Chapter 16 - When South Boston Went Silent
The agreement took six weeks.
Boston talked about little else.
Luca Moretti became simultaneously the most hated and praised man in the city depending on which newspaper someone read.
Some called him an informant.
Others called him a businessman finally exposing corruption.
Prosecutors described his cooperation more cautiously.
Harper ignored most of it.
She had more immediate problems.
She needed an apartment.
She needed a job.
And she needed to complete three prerequisite classes if she wanted to reapply to nursing school.
Luca offered help exactly once.
Harper refused.
He surprised her by accepting the refusal.
Mostly.
One morning, she arrived at her temporary apartment and found new waterproof boots outside the door.
No note.
Harper called him.
“Luca.”
“Yes?”
“Did you buy me boots?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Vincent?”
Silence.
“Luca.”
“They're boots.”
“I said no money.”
“They cost eighty-seven dollars.”
“That is money.”
“You need functioning footwear.”
“You are impossible.”
“I've heard that.”
Harper kept the boots.
She also transferred eighty-seven dollars to a charity Luca supported.
He discovered it.
Neither mentioned the incident again.
Thomas rented a small apartment in Quincy.
He could have afforded something enormous.
Harper suspected the modest place was deliberate.
He began therapy.
That shocked her more than anything.
“You're seeing a therapist?”
Thomas looked offended.
“I'm capable of personal growth.”
“You threatened a microwave yesterday.”
“It made a strange sound.”
Harper laughed.
Their relationship developed awkwardly.
Coffee once a week.
Short phone calls.
Questions neither knew how to ask.
Thomas never demanded she call him Dad.
Harper appreciated that.
One afternoon, she did accidentally.
“Dad, can you pass the—”
Both stopped.
Thomas slowly handed her the salt.
Neither commented.
But his eyes were wet.
Luca's transition was harder.
Several businesses were sold.
Others transferred to independent management.
People he'd known for twenty years disappeared.
Some voluntarily.
Some because investigations reached them.
Vincent remained.
“I'm too old to start over,” he said.
Harper suspected loyalty was the real reason.
One February morning, Luca stood inside the empty study of his mansion.
Most furniture was covered.
The house was being sold.
Harper found him there.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.”
He looked around.
“I spent twelve years building this.”
“You don't seem sad about the house.”
“I'm not.”
“What are you sad about?”
“The time.”
Harper understood.
“You can't get it back.”
“No.”
“But you can stop wasting the next twelve.”
Luca looked toward her.
“How do you always make complicated problems sound irritatingly simple?”
“Years of waitressing.”
He smiled.
“What happens to you now?” Harper asked.
“I have enough legitimate investments to survive.”
“That's the most billionaire answer I've ever heard.”
“Not billionaire.”
“Tragic.”
“I might have to make my own coffee.”
“You're doomed.”
They laughed.
Then Luca became serious.
“I bought something.”
Harper pointed at him.
“No.”
“Not for you.”
“Continue.”
“A building.”
“That sounds suspicious.”
“Very.”
He handed her an address.
Harper recognized it.
Brennan's Harbor Grill.
“What?”
“The owner was selling.”
“You bought Brennan's?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To close it.”
Harper stared.
“People work there!”
“I know.”
“So why—”
“I'm turning the property into something else.”
He handed her architectural plans.
Harper unfolded them.
Clinic rooms.
Training space.
Community kitchen.
Classrooms.
“What is this?”
“A neighborhood health center.”
She looked at him.
“Luca.”
“Before you complain, it isn't yours.”
She continued staring.
“It will be operated by a nonprofit board. Local clinic. Free medical screenings. Job training.”
“Why?”
He looked slightly embarrassed.
“Because apparently helping people directly is more satisfying than intimidating them.”
Harper laughed.
Then started crying.
Luca immediately panicked.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you crying?”
“Because you're an idiot.”
“I bought a clinic.”
“Exactly.”
She hugged him.
Luca held her.
“There's something else.”
Harper stepped back.
“That sentence is dangerous.”
“The nonprofit offers scholarships.”
“No.”
“They're open applications.”
“No.”
“You would apply like everyone else.”
“Luca.”
“You might not get one.”
Harper stared.
“You already bribed the board.”
“I absolutely did not.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“Vincent?”
“Harper.”
“Fine.”
She would apply.
Fairly.
Two months later, she received the scholarship.
She checked three times that Luca wasn't involved.
He wasn't.
The acceptance letter sat on her kitchen table while she cried.
Thomas cried harder.
Vincent sent flowers.
Luca simply arrived that evening carrying takeout.
“I knew you'd get it.”
“You did not.”
“I strongly suspected.”
“You rehearsed that.”
“Yes.”
Harper smiled.
Spring reached Boston.
The last snow melted.
For the first time in years, Harper woke with direction.
Classes.
Clinical preparation.
A future she'd assumed was gone.
Luca had one too.
Different.
Smaller.
Cleaner.
He began advising legitimate businesses, mostly logistics companies.
He hated meetings.
Loved solving operational problems.
Harper teased him constantly.
“You went from mafia boss to consultant.”
“Don't say it like that.”
“How should I say it?”
“With dignity.”
“You make PowerPoints.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don't.”
He kissed her.
“No.”
He definitely didn't.
By June, the legal case against Anthony and Robert moved toward trial.
Marcus agreed to cooperate.
Daniel was found alive in an abandoned motel after Anthony's arrest.
He eventually testified.
For the first time, the entire truth looked likely to emerge publicly.
Then one evening Thomas called Harper.
His voice sounded wrong.
“Can you come over?”
“What happened?”
“I received something.”
“What?”
“A letter.”
“From who?”
Long pause.
“Your mother.”
Harper stopped breathing.
“Mom is dead.”
“I know.”
“The letter arrived today?”
“No.”
Thomas's voice broke.
“Vincent found it among the evidence.”
Harper gripped the phone.
“What does it say?”
“It’s addressed to both of us.”
Harper closed her eyes.
Twenty-seven years of secrets had begun with Katherine Hayes.
Apparently she had one final thing left to say.
And this time, Harper wasn't sure whether it would heal the fragile relationship with her father—
May you like
or destroy it completely.
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