Chapter 12 - JUSTICE WASN’T A CELEBRATION
Luca’s case continued for months.
There were hearings.
Witnesses.
Financial records.
Daniel’s testimony.
Evidence connected to Matteo’s father.
Nothing about it felt satisfying.
Sophia surprised Emma one evening.
“Do you hate Luca?”
Emma looked at her.
“Do you?”
Sophia thought for a long time.
“I hate what he did.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
Sophia folded her hands.
“Sometimes I still remember him as the little boy who followed Matteo’s father everywhere.”
Her eyes became distant.
“Justice can be necessary without becoming entertainment.”
Emma remembered that.
Matteo did too.
There were no champagne bottles when Luca was convicted.
No family celebration.
Sophia cried.
Matteo sat alone for an hour.
Then came downstairs and ate dinner.
Life continued.
Bianca’s cooperation exposed several people who had helped Luca hide money and manipulate contracts.
Daniel eventually sent Emma a letter through his attorney.
It was only a few lines.
He apologized for hiding the drive inside her temporary equipment bag.
Emma finally learned the full truth.
Daniel knew he was being followed during the foundation weekend.
He saw Emma’s broken work bag.
Saw another equipment bag prepared for her.
And slipped the flash drive into its lining, believing an event planner would be beneath suspicion.
He never imagined she would wake the following morning publicly connected to Matteo Romano.
Emma wrote back:
You were trying to expose people who had already hurt others. I wish you had chosen another bag. But I’m glad you survived.
Some accidents remained accidents.
What mattered was what followed.
Matteo began changing Romano Holdings too.
Quietly.
Companies unable to survive without threats were sold or closed.
Contracts dependent on corruption disappeared.
Men who believed fear was loyalty lost influence.
People called Matteo weaker.
Then discovered a strange truth.
A man who no longer needed violence to prove his power became significantly harder to manipulate.
He also became more annoying at home.
“You canceled dinner.”
“I had a client emergency.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“You were supposed to tell me before.”
Emma stared.
Matteo stopped.
Then corrected himself.
“I was worried.”
“Better.”
“I dislike this communication exercise.”
“I know.”
“Are we finished?”
“No.”
He sighed.
May you like
Emma smiled.
The transformation of an empire was apparently easier than teaching a powerful man healthy relationship skills.
