After My Brother’s Girlfriend Tried to Extort 500,000 from Me, I Revealed I Was the Mafia Donna Chapter 10

After My Brother’s Girlfriend Tried to Extort 500,000 from Me, I Revealed I Was the Mafia Donna Chapter 10

My mother died when I was still young.

After she learned that Father had a child outside their marriage, her condition deteriorated quickly.

Her health only grew worse after that.

A few years later, she was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery.

I never blamed Luca entirely for my mother’s death.

He had only been a child then.

That was why I’d protected him.

But as an adult, Luca had come to treat everything others had borne on his behalf as though it had always been his by right.

That was what I couldn’t forgive.

I never thought he would actually keep vigil at the grave.

After all, he’d barely known hardship his entire life.

But to my surprise, he did.

On the first day, Sofia’s people watched from a distance. He stayed by the headstone the entire time.

On the second day, he was still there.

On the third day, rain began falling over Chicago.

It was bitterly cold.

Luca was soaked through, but he still refused to leave the grave.

Sofia sat in my office, frowning at me.

“You’re really not going to see him? If this carries on, he could pass out.”

I lifted my cup.

“Then call an ambulance. I’m not going.”

Sofia watched me for a moment.

“You’ve really let him go, then?”

“More or less.”

I looked out the window.

“I used to think I had to answer for Father’s mistakes. That it was my duty to look after Luca for the sake of the Family.”

“Now I know better. He’s an adult. His choices are his to answer for.”

On the third night, Luca did collapse in the cemetery.

A security guard on patrol called an ambulance, and he was taken to hospital.

When he woke up, the first thing he did was call me.

For the first time, I picked up.

His voice was hoarse down the line.

“Isa, I did it. Will you forgive me now?”

I let out a faint laugh.

“Luca, you still don’t understand.”

He went quiet.

“I didn’t make you stay there for three days to satisfy me. I did it so you’d remember one thing: your place in this Family came at a price, and other people paid it for you.”

“My mother. Me. Even Grandfather. We all paid a price for it. Yet all these years, you’ve treated what other people sacrificed for you as though it were your birthright.”

There was a long silence at the other end.

I went on.

“I never wanted you dead. I had someone rent you an ordinary apartment on the West Side, and I left you enough to live on for a while.”

“This isn’t compensation. It’s the last time, as your sister, I’ll make sure you’ve got the basics covered.”

“From now on, whatever happens to you has nothing to do with the Moretti Family, and nothing to do with me.”

Luca’s voice trembled.

“Can we really never go back to how things were?”

My answer was calm.

“No. There’s no going back. Don’t come looking for me again.”

Then I ended the call and blocked his number.

The office suddenly felt very quiet.

I sat there for a long time. I wasn’t sad, and I wasn’t so relieved that I wanted to cry.

For the first time, I simply realised that I no longer had to be responsible for another grown adult.