Chapter 11 - MATTEO’S MOTHERMatteo began asking more about Sofia.
Dante struggled.
Elena insisted they tell him the truth gradually.
No saint.
No martyr.
Sofia had been brave.
Also stubborn.
She loved Matteo fiercely.
She also became obsessed with exposing Harrison.
At times she endangered herself.
Dante tried to control her.
She resisted.
“Like Elena?” Matteo asked.
Dante sighed.
“Unfortunately.”
Elena smiled.
Sofia's letters surfaced in federal evidence.
One addressed to Matteo.
Written days before her death.
Your father loves by building walls.
Elena stopped reading.
Dante looked away.
One day, you may need to teach him doors are more useful.
Matteo laughed.
Elena cried.
Dante called Sofia irritating from beyond the grave.
Then the letter continued:
If I am not there, do not let my death become the most important thing about me.
That changed something.
For years Dante had preserved Sofia through guilt.
Closed rooms.
Photos.
Silence.
Now he began telling funny stories.
Sofia burning pasta.
Sofia getting lost in Florence.
Sofia throwing Dante’s phone into a fountain because he answered during dinner.
Matteo laughed.
Grief became human again.
May you like
Not shrine.
That was healing.
