His breath shudders in his chest.
“Twenty years ago, Moretti offered me the money I needed to expand my fleet. I was greedy, Konstantin. I wanted the empire.” His voice cracks. “So I gave them your father’s coordinates.”
He squeezes his eyes shut, as if the memory alone is unbearable.
“I swear to God, I didn’t know they would use them to slaughter your entire family.”
Hearing him say it out loud strips away whatever humanity I have left. He finally admitted to the cowardly betrayal that has fueled my need for revenge for years.
The monster inside me screams to finish it. My hand twitches toward my gun. The man bleeding out on the floor right in front of me is the reason my father, mother, and sister are dead. I want to empty the rest of my magazine into his chest.
But then I look at Helena. She's staring at her father, devastated. Her entire world is collapsing around her.
"I couldn't live with the guilt," Arthur sobs. He looks back at his daughter, his voice growing weak. "I tried to walk away. I told the Italians I was done. But Moretti wouldn't let me go."
"Daddy, what are you talking about?" she cries, shaking her head.
"The crash, Helena," Arthur whispers, coughing up blood. "That night on the coastal road. The rain, the slick road. The police told you I lost control of the car."
"You did," she sobs. "It was an accident."
"It wasn't an accident," Arthur cries, his face twisting in pain. "They tampered with the brakes. When I hit the curve, the pedal was gone. The car spun twice and tore through the guardrail."
He chokes on a sob. "They didn't care if I lived or died, Helena. To them, it was a message. If I died, they would've seized my fleet. I survived by luck, but your mother didn't."
Helena freezes. The color drains from her face. She stares at him like she can't understand the words. Her hands are shaking.
"No," she gasps, her voice trembling as she shakes her head. "No, you're lying. It was the rain. It was the rain!"
"I'm so sorry, my sweet girl," he chokes out.
Helena lets out a broken wail of grief that shatters what's left of my heart. She hunches forward and clutches her stomach like she's been physically gutted.
"The police thought it was the weather," Arthur confesses. His chest is barely rising now. "But Moretti called me while I was still in the hospital. He told me if I didn't keep working and smuggling for them, they'd do the same thing to you."
"Why didn't you go to the cops? Why didn't you tell them?"
"The Mafia is too big for the police, Helena," Arthur wheezes. He looks at her, pleading with her to understand. "Even if they locked Moretti away, there'd always be another soldier or hitman waiting in the dark to take you. I couldn't risk it. The debt notes. I was paying them millions to keep you off their radar. To keep my little girl safe."
He turns his head slowly and looks at me one last time. His vision is fading fast, but his eyes are clear.
"I watched you tonight, Konstantin. I watched you drop your gun. I saw you offer to give up your tablet, your weapons, your entire empire… to let her walk away."
A wet cough rattles his chest. "I spent my whole life being a coward. But you aren't. I leave my daughter in your hands. I trust you to keep her safe." He swallows hard. His breathing is shallow now. "I ruined your family, Konstantin, and I ruined mine. Forgive me."
Arthur’s hand slips from Helena’s cheek. His chest stutters, and then he goes still.
"No!" Helena screams. She collapses over his body, her shoulders shaking as she sobs. "Daddy! Please!"
I stand frozen in the flashing lights of the control room. The man who caused my family’s death lies at my feet. The revenge I planned for twenty years is finally complete.
But there’s no triumph. No peace.
The gun slips from my hand as I sink to my knees on the bloody concrete. My arms wrap around my wife, pulling her away from the body and pressing her tight against my chest.
My face buries in her neck as she falls apart in my arms.
The war is won. The revenge is mine.
