Chapter 17 - What Luca Was Willing to Lose
Dissolving Bellarosa took six weeks.
Elena had expected signatures.
Instead, she received war.
Creditors sued.
Nominee directors disappeared.
Banks froze accounts.
Foreign companies claimed ownership.
Attorneys sent letters thick enough to stop bullets.
Sofia Bellini seemed delighted.
“I haven't had this much fun in years.”
Elena stared at the mountain of documents.
“You need hobbies.”
“This is my hobby.”
“That is disturbing.”
Across the conference table, Luca smiled.
Sofia pointed at him.
“You have no reason to look happy. Your audit is worse.”
His smile vanished.
Elena laughed.
Demir Holdings was undergoing complete investigation.
Luca had voluntarily opened financial records.
Some divisions were legitimate.
Others were not.
He agreed to surrender assets acquired illegally.
Museums and governments submitted claims.
Private families sought recovered artwork.
The newspapers were merciless.
THE FALL OF MILAN'S SHADOW KING.
DEMIR EMPIRE UNDER INVESTIGATION.
MAFIA HEIR COOPERATES WITH AUTHORITIES.
Elena hated the word heir.
Luca pretended not to care.
She knew better.
One evening she found him inside his office surrounded by cardboard boxes.
“What are you doing?”
“Packing.”
“Why?”
“The villa may be seized temporarily.”
Elena blinked.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Where will you go?”
“Apartment.”
“Which one?”
“One.”
“How many do you have?”
“Fewer every week.”
She smiled.
He looked tired.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
“Regret it?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Any of it?”
He considered.
“I regret people were hurt before I changed anything.”
Elena walked closer.
“That wasn't the question.”
“What was?”
“Do you regret losing the money?”
“No.”
“The company?”
“Parts.”
“The power?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
She believed him.
“What do you regret?”
Luca sat on the edge of the desk.
“I regret that my father taught me fear before he taught me love.”
Elena said nothing.
“And I regret spending fifteen years believing becoming harder than him would make me different.”
“You are different.”
“Because of you?”
“No.”
He raised an eyebrow.
Elena smiled.
“I helped.”
“You helped a lot.”
“But you chose.”
That word again.
Choice.
The center of everything.
Luca took her hand.
“What are you doing when Bellarosa is finished?”
“I don't know.”
“You could return to university.”
“I've been thinking about it.”
“What would you study?”
“Law.”
He looked surprised.
“Why?”
“So I can terrify people professionally like Sofia.”
“Reasonable.”
Elena laughed.
“I want to help people trapped in predatory debt.”
His expression softened.
“That suits you.”
“What about you?”
“I'm considering legitimate art recovery.”
“What does that mean?”
“Helping return stolen works.”
Elena smiled.
“You realize that is almost poetic.”
“I was afraid you'd say that.”
“Former black-market art dealer becomes restitution consultant.”
“Don't call it that publicly.”
“I absolutely will.”
He pulled her closer.
“You enjoy annoying me.”
“Yes.”
He kissed her forehead.
Then his phone rang.
Prosecutor.
Luca answered.
Elena saw his expression change.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“Kemal signed a cooperation agreement.”
Elena frowned.
“Why?”
“To reduce his sentence.”
“What is he giving them?”
“Names.”
“Whose?”
“Politicians. Bankers. Buyers.”
“That seems good.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
“He also made an allegation.”
“Against you?”
“Yes.”
Elena's stomach tightened.
“What?”
“That I ordered three disappearances after taking control of Demir Holdings.”
She stared.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Can he prove it?”
“He says he has documents.”
“Are they real?”
“I don't know.”
The next morning Luca was asked to report for questioning.
He went voluntarily.
Elena wanted to come.
He asked her not to.
She hated it.
But this was his choice.
Hours passed.
Then an entire day.
By evening, Luca had not returned.
Dario finally called.
“They're holding him overnight.”
Elena felt cold.
“Why?”
“The documents look authentic.”
“Are they?”
“I don't know.”
“What disappearances?”
“Three men connected to Santi vanished twelve years ago.”
“When Luca was twenty-six.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Elena paced.
