Chapter 28 - BROTHERS
Carlo asked to see Roman.
Roman refused.
Then reconsidered.
Not alone.
I went.
So did Agent Avery.
Carlo looked smaller than I remembered from photographs.
Prison does that.
Or age.
Or consequence.
He smiled when Roman entered.
“Nephew.”
Roman sat.
“Did you kill my father?”
Carlo’s smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
No games.
No denial.
Roman did not move.
“How?”
“Medication.”
Salvatore had a heart condition.
Carlo bribed a household medical contractor to substitute one bottle.
Not poison.
Wrong dosage.
Enough to trigger fatal arrhythmia.
Roman stared at him.
“Why?”
Carlo’s face changed.
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“Our family?”
“Our name.”
Roman almost laughed.
“You destroyed it.”
“No.”
Carlo leaned forward.
“Men feared us.”
Roman looked at him with something close to pity.
“That was all you had.”
Carlo’s eyes hardened.
“We had power.”
“My children don’t know your name.”
That hurt him.
I saw it.
Roman continued.
“My daughter knows Sophia.”
Carlo flinched.
“She knows Maya. Her teachers. The neighbor’s dog.”
Roman leaned closer.
“But she doesn’t know you.”
Carlo smiled bitterly.
“She will.”
“No.”
One word.
No violence.
No threat.
Just erasure.
Carlo tried another weapon.
“Your father was weak.”
Roman looked at him.
“My father tried to leave.”
“He stayed.”
“Yes.”
“For you.”
“Yes.”
Carlo expected guilt.
Roman did not give it.
“He made his choice.”
Sophia’s words.
Now Roman’s.
Carlo leaned back.
Defeated in a way prison had never managed.
Roman stood.
“Was Martin involved?”
“In Salvatore?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Proof?”
Carlo laughed.
“You trust me now?”
“No.”
Roman turned toward the door.
Carlo shouted:
“I loved your father.”
Roman stopped.
Carlo’s voice broke.
“He was my brother.”
Roman turned.
“You don’t kill people you love.”
Carlo stared at him.
“You almost became me.”
The room went silent.
Roman absorbed the blow.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
Carlo had not expected agreement.
“I almost did.”
Roman looked toward me.
“But someone loved me enough to leave.”
My eyes filled.
“And I finally understood that losing control wasn’t the same as losing everything.”
He walked out.
Carlo remained behind glass.
May you like
For once, Roman did not need the last threat.
Truth was enough.
