Chapter 12 - THE NEW ORDER
Three weeks passed.
The longest three weeks of my life.
I managed the estate.
Daniel managed the security.
We heard nothing from New York.
No phone calls. No messages.
Every time a car drove past the gates, my heart stopped.
Leo asked about Luca every day.
“Is he coming back for dinner?”
“Not tonight, baby,” I would say, forcing a smile.
On the twenty-first day, it snowed heavily.
I was sitting in Luca’s study, going over the estate payroll.
The house was perfectly quiet.
Suddenly, the heavy oak door of the study opened.
I jumped, dropping my pen.
Luca stood in the doorway.
He looked exhausted.
He had a fresh cut over his eyebrow, and his coat was covered in snow.
But he was standing tall.
I stood up, pushing the chair back so hard it fell over.
I ran across the room and threw my arms around his neck.
He caught me, burying his face in my shoulder, breathing heavily.
“You’re alive,” I sobbed.
“I’m alive,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head.
I pulled back and looked at him.
“Your father?”
Luca’s expression shifted. A mix of sorrow and closure.
“It was a trap,” he said quietly. “He died twenty years ago. A rival family from Brooklyn kept the watch. They used it to draw me out.”
My stomach dropped.
“Did they...”
“They failed,” Luca said simply.
The tone of his voice told me everything I needed to know about what happened to the men in Brooklyn.
He took my hand and led me to the leather sofa, sitting down heavily.
“The war is over before it started, Caroline. The East Coast families agreed to a truce. Because they know now that Chicago cannot be broken.”
He looked around the warm, quiet study.
Then he looked at me.
“I’m done fighting ghosts. My brother is at peace. My niece is getting cured. My father is gone.”
He reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a small velvet box.
My breath caught in my throat.
He opened it.
Inside was a simple, stunning diamond ring.
Not massive and gaudy like Vanessa’s had been.
Elegant. Real.
“I told you I was coming back,” Luca said softly. “But I don’t want to come back to an empty house anymore. I want you, Caroline. And I want Leo.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
I didn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
He slipped the ring onto my finger.
Just then, small footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Leo peeked into the study.
When he saw Luca, his face lit up.
“Luca!”
Leo ran across the room, launching himself onto the sofa.
Luca caught him, laughing—a real, deep laugh that filled the room.
I sat next to them, watching the two most important people in my life.
May you like
The snow fell outside the window.
But inside, for the first time in my life, I was finally, truly home.
