Chapter 28 - the final letter from victor
Two years passed.
Victor's case moved slowly.
Then one morning, Alessandro received a letter.
From prison.
Victor.
Elena saw the envelope.
“Are you going to read it?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want me here?”
“I don't know.”
She sat beside him anyway.
Alessandro opened it.
Victor did not ask for money.
He did not ask for revenge.
He did not apologize immediately.
Instead, he wrote about Alessandro's father.
He admitted that he had spent years believing he was entitled to influence Alessandro because his father had trusted him.
He had mistaken access for ownership.
Then came the sentence that surprised Alessandro.
I thought I was protecting the old empire. I was really protecting my place inside it.
Alessandro read it twice.
Victor continued.
He described how he had manipulated Grace.
How he had recruited contractors.
How he had used fear.
But he ended differently.
Mia was the first thing I ever tried to use that I couldn't make myself believe was a weakness.
Alessandro stopped reading.
Elena touched his hand.
“You don't have to finish.”
“I want to.”
The final page contained one sentence.
You were right to build something I couldn't control.
Alessandro folded the letter.
“What will you do with it?”
“Nothing.”
“Not even keep it?”
“No.”
He put it in a drawer.
Not because he forgave Victor.
Because Victor no longer deserved space in his future.
Elena looked at him.
“You're letting go.”
“Yes.”
“Completely?”
“No.”
She smiled.
“That's honest.”
He nodded.
“You don't erase what happened.”
“What do you do?”
“You stop letting it decide what happens next.”
She leaned against him.
Outside, Mia was laughing with Luca.
The sound carried through the house.
Alessandro closed the drawer.
The letter could stay there.
May you like
The future was outside.
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