Chapter 13
The criminal investigation moved more slowly than Barrone rumors.
That was healthy.
The security contractor who forced Lucius’s vehicle off the road was eventually arrested.
His financial records tied payment to a private account controlled by Selene.
He insisted he had been hired to stop Lucius and retrieve documents, not kill him.
Prosecutors treated that distinction cautiously.
Forcing a vehicle off an isolated mountain road was not harmless intimidation.
Selene was charged in connection with the attack, obstruction, fraud involving the warehouse records, and other related offenses.
The workplace-safety case reopened separately.
Tristan faced his own consequences.
He had not falsified the original engineering documents, but his later actions exposed him to obstruction and corporate offenses.
He also faced the criminal consequences of assaulting Willa.
His cooperation mattered.
It did not erase anything.
Lucius did not interfere with charging decisions.
Several members of the Barrone family wanted him to.
One capo asked him privately:
“You’re really going to let your wife go to prison?”
Lucius looked at him.
“I’m not sentencing her.”
“You could fix some of this.”
“That’s the problem.”
The capo frowned.
Lucius continued.
“We’ve spent generations calling interference ‘fixing.’”
He no longer wanted Willa growing up inside that language.
Barrone Maritime compensated the injured workers through newly negotiated civil resolutions once independent counsel confirmed the earlier settlements had been influenced by incomplete disclosures.
Matthew Doyle’s family received additional support for lifetime care.
Lucius met him once.
Not to ask forgiveness.
To listen.
Matthew said only one thing that stayed with him.
“You people always think the money is the ending.”
Lucius knew exactly what he meant.
May you like
Money could pay for care.
It could not return legs to a man who once carried his daughter upstairs.
