Chapter 8 – The End Of The Bellini Family

The estate’s private medical team arrived in minutes. They stabilized Thomas and rushed him to the underground medical wing.

By dawn, the mansion was secure. The Bellini family’s attack had been utterly crushed. Elias Thorne was dead. The remaining Bellini lieutenants who had survived the siege were captured and locked in the cellar.

I sat in the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, watching the sun rise over the gardens.

Sophie was asleep upstairs, safe in her bed.

The heavy wooden doors of the kitchen swung open.

Luca walked in. He had showered and changed into a clean black sweater. He looked exhausted, but the dark, heavy shadow that had haunted him for eleven months was gone.

He sat down at the table across from me.

He placed two items on the table.

The first was a thick stack of medical files.

“My men went to the hospital where your mother used to work,” Luca said quietly. “We paid a visit to the board of directors. Your mother’s name has been completely cleared. Her pension is fully restored, and the hospital will be issuing a public apology for her wrongful termination.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Moretti.”

“Luca,” he corrected gently. “You saved my daughter. You saved my family. You never call me Mr. Moretti again.”

He pushed the second item across the table.

It was a small, velvet box.

I opened it. Inside was a set of heavy, solid gold keys.

“What is this?” I asked.

“The keys to the Bellini estate downtown,” Luca said. “Vanessa and her uncle stole your mother’s livelihood. They forced you into servitude. It is only fitting that you take their house.”

I stared at him in shock. “Luca… I can’t take a mansion.”

“Sell it. Keep it. Burn it down,” Luca said with a faint smile. “It belongs to the Collins family now. Your days of wearing an apron are over, Hannah.”

Before I could speak, the kitchen door opened again.

A woman walked in.

She was wearing a long black coat. Her hair was dark, her eyes striking and familiar. She looked exactly like Catherine.

It was Clara.

She saw Luca and stopped.

Luca stood up. The powerful mafia boss looked at his sister-in-law, a woman he had believed hated him for three years.

“Clara,” Luca whispered, his voice cracking.

Clara ran to him. She threw her arms around his neck, sobbing uncontrollably. Luca held her tight, burying his face in her shoulder.

“I thought you wouldn’t let me see her,” Clara cried. “Vanessa told me you blamed me… she told me Sophie died…”

“I know, Clara. I know,” Luca said, tears shining in his own eyes. “It was a lie. All of it. Catherine was murdered, but we have the proof. We have the ledgers. The Bellinis are finished.”

Clara pulled back, wiping her eyes. “Where is she? Where is my niece?”

“She’s upstairs sleeping,” Luca smiled softly. “She kept the candle from her cake. She’s waiting for you.”

Clara hurried out of the kitchen, running up the stairs to reunite with the child she thought she had lost forever.

Luca turned back to me.

“There is one more thing,” he said.

He motioned to the doorway.

Two of Luca’s men walked in, supporting a frail figure between them.

It was Thomas.

He was bandaged heavily around his torso, leaning on his cane, but he was awake. And he was smiling.

“Mr. DeLuca!” I gasped, standing up.

“I told you I wouldn’t go to sleep, Hannah,” Thomas chuckled weakly as they helped him to a chair.

Luca walked over to the old man. He knelt down in front of Thomas, right there on the kitchen floor.

He took Thomas’s weathered, arthritic hand in his own.

“I failed you, Tommy,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion. “I let a stranger come into this house and treat you like a dog. I will spend the rest of my life making that right.”

Thomas squeezed Luca’s hand. “You didn’t fail me, kid. You survived. That’s all I ever wanted.”

Luca stood up. He looked at Thomas, then at me.

“Tonight, we are having dinner in the main dining room,” Luca announced. “Just the family. Clara, Sophie, me, and the two people who kept this family alive.”

He looked at Thomas.

“And Tommy?” Luca added. “You’re sitting at the head of the table.”

TITLE: The True Legacy Of Catherine Moretti

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