardened.

Luca continued.

“If Sofia was harmed, the evidence would go to police.”

Sofia sat down.

For eighteen years, she had believed Arthur betrayed her and never tried to repair it.

He had.

Too late.

But he had.

Luca looked at Celeste.

“She hid that too.”

Celeste shook her head.

“My father never told me.”

Marco laughed bitterly.

“Arthur loves confession only when someone else starts it.”

Luca ignored him.

The final page contained one instruction.

TO LUCA:

YOUR MOTHER OWES ME NOTHING.

IF SHE RETURNS, LET HER DECIDE WHETHER I DESERVE TO BE REMEMBERED AS A MONSTER OR A COWARD.

Luca folded the paper.

Sofia’s eyes were wet.

“What do you think?”

He looked at her.

“You are asking me?”

“Yes.”

Luca took a breath.

“He was both.”

Sofia nodded slowly.

“So do I.”

Marco stood.

“Then we are finished.”

Luca looked at him.

“No.”

Marco stopped.

“You still forged Mother’s transfer.”

Marco’s face hardened.

“That was twenty-two years ago.”

“So?”

“I saved her.”

“And charged her twenty percent for it.”

“I never collected.”

“You tried.”

Marco’s jaw tightened.

Luca turned to Sofia.

“Do you want to press charges?”

Marco stared.

Sofia looked at him for a long moment.

“Yes.”

Marco’s face changed.

“Sofia.”

“No.”

Her voice became steady.

“You do not get to call theft protection.”

Security stepped forward.

Marco looked at Luca.

“You would arrest your own uncle?”

Luca answered:

“I buried you once.”

Marco froze.

Luca continued.

“I can survive knowing where you are this time.”

Security escorted him out.

Celeste watched.

Then looked at Luca.

“What happens to us?”

Luca looked at her.

“I do not know.”

She nodded.

“That is fair.”

Sofia touched the deed.

Then looked at her son.

“I know what I want to do with my shares.”

Luca waited.

“I want to give them back.”

He frowned.

“To me?”

“No.”

“To the employees.”

Silence.

Luca stared.

“All twenty-five percent?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because men in these families have spent thirty years moving ownership like people were pieces on a board.”

She looked at the deed.

“I want one thing to go somewhere none of them planned.”

Luca smiled slightly.

Then the bank manager cleared his throat.

“There is one complication.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What?”

He opened a file.

“The shares cannot be transferred yet.”

“Why?”

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The manager looked at Sofia.

“Because according to the corporate registry, Sofia Moretti is legally dead.”