Chapter 9 - The Aftermath
The war ended that night.
With the uncle and the Moretti leaders dead,
the Russo family stood alone at the top of the city.
The estate was a wreck,
but the air felt cleaner.
Gemma was safe,
this time for good.
I sat in the library,
watching the sun rise over the smoking gardens.
Dominic sat next to me,
his hand resting on my knee.
"What happens now?"
I asked,
my voice weary.
"Now,
we rebuild,"
he said.
"And now,
you take your place by my side."
"I can't go back to the pharmacy,"
I said,
half-realizing it for the first time.
"No,"
Dominic said.
"The pharmacy is gone."
"Your apartment is gone."
"Everything you were is gone."
"Are you okay with that?"
I looked at him,
the man who had changed my life in a single week.
I looked at the scars on my hands,
the blood under my fingernails.
I didn't feel afraid.
I felt alive.
"Yes,"
I said.
"I’m okay with that."
Dominic leaned in and kissed me,
a slow,
possessive kiss that claimed every part of me.
It wasn't a fairy tale kiss.
May you like
It was a promise of a life filled with danger and passion.
A life that was finally mine.
