Chapter 5 - The Heir of Chicago
Three months later,
the wind off Lake Michigan was cool,
carrying the scent of spring.
The Valente estate was quiet,
the guards moved to the shadows,
and the guns were tucked away.
Inside the master bedroom,
a different sound filled the air.
The soft,
rhythmic breathing of a newborn.
Dominic sat in the rocking chair by the window,
holding a bundle wrapped in a blue blanket.
Aiden Valente had been born at 6:02 a.m.,
a healthy,
loud-lunged boy with his mother’s eyes and his father’s stubborn chin.
Meline watched them from the bed,
a weary but radiant smile on her face.
"He looks like you when you're thinking about business,"
she joked,
her voice soft.
Dominic looked down at his son,
his expression one of pure,
unfiltered awe.
"He’s perfect,"
Dominic whispered.
"He's the only thing I've ever done that wasn't for power."
He stood up and walked to the bed,
carefully placing the baby in Meline’s arms.
He sat beside her and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.
It wasn't a contract or a deed.
It was the legal dissolution of the Valente syndicate’s illegal holdings.
"What is this?"
Meline asked.
"The beginning of the severance I promised you,"
he said.
"But not from my life."
"From the world that tried to kill us."
"The shipping company is legitimate now."
"The rest...
I’ve handed it over to the authorities in a way that ensures the Ducas stay in prison forever."
"I'm done with the war,
Meline."
"I want to be a father."
He reached onto the nightstand and picked up a new ultrasound photo—the one taken the day they arrived back in Chicago.
Beside it,
he placed the ruby ring.
"I saved the ashes from the sink,"
he whispered.
"I'm going to put them in a locket for you."
"To remind us that even when things are burned to the ground,"
"the truth always rises."
Meline leaned her head on his shoulder,
watching their son sleep.
The girl who had run through the snow with nothing was now the queen of a new,
cleaner empire.
The man who had been feared by all of Chicago was now a man who was only afraid of waking a sleeping baby.
"You said nothing touches me while I'm yours,"
Meline reminded him.
Dominic kissed her forehead,
then kissed the tiny forehead of his heir.
"And I meant it."
"Forever."
The city lights of Chicago twinkled in the distance,
bright and full of promise.
The shadows were gone.
The fire had done its work.
And as the sun rose over the lake,
the Valente family was finally,
truly,
May you like
home.
The end.
