Chapter 9 - THE LIGHT
One Year Later.
The music room in the Moretti mansion was flooded with afternoon sunlight.
The heavy velvet curtains had been thrown open, revealing the lush, green gardens outside.
I wasn’t wearing a black housekeeping dress.
I wore a simple, elegant ivory sweater and soft jeans.
I sat on the bench of the black Steinway piano.
The keys were perfectly tuned. The wood polished. The hidden compartments empty of secrets.
Beside me sat Lily.
She wore a bright yellow sundress. She had grown an inch, and her smile was no longer hesitant. She laughed loudly, a sound that filled the house with life.
“Okay, Anna,” Lily said, her small fingers hovering over the keys. “Show me the chord that beat the bad guy.”
I laughed, bumping my shoulder against hers.
“No way. That chord is retired. Today, we learn Mozart.”
“Mozart is boring,” a deep voice said from the doorway.
I turned.
Adrian stood there.
He wasn’t wearing a dark suit. He wore a casual linen shirt, the sleeves rolled up, revealing strong forearms. The hard, dangerous edge that used to define his face had softened into a steady, quiet strength.
He walked over and kissed the top of Lily’s head.
Then, he leaned down and kissed my lips.
It was a slow, deliberate kiss. The kind that reminded me, every single day, that I belonged here.
“I thought you were in a board meeting,” I said, resting my hand on his arm.
“I finished early. I realized I’d rather be home listening to my two favorite women argue over sheet music.”
The mafia empire was transitioning. Adrian had spent the last year turning his shipping ports completely legitimate. The shadows were receding.
Lily played a clumsy scale, her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth in concentration.
I looked at the silver locket resting against my collarbone.
My mother’s locket.
And on my left hand, the simple diamond caught the sunlight.
We had a quiet wedding. No sixty guests. No mayors or politicians.
Just Marcus, a few loyal friends, and Lily standing beside me as my maid of honor.
“Did you fix the clock in the library?” Adrian asked, sitting on the edge of the piano bench next to me.
“I did,” I smiled. “Grandpa taught me gears as well as keys.”
Adrian wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me flush against his side.
“You fix everything you touch, Anna.”
Lily finished her scale and looked up at us.
She didn’t look afraid. She didn’t look like a pawn in a game she didn’t understand.
She looked like a ten-year-old girl who knew exactly who she was.
She was a Moretti.
And she was my sister.
“Can we go get ice cream now?” Lily asked, closing the piano lid.
Adrian smiled, a real, full smile that still took my breath away.
“Go get your shoes, kiddo.”
Lily ran out of the room, her footsteps echoing happily down the hall.
Adrian turned to me in the quiet, sunlit room.
He reached out and gently brushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear.
“I love you, Anna,” he said softly.
I leaned into his touch. The ghosts were gone. The secrets were buried.
The house finally felt like a home.
“I love you too,” I whispered.
May you like
He took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine.
And together, we walked out into the light.
