Chapter 9 - The Family I Thought I Lost Was Sitting at One Table—and Then My Father Told Me Why He Chose Me
One year after the fire, the Starlight Diner was transformed.
Roman bought the building next door.
We turned it into a rehabilitation center.
Nico attended school.
Elias opened a security company.
Maya went to college.
Grace became a social worker.
Sofia taught literature.
My mother improved.
My father aged peacefully.
And me?
I finally understood who I was.
Not the daughter of a criminal.
Not the daughter of a hero.
Not the woman who had walked into a burning house.
Just Loretta.
The woman who chose to help.
One night, Gabriel and I sat alone.
“Why did you choose me?” I asked.
He knew exactly what I meant.
“Because you had compassion before you had power.”
He smiled.
“That mattered.”
I cried.
He took my hand.
“You saved Nico because you thought no one else would.”
“You knew I'd do it?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I hoped.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Later that week, Roman took me to the brownstone where everything had begun.
The house had been rebuilt.
The windows were new.
The walls were white.
Nico was standing in the same ground-floor window.
Only now, he waved with both hands.
I waved back.
Roman stood behind me.
“He loves you.”
“I love him too.”
Roman kissed my forehead.
“I love you.”
I smiled.
“I know.”
Then he held out a tiny box.
“I know I already proposed.”
“What is this?”
“Another proposal.”
I laughed.
“Why?”
“Because now I know what it means to ask without taking.”
Inside was a simple gold ring.
I said yes again.
This time there were no guns.
No secrets.
May you like
No smoke.
Only love.
