Chapter 11 - The Choice That Could End the Ferrante Name
Montreal was covered in snow when Aldrich returned.
Riona came with him.
Anel stayed in Vancouver with someone Riona trusted completely: Angela, the nurse who had remained beside her during Anel's birth and later became one of her closest friends.
Aldrich had wanted Riona to remain too.
She refused.
“This started with both of us.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“So was loving you.”
He had no response to that.
At Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, Cosmo's grave was surrounded by fresh snow.
Nathaniel Price stood beside it.
Alone.
No weapon.
No guards.
Just an old man in a dark coat.
Aldrich stopped several yards away.
“Why here?”
Price looked at Cosmo's headstone.
“Because he and I spent forty years arguing about what a man owes the future.”
Riona stood beside Aldrich.
“And what did you decide?”
“That he was right too late.”
Price smiled sadly.
“And I was wrong for too long.”
Aldrich's jaw tightened.
“You destroyed lives to prove a point.”
“So did your grandfather.”
“I am not my grandfather.”
“That is what we are here to discover.”
Price handed Aldrich a folder.
“What is it?”
“The final accounts.”
Aldrich opened it.
Documentation.
Enough to expose every hidden transaction Price had made.
Every manipulation.
Every payment.
He was giving them evidence against himself.
“Why?”
Price looked toward Riona.
“Because Anel called you Dad.”
Aldrich stared.
“How do you know?”
Price smiled.
“Old habits.”
Riona's face tightened.
“You were watching us.”
“Remotely. The last time.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“No.”
Price turned to Aldrich.
“I watched you choose him.”
“You wanted me to fail.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you failed, then everything I did to this family could still be called justice.”
Aldrich understood.
If the Ferrantes remained cruel, Price could justify decades of manipulation as revenge against monsters.
But if Aldrich changed?
Then Price had to face the fact that he had become what he hated.
“What now?” Aldrich asked.
Price looked exhausted.
“Now you decide what to do with the evidence.”
“Police.”
“Yes.”
“You're surrendering?”
“Yes.”
Riona stared.
“That easy?”
Price shook his head.
“No part of this has been easy.”
Footsteps approached.
Serafina.
Marc followed several yards behind.
Serafina stopped beside Cosmo's grave.
For once she wore no expression of control.
Only grief.
Price looked at her.
“You came.”
“You ruined my family.”
Price nodded.
“And you helped.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
Aldrich watched two people who had spent decades blaming others finally stand inside their own responsibility.
Serafina turned to Riona.
“I owe you something.”
“You owe me eight years.”
“Yes.”
“You can't return them.”
“No.”
“Then don't ask me to tell you it's fine.”
“I wasn't going to.”
Riona waited.
Serafina looked toward Aldrich.
“I was afraid he would leave us.”
“So you made sure I did.”
“Yes.”
Riona's throat tightened.
Serafina continued.
“I believed losing you would keep Aldrich close.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Instead I lost him anyway.”
Aldrich looked at her.
“You haven't lost me.”
Serafina stared.
“I don't understand.”
“You lost my trust.”
His voice remained calm.
“You lost the right to decide anything for me.”
She looked down.
“But you're still my aunt.”
Tears filled Serafina's eyes.
Aldrich continued.
“Family doesn't mean escaping consequences.”
Price looked at him with something almost like respect.
The legal process began that afternoon.
Price surrendered evidence.
Roland gave statements.
Serafina cooperated.
Aldrich opened Ferrante records to investigators through attorneys.
The transition would be complicated.
Some businesses were fully legitimate.
Others would be closed.
Employees would be protected where possible.
Assets linked to wrongdoing would be surrendered.
Aldrich knew his fortune might shrink dramatically.
He discovered he didn't care.
Three weeks later, he returned to Vancouver.
No security convoy.
One suitcase.
Riona opened the apartment door.
Anel ran from the hallway.
“Aldrich!”
Aldrich crouched as the boy collided with him.
For a moment he could not speak.
“You came back.”
“I said I would.”
Anel stepped back.
“Are you staying?”
Aldrich looked at Riona.
“That depends.”
Anel turned to his mother.
“Can he?”
Riona crossed her arms.
“He has a hotel.”
Anel groaned.
“Why?”
“Because adults need boundaries.”
“What are boundaries?”
Aldrich whispered, “Things that keep me in hotels.”
Riona tried not to laugh.
Failed.
That evening they walked along the seawall.
Anel rode ahead on a scooter.
Riona and Aldrich followed.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“I rent a place here.”
“You're moving?”
“Yes.”
“For Anel.”
“Yes.”
She glanced at him.
“Only Anel?”
He smiled slightly.
“I've learned not to answer questions before I know whether they're traps.”
“That sounds like the old Aldrich.”
“Then yes. For Anel first.”
She appreciated the answer.
“And Montreal?”
“Marc will manage the legal companies.”
“The rest?”
“Ending.”
“Serafina?”
“Cooperating.”
“Roland?”
“Also.”
“Price?”
“Awaiting proceedings.”
Riona nodded.
They walked another block.
Aldrich stopped.
“There's one more thing.”
She sighed.
“I hate that sentence.”
“This one is different.”
He removed something from his pocket.
Riona stiffened.
“If that's a ring, I swear—”
“It isn't.”
He smiled.
A small key.
“What is it?”
“Apartment.”
“You already rented one?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
He pointed across the street.
A modest building.
Not luxury.
Not intimidating.
Ordinary.
Riona stared.
“You rented that?”
“Two bedrooms.”
“Why two?”
“One for me.”
“And?”
“One for Anel if he ever wants to stay.”
Riona looked at him.
“You didn't assume.”
“No.”
“You didn't buy a mansion.”
“No.”
“You didn't put security outside.”
“One discreet person in a coffee shop.”
She glared.
He raised his hands.
“Compromise.”
She laughed.
The sound startled both of them.
Then her expression softened.
“This isn't forgiveness.”
“I know.”
“It's not us getting back together.”
“I know.”
“You're allowed to hope quietly.”
Aldrich smiled.
“I can do quiet.”
“No, you can't.”
He laughed.
Anel turned around.
“Are you two fighting?”
Riona called back.
“No.”
Aldrich said, “Maybe.”
Anel rolled his eyes dramatically.
Adults.
That night, Riona returned home and found an envelope under her door.
No stamp.
Her heart accelerated.
She opened it.
Cosmo's handwriting.
One final letter, scheduled for delivery through Price's old firm.
Riona,
If this reaches you, Aldrich has likely made a choice.
She kept reading.
Do not forgive him because I ask. Do not trust him because he is Anel's father. Trust only what he repeatedly proves.
Riona's eyes filled.
Then the final lines.
And tell Anel I was sorry I never introduced myself.
He was the future I was trying to create before I knew his name.
Riona pressed the letter against her chest.
At the bottom was a postscript.
There is one inheritance I kept outside every trust. It belongs to Anel only if you accept it.
Attached was an address.
Riona recognized it.
Maine.
The coastline Aldrich had once dreamed about.
And beside the address Cosmo had written:
May you like
A house where no Ferrante has ever done business. Maybe someone should finally use it as a home.
---
