"Like Giuseppe's secret wasn't yours to keep?" Bruno throws back. "At least I was protecting an innocent kid. You were protecting a man who betrayed his marriage vows for twenty-three years."
Pietro slams his hand on the desk. "Enough. Both of you."
But Bruno's not done. "You want to judge me, Lorenzo? Fine. But don't pretend you're any better. We all make choices in this family. We all decide what truths to bury."
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Sophia
"Why come back now? After all these years?" I ask.
Luna's eyes find mine.
"Riccardo was dead." Her voice cracks on his name. "Bruno was in a coma. The two people who knew my secret, who could expose me or protect me—both gone. Or so I thought."
"So you came back for what? Revenge?" Lorenzo's voice cuts sharp.
"No." Luna shakes her head. "I came back to get my life back. I've spent years of hiding, of looking over my shoulder, of lying to my son about who his father was. I was done."
"You contacted Francesco," Pietro states.
"Six months ago." Luna's shoulders straighten despite her bound hands. "The day after I heard about Bruno's coma. I called Francesco from a burner phone. Told him his daughter was very much alive."
"He knew? All this time while he was selling me to Daniil, he knew you were alive?"
"He didn't care." Luna's laugh is bitter. "That's what I realized when we finally met. Francesco Torrino didn't give a shit that I'd survived. He wasn't angry about my betrayal or happy about my return. I was just... a tool. Something he could use."
"Use how?" Nico asks.
"Against the Sartoris, of course. He wanted me to finish what I'd started then. Seduce Lorenzo again, get close to the family, feed him information." She looks at Lorenzo. "He thought you'd be weak for me. That seeing me alive would make you vulnerable."
Lorenzo's jaw tightens but he says nothing.
"But you had other plans," I say, understanding dawning.
"Years changes a person." Luna's voice hardens. "I wasn't that desperate girl anymore, willing to do whatever Francesco ordered. I'd raised a child alone. Survived on nothing. Learned that the only person who'd save me was myself."
"What did you do?" Vittoria whispers.
Luna's eyes lock on mine. "I set up a meeting with Francesco. Private. Just the two of us. He thought I was coming to get my orders, to plan how we'd destroy the Sartoris together."
The room goes completely still.
"I held a gun to his head."
Oh shit.
"I made him write everything over to me. Every property, every account, every business. Told him if he didn't, I'd blow his brains out right there." Luna's voice is eerily calm. "He laughed at first. Thought I was bluffing. Then I shot next to his head. Just to prove I could."
"Jesus," Nora breathes.
"Francesco signed everything. His hands were shaking so bad he could barely hold the pen. Kept saying I was making a mistake, that the families would never accept me, that I'd be dead within a week."
"But he signed," Lorenzo says.
"He signed." Luna nods. "Witnessed and notarized by his own lawyer, who I'd paid off the week before. All legal. All binding."
I know what's coming but I can't process it.
