Chapter 8 - The Family They Were Never Allowed to Have
The first Christmas after Graham's arrest was the loudest Christmas the Vale house had ever known.
Ellie decorated the tree.
Elias put ornaments too low.
Marco pretended he hated everything.
Mara cooked enough food for twenty.
And Adrian stood in the kitchen trying to wrap a gift.
Cassia watched him.
“You're doing that wrong.”
“I have wrapped gifts before.”
“Not successfully.”
He glared at the ribbon.
“This thing is defective.”
She laughed.
Ellie ran in.
“Daddy!”
Adrian turned.
“Yes?”
“Can I open mine now?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it's Christmas Eve.”
She sighed dramatically.
“You're mean.”
Elias walked in.
“She got that from you.”
Cassia pointed at him.
“Whose side are you on?”
“My own.”
They laughed.
For the first time, the Vale house felt like a home instead of a fortress.
But Adrian still had one thing to do.
He asked Cassia to meet him at the old café.
The same place where they had first met.
He had bought it.
She stared.
“You didn't.”
“I did.”
“Adrian.”
“It belongs to you.”
“I don't want you buying things because you feel guilty.”
“I bought it because you built something beautiful there.”
He handed her the keys.
She looked at them.
“It's yours now.”
She smiled.
“I don't know what to say.”
“Say yes.”
“To what?”
He knelt.
Cassia stopped breathing.
“You're joking.”
“No.”
He opened a ring box.
Inside was a simple diamond ring.
“I won't ask you to forget the past.”
“I won't.”
“I won't ask you to pretend I didn't hurt you.”
“You did.”
“I won't ask you to trust me because I love you.”
She looked at him.
“What will you ask?”
“Choose me.”
Her eyes filled.
“Again?”
“This time with all the information.”
She laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger.
Then she pulled him up.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
Their wedding took place six months later.
No politicians.
No weapons.
No hidden contracts.
No family deals.
Only people who knew them.
Elias walked Cassia down the aisle.
Adrian stood waiting.
Ellie scattered flower petals.
Marco cried and denied it.
Mara smiled.
At the altar, Adrian held Cassia's hands.
“I spent years thinking loving you meant keeping you away from danger.”
Cassia smiled.
“And now?”
“Now I know loving you means standing beside you.”
She nodded.
“Good answer.”
They kissed.
Ellie shouted:
“Again!”
Everyone laughed.
The wedding reception became legendary within the family.
Not because of wealth.
Because there was no fear.
No one checked the doors.
No one watched the windows.
No one wondered whether the celebration would become a battlefield.
At midnight, Cassia found Adrian outside.
“Happy?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Our daughter is inside trying to eat the wedding cake.”
“She gets that from you.”
“Definitely you.”
She leaned against him.
“What happens now?”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“We live.”
She smiled.
“That's a plan.”
“It is.”
The next morning, Cassia woke beside him.
For the first time in five years, she didn't reach for the emergency bag beneath the bed.
There wasn't one.
May you like
She had stopped carrying it.
That was how she knew the past was truly over.
