Part 3After I Died, Everyone Regretted It

After two more quiet days at Santa Maria Hospice, Celeste came to see me herself. The obsidian brooch of the De Luca heir was pinned to her chest, and my parents, Marco and Isabella, followed her in.

"Sofia, come home with me." She walked up to my bed.

"What are you talking about?" I sat up straighter and watched her put on the act.

Celeste's voice broke with tears. "Dad, Mom, I did go to the docks that night. Sofia sent me a message using a code we had made up as children. She said she knew something about her escape seven years ago and wanted me to meet her at the docks. But by the time I got there, Anthony was already lying in a pool of blood!"

She wiped her eyes. "Sofia has been on the run for seven years, and she has carried that hatred the whole time! She wanted revenge on both the De Luca and Bertini families, so she killed him with a gun registered in her own name and lured me there to take the fall..."

"Enough!" I cut her off and turned to my parents. "This is absurd! Three things prove she is lying. Anyone with half a brain can see it.

"First, when I fled seven years ago, I left with nothing but the clothes on my back. How could I have taken the old cipher book locked in the family vault?

"Second, the pistol registered in my name has been locked in the most secure section of my father's armory for seven years. Who but someone with the highest clearance could take it out?

"Third, at the exact hour Celeste says she received my message, I was undergoing chemotherapy at this hospice. There is security footage to prove it. I was in so much pain I could not get out of bed. How could I have reached the docks and set all of that up?"

The room went dead silent.

I thought those facts were enough to expose Celeste. I thought my parents would at least have doubts, that they would at least check the footage.

Instead, Celeste broke down.

"I am sorry... Dad, Mom, I lied!" She pulled out a few printed pages. "I found that cipher book in a false panel in Sofia's old room. I thought she had left it there so I could contact her... And the armory... I took Mom's spare key and went in without permission. Sofia said she was going to kill someone and I was so scared, I wanted to take the gun and stop her. But when I got there she grabbed it away from me... I faked the remote login records because I was terrified of being punished..."

"You are lying!" I was shaking with rage.

My mother rushed over and pulled Celeste into her arms.

"Enough, sweetheart. Mom knows you have been wronged." She patted Celeste's back, then looked up at me with ice in her eyes. "Sofia, I am deeply disappointed in you. Your sister was only trying to stop you, and you are trying to pin everything on her! Unconscious from chemotherapy? Those drugs can cause hallucinations. Who is to say you did not slip out while the doctors were not watching?!"

I stared at her, unable to believe it. "Mom... you would rather believe a story full of holes than even check the footage?"

"Pulling the footage takes time! The Council gave us seventy-two hours!" My father came over and looked down at me. "Sofia, it does not matter whether questions remain. The Council will not wait while we investigate. The Bertini family wants an answer. Celeste is the future of the De Luca family. Do you understand?"

"No, I do not! I will not confess! I will not admit to something I did not do, even if it costs me my life!"

My mother's eyes went completely cold. She took out her phone and dialed. "Your Honor, regarding the emergency guardianship petition for my daughter Sofia... Yes, she has been on heavy sedatives and painkillers for a long time, she is severely unstable, and she is no longer competent to make medical or legal decisions for herself. Please sign the temporary guardianship order immediately."

She hung up and looked at me without a trace of warmth. "As of now, I am your legal guardian. Every decision about you is mine to make."

"This is kidnapping!" I shouted, and the bodyguards pinned me to the bed.

There was noise outside. The hospice phone lines were cut and the signal was jammed. They loaded me into a transport van and drove me to the De Luca family's private clinic.

In the sealed room at the clinic, there was nothing but the sound of machines. My father slid a document titled Blood Debt Confession Before the Five Families across to me.

Tears ran down my face as I lay there. "You are forcing me to die."

My father looked at me. "Sofia, the doctors say you have three months. Give up those final three months to secure your sister's future and spare the entire De Luca family a war. That is the last value you have as a De Luca daughter."

I looked at this man, and the last scrap of warmth inside me went out.

There was no hope. It was not that they failed to see the holes in her story or the evidence against her. They had decided to sacrifice me from the very beginning.

"Fine. I will sign," I said, my voice shaking. "But I have three conditions."

My father frowned. "Go on."

"First, once I am dead, sever every tie between me and this family. The name De Luca must never appear on my headstone.

"Second, my ashes must go to Santa Maria Church. Even if you scatter them at sea, they must never enter the De Luca cemetery.

"Third, from this day forward, you may never handle anything I leave behind on the grounds that you are my family."

My father was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Agreed. Once you accept the blood debt and the Council closes the matter, I will see it done."

At midnight, they blindfolded me with black cloth and took me down into the underground chapel of the Council of the Five Families. The elders of every family sat on the high dais.

The cloth came off, and candlelight stabbed at my eyes. The Blood Debt Confession lay in front of me.

I picked up the pen and, with everything I had left, signed the De Luca name for the last time.

The moment I finished signing, the Bertini representative drew his gun and aimed it at my heart.

Blood for blood.

The gun cocked. I turned for one last look at my father and mother in the corner. My father leaned on his cane, his face blank. My mother was crying, but she did not take a single step.

They just stood there and watched.

I closed my eyes and smiled.

"Bang!"

The shot cracked through the chapel.