Chapter 9 - The Return of the Brother
The following morning, the private medical wing of the Falcone estate was filled with an atmosphere of profound, emotional healing.
When Victor Petrova was wheeled into the lavish private suite, Nadia dropped the teacup she was holding. It shattered against the plush carpet, but she didn't care. She sprinted across the room, ignoring her seven-month belly, and threw her arms around her brother’s neck, sobbing hysterically into his shoulder.
"Victor! Oh God, Victor... they told me you were dead! They told me you were gone!" Nadia wept, clutching him as if he were a ghost that might vanish if she let go.
Victor, though still pale and recovering from his ordeal, wrapped his arms tightly around his sister, burying his face in her dark hair. Tears streamed down his weathered cheeks. "I'm here, Nadia. I'm safe. Lucas... Lucas brought me back."
She pulled back, wiping her tears, and looked across the room.
Lucas stood leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, watching them with a quiet, melancholic expression. The harsh, terrifying mafia boss of Providence was nowhere to be seen; in his place stood a man who looked vulnerable, uncertain, and deeply hopeful.
Nadia walked slowly over to him. She didn't say a word. She simply reached out, took his large, calloused hand in hers, and pulled him into the circle, pressing him close against her and her brother.
Lucas wrapped his arms around them both, burying his face in Nadia’s hair, letting out a long, shuddering breath of pure relief. For the first time in five years, the war inside his soul was finally over.
Later that afternoon, sitting by the grand bay window overlooking the estate gardens, Victor explained the whole truth to them both.
"Vance kidnapped me five years ago when I refused to act as his corporate spy inside the Providence shipping lanes," Victor explained softly, sipping a warm cup of tea. "He kept me locked in that underground basement, using me as quiet leverage against any syndicate boss who tried to cross him—including Lucas, before Lucas lost his memory."
"And when I lost my memory," Lucas added quietly, staring out at the garden, "Vance thought he had won. But he didn't count on me finding Nadia in that village, and he certainly didn't count on us finding each other again."
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Nadia placed her hand gently over Lucas’s hand on the armrest, her dark eyes shining with quiet strength. "We survived, Lucas. All of us."
"And we're never going to be apart again," Lucas vowed, pressing a tender kiss to her knuckles.
