Chapter 7 - The Price of Doing the Right Thing
Gabriel cooperated with federal investigators.
Chicago did not know what to do with that.
Neither did his family.
Neither did his lawyers.
For weeks, Moretti Tower became a battlefield of subpoenas, board meetings, resignations, frozen accounts, and screaming relatives.
Gabriel surrendered records.
Closed shell companies.
Removed executives.
Sold businesses that could not be separated from illegal operations.
Victor pleaded guilty to conspiracy, kidnapping, fraud, and money laundering.
Antonio was charged with financial crimes but not violence.
Gabriel himself faced scrutiny.
He expected it.
He accepted it.
Sophie watched the man who once controlled everything voluntarily give up pieces of his empire because keeping them required remaining silent.
One night, she found him alone in the basement.
The refrigerator hummed beside him.
“You look terrible,” she said.
Gabriel glanced at her.
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
She handed him a meal.
He looked at it.
“What's this?”
“Dinner.”
“I'm not hungry.”
Sophie raised an eyebrow.
Gabriel almost laughed.
She pointed toward the sign.
NIGHT SHIFT — PLEASE TAKE ONE.
“You're here after midnight.”
He accepted it.
They sat on folding chairs.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Gabriel said:
“My father would hate this.”
“The food?”
“The entire situation.”
Sophie smiled faintly.
“Maybe that's not a bad sign.”
He looked at her.
“No.”
“It probably isn't.”
Gabriel opened the container.
Chicken.
Rice.
Vegetables.
Exactly the kind of meal Sophie had once been accused of stealing.
“Why did you really do it?” he asked.
“I told you.”
“You knew hunger.”
“Yes.”
“But you risked your job.”
Sophie looked at the refrigerator.
“When Lily was four, I had twenty-seven dollars until payday.”
Gabriel listened.
“Rent was paid. Electricity wasn't. I had enough food for maybe two days.”
She swallowed.
“I worked an event upstairs. There were trays everywhere. Steak. Potatoes. Bread. Desserts.”
“What happened?”
“They threw everything away.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“I asked if I could take one container.”
“And?”
“My supervisor said no.”
Sophie looked down.
“That night Lily ate cereal with water because we'd run out of milk.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“The next morning, I decided if I ever had a chance to stop someone else from experiencing that, I would.”
“Even if you got fired?”
“Especially if the alternative was watching perfectly good food enter a dumpster.”
Gabriel looked at his meal.
“Victor called it principle.”
Sophie nodded.
“So did management.”
“What do you call it?”
“Waste.”
Gabriel smiled.
Then Sophie laughed.
It was the first time he had heard her laugh without fear nearby.
He found himself staring.
She noticed.
The laughter faded.
Something quiet passed between them.
Gabriel looked away first.
“I don't know how to do this.”
“Eat chicken?”
“Live differently.”
Sophie studied him.
“You're doing it.”
“Badly.”
“Most people do.”
“What if the company collapses?”
“Then you build something smaller.”
“My family spent generations building it.”
“That doesn't mean every part deserves to survive.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You say terrifying things very casually.”
“You're allegedly a mafia boss.”
“Allegedly?”
“I'm learning from your lawyers.”
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
Then Lily appeared around the corner wearing pajamas beneath Sophie's coat.
“Mom.”
Sophie jumped.
“What are you doing here?”
“Rosa brought me.”
Rosa appeared apologetically.
“She woke up.”
Lily climbed onto the chair beside Gabriel.
She looked at his meal.
“You took one.”
“I was instructed.”
“Good.”
She leaned against Sophie.
Then looked at Gabriel.
“Are you still mafia?”
Sophie groaned.
Gabriel considered the question.
“I'm working on it.”
Lily nodded.
“Okay.”
Apparently satisfied, she closed her eyes.
Ten minutes later she was asleep.
Gabriel helped Sophie carry her upstairs.
At the elevator, Sophie whispered:
“She likes you.”
“Her judgment is questionable.”
“So is mine.”
Gabriel looked at her.
The elevator doors opened.
Neither moved.
Then Sophie stepped inside.
Before the doors closed, she said:
“I like you too.”
Gabriel remained standing in the basement corridor long after the elevator disappeared.
For the first time in years, Gabriel Moretti was afraid of something he could not threaten, purchase, investigate, or control.
Hope.
And upstairs, an envelope was waiting on his desk.
Inside was a photograph of Sophie and Lily.
Across it, someone had written:
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS.
May you like
YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR BLOOD.
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