Chapter 12 - The Sister Who Chose Envy
Sophia asked to see Elena before the hearing.
Elena almost refused.
Then she remembered her father’s voice.
You don’t know my daughter.
Elena had spent weeks proving that statement true to everyone else.
Perhaps it was time to prove it to herself.
They met in a private conference room at Rossi Studio.
No Marco.
No Morettis.
No lawyers inside.
Just two sisters.
Sophia looked smaller than Elena remembered.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
As though arrogance had been holding her upright for years and somebody had finally removed it.
“I accepted a cooperation agreement,” Sophia said.
Elena sat opposite her.
“I heard.”
“I’ll probably receive probation if I testify and repay the money.”
“Good.”
Sophia blinked.
“You think I should be punished.”
“Yes.”
The direct answer hurt her.
Elena continued.
“You committed fraud.”
“I know.”
“You stole documents.”
“I know.”
“You helped people attack my company.”
“I know.”
“And you slept with Marco.”
Sophia looked down.
“That isn’t illegal.”
“No.”
Elena’s voice became quiet.
“Just cruel.”
Sophia cried.
For once Elena did not rush to comfort her.
That had been their pattern all their lives.
Sophia broke something.
Elena repaired it.
Sophia panicked.
Elena rescued her.
Maybe love sometimes meant refusing to continue the pattern.
“Why?” Elena asked.
Sophia wiped her face.
“I told you.”
“You told me you were jealous. That isn’t enough.”
Sophia stared at the table for a long time.
“When Dad got sick, he asked for you.”
Elena frowned.
“He asked for both of us.”
“Not the same way.”
Pain entered Sophia’s face.
“He wanted to talk about the studio. The archive. The trust. Your future.”
“You were nineteen.”
“So were you, basically.”
“I was twenty-four.”
“Exactly.”
Elena shook her head.
“Sophia—”
“I spent my whole life hearing how responsible you were.”
Her voice rose.
“Elena gets good grades. Elena helps Mom. Elena understands Dad’s work. Elena built a career. Elena knows what to do.”
“That wasn’t my choice.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Sophia nodded, crying.
“I do now.”
She looked at her sister.
“I kept waiting for someone to choose me first.”
Elena’s anger softened but did not disappear.
“And Marco did.”
“I thought so.”
“So you chose him over me.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The honesty was brutal.
Elena appreciated it.
“I hated myself,” Sophia whispered. “But every time I tried to stop, Marco told me we were almost free.”
“Free from what?”
“You.”
Elena recoiled.
Sophia shook her head quickly.
“Not you as a person. Your life. Your shadow. His debt. My jealousy. Everything.”
“And Niccolò?”
“He made me feel important.”
“For selling information.”
“Yes.”
Sophia laughed through tears.
“I was so desperate not to be Elena Rossi’s little sister that I became somebody’s useful idiot.”
Elena looked away.
Outside the windows, the city moved normally.
People crossed streets.
Taxis stopped.
Coffee shops filled.
It felt offensive that the world continued while families collapsed.
“I loved you,” Elena said.
Sophia covered her mouth.
“Loved?”
“I don’t know what tense to use right now.”
That hurt them both.
Sophia whispered, “I still love you.”
“I know.”
“That makes it worse?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Sophia reached into her bag.
“I found this.”
A small notebook.
Elena recognized Marco’s handwriting.
“Where?”
“In the lining of his travel case.”
“Why was it there?”
“He used it for account codes.”
Elena opened it.
Numbers.
Initials.
Dates.
Near the back she found a handwritten timeline.
Wedding—June 14.
Trust delegation—June 17.
San Aurelio transfer filing—June 20.
Press strategy if E.R. resists—June 21.
Elena’s stomach turned.
The wedding had been a scheduled step.
Not a life event.
A transaction.
Sophia leaned forward.
“Turn the page.”
Elena did.
One line.
S.R. exit after transfer.
She looked up.
Sophia’s face was pale.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Marco?”
“He said after the deal we’d leave Milan together.”
Elena understood.
Marco had not planned a future with Sophia.
He had planned to remove her from the scheme.
Whether “exit” meant abandonment, payoff, or simply cutting contact, Sophia had never been his partner.
She had been leverage.
Elena closed the notebook.
Sophia whispered, “I destroyed us for a man who had already planned to throw me away.”
Elena felt tears rise.
This was the moment revenge would have been easy.
She could say, You deserved it.
Part of her wanted to.
Instead:
“You destroyed us because you made choices.”
Sophia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Marco’s betrayal of you does not erase your betrayal of me.”
“I know.”
“But it also doesn’t mean you deserved his.”
Sophia started sobbing.
Elena looked away, blinking rapidly.
Then, slowly, she slid a box of tissues across the table.
Not an embrace.
Not forgiveness.
But not cruelty.
Sophia took one.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t make it bigger than it is.”
“I won’t.”
Elena stood.
At the door, Sophia said, “Do you love Alessandro?”
Elena froze.
“That is absolutely none of your business.”
A tiny smile appeared through Sophia’s tears.
“That sounded like yes.”
Elena almost smiled too.
Then remembered who they were now.
The smile disappeared.
“I don’t know.”
Sophia nodded.
“If you ever do…”
Elena waited.
“Make sure he loves you without needing anything from you.”
Elena looked at her sister.
For the first time in years, Sophia had given her something instead of taking.
Not enough to repair them.
But perhaps enough to mark where rebuilding could one day begin.
Elena left with Marco’s notebook.
That evening, Alessandro read the timeline.
“This is devastating.”
“For them?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He looked at her.
“How was Sophia?”
“Human.”
“That sounds complicated.”
“It is.”
He handed back the notebook.
“You don’t have to forgive her.”
“I know.”
“And if you do someday, you don’t have to pretend what happened didn’t matter.”
Elena stared.
“You’re strangely wise for a terrifying criminal rumor.”
Alessandro laughed.
“Half the rumors are exaggerated.”
“Which half?”
“I’ll never tell.”
She smiled.
Then the smile faded.
“Tomorrow could destroy my career.”
“No.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can promise something else.”
“What?”
“If tomorrow goes badly, we deal with what happens tomorrow.”
Elena studied him.
No grand vow.
No fantasy.
Just presence.
It was the most trustworthy promise she had heard in years.
The next morning, she entered the hearing chamber carrying three things.
Her father’s original covenant.
Marco’s notebook.
And the certainty that whatever happened next, no man, sister, lawyer, or family name would ever again own the direction of her life.
Across the room, Marco Bellini was already seated.
When he saw Elena, he stood.
She walked past him without looking.
And behind her came Alessandro, Dante, and Matteo Moretti.
Not claiming her.
Not controlling her.
Standing with her.
There was a difference.
May you like
Everyone in the room was about to learn it.
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