“What does Luca say?”
“He says he didn't order anything.”
She believed him.
But belief was not proof.
The next morning Sofia arrived with copies.
Elena examined them.
Orders.
Payments.
Signatures.
Luca Demir.
They looked real.
Sofia said, “Forgery is possible.”
“Can we prove it?”
“Eventually.”
Elena looked at dates.
One jumped out.
October ninth.
Verona.
Again.
“Why does this date keep appearing?”
Sofia frowned.
“Different year.”
Elena looked closer.
The disappearance order referenced account code LC.
Leyla Cem.
But Leyla had been dead three years by then.
“That can't be right.”
Sofia leaned closer.
“What?”
“This code.”
Elena pulled Giovanni's notebook from the evidence copy.
LC appeared dozens of times.
Everyone assumed it meant Leyla Cem.
But what if it didn't?
Elena's heart quickened.
She searched corporate records.
LC Holdings.
Lombardia Collections.
Then found it.
A company registered fifteen years earlier.
Luce Capital.
Director:
Adrian Cem.
“Elena?”
She looked up.
“LC wasn't Luca's mother.”
“What?”
“It was Adrian's company.”
Sofia stared.
Elena continued.
“Everyone thought Leyla created the financial network because her initials matched.”
“But?”
“The transactions began after she left the company.”
Sofia understood.
“Adrian framed her.”
“Yes.”
“And the orders against those men?”
“Adrian.”
They rushed to prosecutors.
By afternoon forensic accountants confirmed.
The Luca signatures had been copied from acquisition documents.
Payments came from Luce Capital.
Luca was released.
Elena waited outside.
When he walked through the doors, cameras exploded around him.
Reporters shouted.
He ignored them.
He saw Elena.
Everything else disappeared.
She ran toward him.
Luca caught her.
For once she did not care who watched.
“I found it,” she whispered.
“I heard.”
“Adrian framed your mother too.”
“I heard that also.”
“You could sound more impressed.”
He pulled back.
“I am extremely impressed.”
“Good.”
Luca touched her cheek.
“I also heard you didn't sleep.”
“Who told you?”
“Everyone.”
“Traitors.”
He smiled.
Reporters shouted questions about their relationship.
Luca looked at Elena.
“Should I kiss you?”
She laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“The first public kiss caused enough problems.”
“So this is private?”
She leaned closer.
“Later.”
His eyes warmed.
That evening they returned to the villa for what might be the final night before legal transfer.
Boxes filled the hall.
Elena stood in the ballroom.
“Are you sad?”
“Yes.”
“You never lie anymore.”
“I'm trying.”
Luca looked around.
“This house was my parents'.”
“You're allowed to miss it.”
He took her hand.
“I could keep it.”
“How?”
“The government offered a settlement.”
“What would you have to do?”
“Retain some legitimate companies. Surrender everything connected to illegal acquisitions.”
“That sounds fair.”
“It is.”
“So keep the house.”
Luca looked at her.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I want a place without ghosts.”
Elena understood.
He continued.
“Something smaller.”
“How much smaller?”
“Maybe only twelve bedrooms.”
She stared.
He smiled.
She punched him lightly.
“Idiot.”
Luca pulled her closer.
“I was thinking two.”
“Better.”
“Somewhere near the city.”
“Good.”
“A garden.”
“Why?”
“You like basil.”
Elena blinked.
“How do you know?”
“You complain constantly about supermarket basil.”
“I made one comment.”
“Seven.”
She laughed.
Luca's expression became serious.
“Elena.”
“What?”
“When this is over, I don't want you staying because you think I need saving.”
Her smile faded.
“I know.”
“I don't want gratitude.”
“I know.”
“I don't want debt.”
The word mattered.
She touched his face.
“Good.”
“Then what do you want?”
Luca looked at her with the same intensity he had used the first night in Palazzo Nero.
But there was no claim inside it now.
Only hope.
“You.”
Elena kissed him.
When they separated, she whispered, “Then ask properly.”
Luca's eyes narrowed.
“Ask what?”
She smiled.
“Not yet.”
May you like
And for the first time, Luca Demir looked genuinely nervous.
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