Chapter 12 - THE FAMILY
A deafening roar filled the small room, but it didn’t come from Vanessa’s gun.
It came from the hallway.
Before the hammer of Vanessa’s gun could fully strike, a massive force hit her from the side. Luca tackled her to the floor, her suppressed shot firing wildly into the ceiling, raining plaster down on us.
Luca didn’t hesitate. He pinned her arm to the concrete with his knee, prying the gun from her fingers with ruthless efficiency.
Vanessa screamed, thrashing wildly. “Let me go! You ruined me!”
“You ruined yourself,” Luca snarled.
He hauled her up by the collar of her coat and shoved her out into the hallway, where two of his heavily armed security guards were waiting. They grabbed her arms, pinning her against the wall.
“Where’s Marcus?” Luca demanded.
“Dead,” the lead guard said flatly. “He tried to run the gates. The courtyard security didn’t give him a chance to exit his vehicle.”
Vanessa let out a hollow, broken wail. She collapsed against the guards, the fight finally draining completely out of her.
“Take her to the federal building,” Luca ordered coldly. “Drop her on the steps. Let the FBI finish what they started with her father.”
The guards dragged Vanessa away, her cries echoing down the long, empty hallway until the heavy doors at the end of the corridor clicked shut.
Silence rushed back into the house.
Luca stood in the doorway of the panic room, chest heaving, his suit torn at the shoulder, blood on his knuckles.
I didn’t wait.
I ran to him.
I threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. Luca caught me, wrapping his arms around my waist so tightly my ribs ached, burying his face in my hair.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered fiercely, kissing the side of my head. “It’s over. I swear to you, it’s over.”
I felt a small pair of arms wrap around my legs.
Daniel had run over, hugging us both, burying his face in Luca’s leg. Luca dropped to one knee, pulling Daniel into the embrace, so the three of us were tangled together in the doorway of the steel bunker.
For the first time since I had opened that guest room door a month ago, I felt entirely, perfectly safe.
---
SIX MONTHS LATER
The summer breeze drifted off Lake Michigan, rustling the leaves of the massive oak trees in the backyard of the Moretti estate.
I sat on the stone patio, holding a glass of iced tea, watching Daniel kick a soccer ball across the grass. He was laughing, a bright, carefree sound that he never would have made in that freezing apartment on the South Side.
My father was sitting next to me in a comfortable patio chair, breathing easily without his oxygen tanks, reading the Sunday paper.
The heavy glass doors of the patio slid open.
Luca walked out. He wasn’t wearing a suit today. Just dark jeans and a white button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal the braided leather bracelet he still wore on his wrist.
He walked over to my chair, leaned down, and kissed me softly on the lips.
“Morning,” he murmured against my mouth.
“You’re late,” I smiled, reaching up to touch the faint stubble on his jaw.
“Syndicate business,” Luca said, though his eyes were light. He had spent the last six months restructuring his empire, cutting ties with the violent old guard, moving the Moretti name into legitimate shipping and real estate. He was still the boss, but he was a boss who slept soundly at night.
He pulled a small velvet box from his pocket.
My breath hitched.
“Again?” I asked, laughing softly.
He had thrown the million-dollar diamond in the trash. He hadn’t bought a replacement yet.
“Open it,” he said, his dark eyes gleaming.
I took the box and opened it.
It wasn’t a diamond.
It was a simple, elegant gold band. Inside the band, three words were engraved.
To my ghost.
“You told me once you were just a ghost in this house,” Luca said quietly, kneeling beside my chair, ignoring the fact that my father was pretending not to watch from behind his newspaper. “You weren’t a ghost, Emily. You were the only real thing in a world full of lies. You brought me back to life. You gave me my son.”
He took the ring from the box and held it between his fingers.
“I don’t want a merger,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion. “I don’t want a strategic alliance. I just want the woman I love. Marry me, Emily.”
I looked at the gold band. I looked at Daniel, who had stopped kicking the soccer ball and was grinning widely at us from the grass.
I looked at Luca, the terrifying mafia boss who had handed me the world.
“Yes,” I whispered.
May you like
Luca slid the ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly.
He stood up, pulling me out of the chair, and kissed me as the summer wind blew across the lake, sweeping the last remnants of the past away for good.
