Chapter 7 - REGINA’S TRUTH
Aurora saw Regina four days later.
Not because she forgave her.
Because unanswered questions had followed her longer than Tony’s men.
The meeting took place in a federal interview facility with Evelyn present.
Regina wore gray.
No jewelry.
No lion ring.
No dramatic makeup.
She looked smaller.
Older.
Human.
Aurora hated that.
Monsters were easier.
Regina began crying the moment Aurora entered.
Aurora sat.
“Don’t.”
Regina covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
“I said don’t.”
The tears stopped slowly.
Aurora looked at Evelyn.
“You stay.”
“Of course.”
Regina folded her hands.
Aurora began.
“Did Tony send you to my father?”
“Yes.”
The answer came too easily.
Aurora’s chest hurt.
“Why?”
“Daniel had evidence.”
“You married him for Tony.”
“At first.”
Aurora laughed bitterly.
“At first?”
“I was supposed to watch him.”
“Did you love him?”
Regina closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Did he know?”
“No.”
“Did you ever tell him?”
“No.”
“Convenient.”
“I was afraid.”
“You’re always afraid when it helps you.”
Regina flinched.
Aurora continued.
“Did you arrange Tony’s visit at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He threatened you.”
Aurora froze.
“What?”
“He said if Daniel died without telling him where the ledger was, he would come after you.”
“So you brought him to my dying father.”
“I thought Daniel would tell him.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Regina looked down.
“Daniel told Tony he destroyed everything.”
“And Tony believed him?”
“No.”
“Then why didn’t he come after me immediately?”
“Because I made a deal.”
Aurora went cold.
“What deal?”
“I told him I would find the evidence.”
“For how long?”
“As long as it took.”
Aurora stared.
“You married my father. He died. Then you spent years searching his things.”
“Yes.”
“And when you couldn’t find it, you used your gambling debt as an excuse to hand me over.”
Regina’s eyes filled.
“I thought Tony would scare you.”
Aurora stood.
“Scare me?”
“I didn’t think—”
“You told me his men would drag me out by my hair.”
“I was desperate.”
“You put a price on me.”
Regina shook her head.
“The fifty thousand wasn’t real.”
That somehow made it worse.
Aurora’s breath caught.
“What?”
“I owed money, but not that much.”
“So the debt story was fake.”
“Partly.”
“You made me think you sold me because you were a gambler.”
“I couldn’t tell you about Daniel.”
“You could have told me the truth.”
“I thought you would hate me.”
Aurora laughed.
“Good instinct.”
Regina’s face collapsed.
Aurora sat again.
“Why did you make me see Mallory?”
Regina went pale.
“You found that.”
“Yes.”
“I never filed anything.”
“That is not an answer.”
Regina looked at Evelyn.
Evelyn said nothing.
Regina swallowed.
“Tony wanted legal control over Daniel’s estate if Daniel died.”
“Through me.”
“Yes.”
“You were going to have me declared incapable.”
“I was told it was temporary.”
Aurora laughed in disbelief.
“Temporary ownership of my life?”
“I thought I could protect you once the papers were signed.”
“From Tony?”
“Yes.”
“By giving yourself legal power over me for Tony.”
Regina covered her face.
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what it was.”
“I stopped the petition.”
Aurora froze.
“What?”
Regina looked up.
“Daniel’s attorney sent a notice. Tony told me to continue anyway.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because by then Daniel was dead.”
“That didn’t stop you from taking the house.”
Regina winced.
“No.”
“So why stop?”
“Because I read the draft.”
“What part?”
“The part that said you could be placed in supervised housing if you resisted.”
Aurora’s stomach turned.
Regina whispered, “I couldn’t do that.”
“You could steal from me.”
“Yes.”
“Lie to me.”
“Yes.”
“Send men after me.”
“Yes.”
“But supervised housing crossed your moral line?”
Regina’s voice broke.
“I told myself everything else could be fixed.”
Aurora stared.
That sentence sounded familiar.
How many people committed harm because they believed they could repair it later?
“When did Dad learn you worked for Tony?”
“Years before he got sick.”
Aurora’s breath caught.
“What?”
Regina nodded.
“He found an old payment record.”
“Then why stay married to you?”
Regina began crying again.
“He said he loved the woman I became after I stopped working for Tony.”
Aurora looked away.
“When did you stop?”
“After we married.”
“So he knew.”
“Yes.”
“And he trusted you anyway.”
“Not completely.”
Aurora almost laughed.
“The boxes.”
“The letters.”
“The ring.”
Regina nodded.
“He gave me the ring but never told me what it opened.”
“Why?”
“He said trust had to have limits.”
Aurora closed her eyes.
Her father had understood everyone too well.
“What happened when Tony came back?”
Regina’s mouth trembled.
“I folded.”
No excuse.
Aurora hated that too.
“Did you actually want Tony to take me?”
“No.”
“You led his men to me.”
“I wanted them to pressure you into telling me what Daniel left.”
“You had me hurt.”
Regina’s face went white.
“I never told anyone to hurt you.”
“You kept giving them my location.”
“I know.”
“You watched bruises appear.”
“I know.”
“You told yourself it wasn’t your hand.”
Regina began sobbing.
