Chapter 10 - The Price of Freedom
The private hospital room smelled heavily of bleach and expensive flowers.
Gabriel sat up in the pristine medical bed, his left shoulder heavily bandaged and secured in a rigid sling.
Tessa stood by the window, watching the rain wash over the grim, gray skyline of the city.
It had been three days since the explosion, and the underworld was still reeling from the violent fallout.
The door opened, and Don Salvatore walked in, flanked by four new heavily armed guards.
The old man looked at his son's injuries without a single shred of remorse or pity.
"You survived," Salvatore noted dryly, leaning on his polished wooden cane.
"No thanks to you," Gabriel replied, his voice laced with pure, unadulterated hatred.
"I made a deal with the remaining Lupatti bosses," Salvatore announced, ignoring the venom in his son's voice.
"They agree to a permanent ceasefire in exchange for the fifty million dollars in the Swiss account."
Salvatore turned his cold, dead eyes toward Tessa.
"The girl signs away her rights to the money, and in return, I let her walk away alive."
Gabriel looked at Tessa, giving her a slow, reassuring nod.
This was the plan they had discussed in the dark hours of his recovery.
"I'll sign it," Tessa said firmly, stepping away from the window.
Salvatore motioned to one of his guards, who placed a heavy metal briefcase and a stack of legal documents onto the table.
Tessa signed her name on every dotted line, legally erasing her connection to the bloody legacy of Vincenzo Lupatti.
Salvatore inspected the signatures, grunted his approval, and turned to leave.
"Enjoy your pathetic, poor life, peasant," Salvatore sneered before walking out the door.
Gabriel smiled softly at Tessa, a genuine expression of warmth she had never seen before.
"Open the briefcase, Tessa."
She unlatched the metal clips, popping the lid open.
Inside sat two million dollars in untraceable cash, a fake passport, and the deed to a small house in Costa Rica.
"You're free," Gabriel said gently.
"Your mother's medical debts are cleared, and you never have to look over your shoulder again."
Tessa felt a profound, overwhelming sense of relief wash over her entire soul.
She had won.
She survived the mafia, saved her own life, and finally secured a future where she did not have to struggle for every meal.
She reached into the briefcase to touch the money, tears of joy welling up in her eyes.
But as she moved the thick stacks of hundred-dollar bills, her fingers brushed against a manila envelope hidden at the very bottom.
Curious, she pulled it out and opened the unsealed flap.
Inside was a single, heavily redacted legal contract from a debt collection agency dated four years ago.
It was the agency that had aggressively bought her mother's hospital debts, relentlessly raising the interest until they went bankrupt.
Tessa read the name of the holding company that authorized the aggressive collection tactics.
Rossi Enterprises.
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And at the bottom of the page, directly responsible for signing the order that destroyed her mother's life and forced Tessa into poverty, was a signature she recognized instantly.
Gabriel Rossi.
