Chapter 19 - THE END OF GABRIEL MORETTI
Gabriel reached the freight yard.
Police surrounded him from three sides.
The fourth side ended at the river.
He ran anyway.
Lorenzo followed at a distance.
Sophia remained behind with Lily.
Federal agents ordered Gabriel to surrender.
He ignored them.
He reached an old loading platform above the water.
For the first time, the man who had spent years controlling everyone had no exit.
Lorenzo stopped twenty feet away.
Gabriel turned.
“You always were weak.”
Lorenzo said nothing.
“You could have had everything.”
“I already had everything.”
Gabriel laughed.
“A company?”
“Money?”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“My daughter.”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
“My family.”
Lorenzo continued.
“The people you spent your whole life treating like pieces on a board.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
Several officers aimed at him.
Lorenzo did not move.
Gabriel looked toward the river.
Then back at his nephew.
“You think prison scares me?”
“No.”
Lorenzo’s voice remained calm.
“But being forgotten will.”
Gabriel stared at him.
Lorenzo continued.
“Your network is gone.”
“Your money is frozen.”
“Your partners are talking.”
“Your name will survive only as evidence.”
Something changed in Gabriel’s face.
Rage replaced confidence.
He raised the weapon.
Officers fired.
Gabriel collapsed.
The gun fell into the river.
Paramedics reached him.
He survived.
Barely.
And that was exactly what Lorenzo wanted.
Gabriel Moretti would stand trial.
He would hear every victim’s name.
He would hear Ethan Hale’s name.
Elena Moretti’s name.
Mrs. Carter’s name.
Sophia’s name.
And Lily’s name.
Within three months, federal prosecutors filed charges involving murder, trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, conspiracy, extortion, fraud, and organized crime.
Valentina accepted a plea agreement.
She testified against Gabriel.
Victor Kane received decades in federal prison.
Daniel Cruz did too.
Malcolm Reeves entered witness protection.
Dozens of businesses connected to Gabriel were seized.
Moretti International survived.
But Lorenzo changed it completely.
He sold several divisions.
He created independent oversight.
He opened every shipping contract to federal review.
And he established a fund for victims identified through Gabriel’s network.
Sophia resigned from housekeeping.
Not because Lorenzo asked her to leave.
Because he offered her something different.
Director of the new Moretti Foundation for Exploitation Survivors.
Sophia laughed when he first suggested it.
“I clean houses.”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“You exposed an international criminal network.”
She looked at him.
“That sounds slightly better on a résumé.”
For the first time in months, they both laughed.
May you like
But the story was not completely finished.
There was still one secret Ethan had left behind.