“Yes.”
Aurora sat back.
There it was.
The family disease in another form.
People telling themselves harm did not belong to them because someone else delivered it.
Regina had not thrown every punch.
She opened the door.
Again and again.
Aurora asked, “Why did you mail the ring to Zach?”
Regina looked up.
“Because Daniel told me once that if Tony ever came for you, the Morettis were the only family he feared enough to hesitate around.”
“Why Zach?”
“Tony watched Michael. He watched Isabella. He watched lawyers.”
“So you used a child.”
Regina closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You knew the package would be screened.”
“Yes.”
“You gambled that it would reach Michael.”
“Yes.”
Aurora hated that the plan was smart.
“Did Tony know?”
“He knew I had mailed something. Not where.”
“What happened?”
“He locked me in the warehouse.”
“Did he hurt you?”
Regina looked at Evelyn.
Aurora did not need the details.
“Never mind.”
Regina’s eyes filled.
“I deserved—”
“No.”
Aurora’s voice cut through the room.
Regina looked startled.
Aurora continued.
“You deserved consequences. You did not deserve whatever Tony did.”
Regina began crying harder.
Aurora hated how much saying it cost.
But she meant it.
Refusing to become cruel did not mean forgiving.
It meant refusing Tony’s logic.
Harm was not justice just because the victim had done harm too.
Regina whispered, “I don’t deserve you.”
“That is true.”
Evelyn glanced at Aurora.
Aurora almost smiled.
Then she asked the last question.
“Did you love me?”
Regina froze.
Aurora had not planned to ask it.
The room became unbearable.
Regina answered.
“Yes.”
Aurora’s face twisted.
“Then why?”
“That is the question I have asked myself every hour since the warehouse.”
“No. Answer now.”
Regina swallowed.
“Because I loved myself more when I was afraid.”
Aurora stared.
Regina continued.
“When Tony threatened me, I became someone who only thought about the next consequence. I told myself if I stayed useful to him, I could keep control.”
“You didn’t have control.”
“I know.”
“You traded mine for the illusion of yours.”
“Yes.”
That was the first thing Regina said that felt completely true.
Aurora stood.
Regina whispered, “Will you ever forgive me?”
Aurora stopped at the door.
“No.”
The answer surprised them both.
Regina’s face crumpled.
Aurora continued.
“Maybe that changes someday. Maybe it doesn’t. But I’m not promising forgiveness so you can feel better.”
Regina nodded.
Aurora walked out.
Michael waited in the hallway.
She had told him not to come inside.
He listened.
“How was it?”
“Awful.”
“Useful?”
“Yes.”
He handed her coffee.
Black.
No sugar.
She took it.
They sat on a bench.
Aurora stared at the floor.
“She loved my father.”
“I believe that.”
“She betrayed him.”
“Both can be true.”
“I hate that sentence.”
“I know.”
“She protected me at the end.”
“Yes.”
“She endangered me first.”
“Yes.”
“I hate that too.”
Michael said nothing.
Aurora looked at him.
“Do you ever think people are simpler in your business?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“People kill for love, money, fear, pride, loyalty, shame, or combinations nobody understands.”
“That’s comforting.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
She leaned her head against the wall.
“Tony will go to prison?”
“Likely.”
“Regina?”
“Possibly.”
“Isabella?”
“Depends on her agreement.”
Aurora looked at him.
“And you?”
His eyes met hers.
“What about me?”
“Your name is in the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to prison?”
“Not for being someone’s son.”
“Did you commit crimes?”
Silence.
Aurora waited.
Michael said, “Yes.”
Her heart dropped.
“What kind?”
“Financial. Protection payments. Businesses built with money I knew was dirty.”
“Violence?”
“I’ve ordered men removed from situations.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No murders.”
She studied him.
“You expect me to trust that?”
“No.”
He did not flinch.
“I expect you to decide what you believe based on what I do now.”
Aurora’s chest tightened.
“Are you cooperating?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Zach deserves a father who can answer questions without lying.”
Aurora looked away.
That was when she realized she loved him a little.
Not enough to trust blindly.
Not enough to call it destiny.
Enough to be afraid.
Two weeks later, Aurora signed a lease on a small Brooklyn apartment near the legal clinic.
Michael inspected the building and looked physically offended by the fire escape.
“This railing moves.”
“It has character.”
“It has tetanus.”
“Same thing in Brooklyn.”
He stared at her.
She smiled.
“You said I could choose.”
“I did.”
“And I chose.”
“I know.”
He did not offer to buy the building.
Aurora knew that required growth.
Luca carried a box inside.
Zach carried one pillow and announced he was “doing most of the work.”
Isabella brought groceries.
For the first time Aurora had a room that belonged only to her.
No Regina.
No motel.
No guesthouse.
No safe house.
Her name on the lease.
Her key.
Her decision.
That night, everyone left.
Michael stood in the doorway.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“I can have someone downstairs.”
“No.”
“A car nearby.”
“No.”
“An emergency button.”
Aurora held up her phone.
“I have 911.”
Michael sighed.
“You enjoy this.”
“Very much.”
He stepped back.
“Good night, Aurora.”
She closed the door.
Locked it.
May you like
Then unlocked it again.
Just because she could.
