Chapter 2: the two funerals
1151 Words
Rain poured from a gray sky as if the heavens themselves refused to stop crying.
Lucas Moretti stood motionless before his father's coffin, his black suit soaked despite the umbrella someone had tried to hand him earlier. He had refused it.
None of this felt real.
Only a week ago, his father had been sitting across from him at the dinner table, reminding him not to skip breakfast before university.
Now...
He lay inside a polished oak coffin surrounded by white lilies.
Lucas stared at his father's peaceful face.
He almost looked asleep.
Almost.
"If you're playing some kind of joke..." Lucas whispered, his voice shaking. "It isn't funny anymore."
No answer came.
A funeral attendant quietly closed the coffin.
The sound echoed through Lucas's chest like a gunshot.
His knees nearly gave way.
A hand caught his shoulder before he could fall.
It belonged to an elderly man with a scar stretching across his cheek.
"My condolences, young master."
Lucas frowned.
"Young... master?"
The man lowered his head respectfully before walking away.
Lucas watched him disappear into the growing crowd.
Something felt strange.
Very strange.
His father had always introduced himself as a businessman.
A quiet man.
A hardworking man.
So why...
Why were there so many dangerous-looking people at his funeral?
Men in expensive black suits stood silently in rows.
Many carried visible scars.
Others had tattoos disappearing beneath their collars.
Several luxury cars lined the cemetery entrance.
Each arriving guest bowed respectfully before Leonardo's coffin.
Some even saluted.
Lucas didn't recognize most of them.
Yet they all seemed to know his father.
A whisper reached his ears.
"Boss deserved better."
"We'll avenge him."
"The traitor will pay."
Lucas slowly turned toward the voices.
Before he could ask what they meant, the priest began the final prayer.
Everyone lowered their heads.
Lucas closed his eyes.
Memories flooded back.
His father teaching him how to ride a bicycle.
Helping him with homework.
Burning pancakes every Sunday morning because he insisted on making breakfast himself.
Laughing whenever Lucas complained.
None of those memories matched the men surrounding his grave.
None of them matched the whispers.
When the ceremony ended, people approached Lucas one after another.
Each offered condolences.
Each promised loyalty.
Each called Leonardo...
"Boss."
Lucas thanked them politely, though confusion grew heavier with every passing minute.
Hours later, the cemetery was nearly empty.
Only one man remained standing beside Leonardo's grave.
Victor Romano.
Lucas had seen him before.
He had been at the hospital.
Then at the funeral.
Always watching.
Always calm.
Victor placed a single white rose on the grave before speaking.
"Your father loved these."
Lucas looked at him.
"You knew him?"
Victor smiled faintly.
"For over thirty years."
Lucas studied the older man's face.
There was sadness there.
But also something unreadable.
"My father never mentioned you."
"He wanted to keep two worlds separate."
Lucas frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Victor glanced around the empty cemetery.
"This isn't the right place."
Lucas hesitated.
Every instinct told him to walk away.
But he needed answers.
Twenty minutes later, Victor's black sedan stopped outside an old waterfront warehouse.
Lucas looked through the window.
Several armed guards stood outside.
They immediately opened the gates as Victor's car entered.
Lucas's heartbeat quickened.
"What is this place?"
Victor answered quietly.
"The place your father spent most of his life."
The warehouse doors slowly opened.
Nearly fifty men stood waiting inside.
The moment Victor entered, every man straightened.
Then, one after another...
They lowered their heads.
Not to Victor.
To Lucas.
"Welcome home, young master."
Lucas froze.
"What..."
He looked at Victor.
"What is this?"
Victor walked toward an office overlooking the warehouse floor.
He motioned for Lucas to follow.
Inside the office, photographs covered one wall.
Leonardo stood beside politicians.
Business leaders.
Foreign investors.
Some pictures showed him shaking hands with men carrying rifles.
Others showed meetings inside luxurious mansions.
Lucas stared in disbelief.
"No..."
Victor opened a locked drawer and placed a thick folder on the desk.
"Read it."
Lucas slowly opened it.
Inside were bank records.
Police surveillance photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Confidential files.
Every page carried the same name.
Leonardo Moretti.
His father.
His hands began to shake.
"This..."
Victor remained silent.
"This can't be real."
"It is."
"My father wasn't a criminal."
"He wasn't the man you think."
Lucas looked up.
"Then tell me who he was."
Victor took a slow breath.
"Leonardo Moretti was the head of one of the most powerful mafia families in the country."
The words hit Lucas harder than the news of his father's death.
"No."
"He spent years protecting you from this world."
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Lucas threw the folder onto the desk.
"My father hated violence."
"He hated people getting hurt."
Victor nodded.
"Exactly."
Lucas blinked.
"What?"
"He wasn't born into this life."
Victor looked toward one of Leonardo's photographs.
"He inherited it."
"He spent years trying to change it."
Lucas slowly sat down.
His mind refused to accept any of it.
Every memory of his father collided with the evidence spread across the desk.
"So..."
"My entire life..."
"...was a lie?"
Victor shook his head.
"No."
"The love he had for you was real."
"He simply carried a burden he never wanted you to inherit."
Silence filled the room.
Lucas lowered his head.
Tears rolled onto the documents beneath him.
"If he was trying to change..."
"...why was he killed?"
Victor's expression darkened.
"Because someone betrayed him."
He reached into the folder and removed a single photograph.
A man with tired eyes and unshaven hair.
Marco.
"He was your father's most trusted lieutenant."
Lucas picked up the photograph.
"What did he do?"
"He sold your father's location."
Victor's voice remained steady.
"The attack that killed Leonardo happened because Marco betrayed the family."
Lucas stared at the face in the picture.
Marco.
The name burned into his memory.
Victor continued.
"Your father still believed Marco was innocent."
"He wanted to bring him home."
Lucas slowly clenched the photograph until it crumpled inside his fist.
"He trusted him..."
"Yes."
"And Marco repaid that trust with betrayal."
The room fell silent.
Lucas's grief slowly changed.
The tears remained.
But behind them...
Something darker awakened.
He stood and walked toward the office window overlooking the men below.
They were all waiting.
Watching.
Expecting something.
Lucas looked down at the crushed photograph in his hand.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I'll find him."
Victor didn't respond.
"I'll ask him why."
He tightened his fist.
"And if it's true..."
His breathing slowed.
"...I'll make him pay."
For the first time since Leonardo's funeral, Victor allowed himself the faintest smile.
He stepped beside Lucas.
The warehouse fell completely silent below them.
Victor looked straight ahead.
Then asked the question that would change Lucas's life forever.
"Tell me, Lucas..."
He paused.
"Do you want justice..."
His voice became almost a whisper.
"...or revenge?”
- Writer
