Chapter 28 #2
Eraldo is sobbing now. Ugly, broken sounds.
"You didn't try to be a good father," I say again. "You didn't try at all. You just... stopped. And your children paid the price."
The room falls silent except for Eraldo's sobs.
I watch him. This broken man. This shell of a father who let his grief swallow him whole while his children drowned.
Part of me wants to hate him.
Part of me understands him too well.
"Do you know what would have happened if Antonella hadn't agreed to marry me?"
Eraldo doesn't answer. Can't answer. He's too far gone in his own misery.
"You would be dead." I let the words hang in the air. "The Morellis wanted blood. Two million dollars worth of blood. And when we bought your debt from them, we could have collected the same way. Should have, according to some."
Eraldo's sobs quiet. He's listening now.
"But we didn't." I wheel closer. "Do you know why?"
He shakes his head.
"Because our father admired yours. Years ago, before everything went to shit, Giuseppe Sartori considered Eraldo Romano a man of honour.
A man worth respecting." I pause. "We offered the marriage arrangement because we wanted to honour that memory.
To give your family a chance to rebuild instead of burying you in an unmarked grave. "
Eraldo's hands cover his face.
"Antonella saved your life," I continue. "She walked into a marriage with a stranger because she believed it would save you. Save Gianna. Save Claudio. She sacrificed everything she had left to give you one more chance."
"I know." The words are muffled. Broken. "I know what she did."
"Do you?" I lean forward. "Do you really understand what your daughter gave up?"
Eraldo drops his hands. His face is a mess of tears and snot. He looks like a man who's been hollowed out from the inside.
"I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm so sorry."
"Sorry doesn't mean anything." My voice is flat.
"Sorry doesn't erase the forty thousand dollars you borrowed in New York.
Sorry doesn't undo the fact that you used your daughter's connection to my family to secure credit at underground games.
Sorry doesn't change that you abandoned your security detail and disappeared for hours. "
Eraldo flinches at each word. Like I'm hitting him.
Good.
"Your children don't know yet." I watch his face carefully. "Gianna and Claudio have no idea you screwed up again. They think you're busy working. They think you're finally getting your life together."
Hope flickers in Eraldo's eyes. Pathetic, desperate hope.
"And Antonella..." I stop. Breathe. "Antonella doesn't know either. She suspects something is wrong. She's too smart not to. But she doesn't know the details. Doesn't know that her father started gambling again the moment he was out of her sight."
"Please." Eraldo's voice cracks. "Please don't tell her. It would destroy her."
"I know it would." I grip the armrests of my wheelchair until my knuckles turn white. "That's why I'm not going to tell her."
Eraldo's whole body sags with relief.
"Not yet," I add.
He freezes.
"I'm giving you one more chance." I hold up a single finger. "One. Not because you deserve it. Not because I believe you'll change. But because Antonella married a stranger to save your worthless life, and I won't be the one to tell her it was all for nothing."
Eraldo nods frantically. "I'll do better. I swear. I'll—"
"Shut up."
He shuts up.
"I don't want your promises." I lean back in my wheelchair. "Your promises mean nothing. You've broken every single one you've ever made. To your wife. To your children. To yourself. Words are worthless coming from you."
Eraldo's face crumples again.
"What I want is action." I hold his gaze.
"You will return to New York. You will complete the work we assigned you.
You will stay away from every casino, every card game, every back-room poker table in the city.
You will answer your phone when your children call.
You will be the father they deserve, even if it kills you. "
"I will." Eraldo's voice is barely audible. "I swear I will."
"And if you don't..." I pause. Let the silence stretch. "If you prove me wrong one more time. If you touch another deck of cards. If you place another bet. If you disappear again..."
I wheel myself around the table until I'm right beside him. Close enough to smell the desperation on his skin.
"You better disappear for good," I say quietly. "Because if I have to come find you again, I won't be bringing you to a restaurant for a conversation. I'll be bringing you to a warehouse. And you won't be walking out."
Eraldo's face goes white.
"Do you understand me?"
He nods.
"Say it."
"I understand." His voice shakes. "I understand."
"Good." I wheel back. Put distance between us.
"The forty thousand you owe will be added to your family's debt.
You'll work it off like everything else.
And you will never—never—use my wife's name to secure credit again.
If I hear that you've mentioned Antonella to anyone, for any reason, I will consider it a personal insult. And I don't forgive insults."
Eraldo swallows hard. "I won't. I promise."
"I told you." I turn my wheelchair toward the door. "Your promises mean nothing. Only your actions matter now."
I gesture to Liam, who's been standing silently by the door this entire time.
"Take him back to New York," I say. "Put him in a hotel. Assign two men to watch him around the clock. If he so much as looks at a deck of cards, I want to know immediately."
Liam nods. "Understood."
I look at Eraldo one last time. This broken, pathetic man who destroyed his family with his weakness.
"I'm doing this for her," I say. "Only for her. Remember that."
Eraldo opens his mouth. Closes it. Nods.
I wheel myself out of the room without looking back.