The Brother at the Gate
Chapter 13 - The Brother at the Gate
Rocco came to the estate on a rain-soaked Thursday, pounding at the locked gate and demanding to see Luca. Security kept him outside. Luca spoke over the intercom rather than inviting him in.
"You'd really choose strangers over blood?" Rocco demanded.
"I'm choosing Gabriel's safety."
Rocco laughed bitterly. "You're letting Elena turn you against me."
"Elena didn't create those transactions."
"You don't know what I did for this family."
"Then explain it to the investigators."
Rocco stepped backward, his anger abruptly shifting to fear. For a moment Luca saw his younger brother as he had been years earlier, desperate to win their father's approval. Pity tugged at him. But pity couldn't justify exposing his son to danger.
"I can help you find legal counsel," Luca said. "I won't help you hide evidence."
Rocco spat at the gate and left.
That evening, Elena visited Gabriel. She noticed that Luca had removed the portraits of their father from the nursery hallway. The old patriarch had taught both brothers that fear was the foundation of authority.
"You don't have to erase the past," she said.
"I'm not trying to."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Making room for something better."
She stood beside him while Gabriel stacked soft blocks on the floor. When the tower fell, he startled. Instead of shouting or demanding he stop crying, Luca sat beside him and helped rebuild it.
May you like
Elena watched quietly. The man she remembered might have ordered the blocks taken away. This one waited for his son to decide whether to try again.
Change was possible, she thought. Trust would take longer.
