Chapter 7 - The Wedding Nobody Saw ComingRaphael wanted a quiet wedding.
Marin wanted no wedding at all.
They compromised.
A small ceremony.
Twenty guests.
The Santoro family.
Marin's mother.
Samuel.
Wyatt.
Marcus.
A handful of friends.
No press.
No cameras.
No business deals.
Marin wore a simple ivory dress.
Raphael wore black.
When he saw her, he forgot every word he'd practiced.
She laughed.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“You look…”
He stopped.
She smiled.
“Beautiful?”
“Like home.”
Her eyes filled.
They married in the same harbor chapel where Bruno had once married his mother.
Patrick Santoro, Raphael's father, was gone.
But his chair was left empty in the front row.
Raphael touched it before the ceremony.
Marin stood beside him.
“I wish he could see you.”
“He can.”
“How?”
“He gave me the watch.”
Raphael looked at her.
“He gave you the chance to find me.”
She kissed his cheek.
“Then let's make him proud.”
They exchanged vows.
Raphael promised:
“I will never use power to control you.”
Marin promised:
“I will never let fear decide for me.”
They kissed.
Everyone applauded.
Except someone watching through the window.
The grandmother.
She had escaped custody.
And she had one final move.
She set fire to the old Santoro warehouse.
The place where Bruno died.
The place where everything began.
Raphael received the call.
He went pale.
“My father.”
Marin grabbed his hand.
“Let's go.”
They arrived as firefighters battled the flames.
Inside was a locked room.
Raphael knew it.
He had never entered.
His father had forbidden it.
Now he opened the door.
Inside was one final photograph.
Bruno.
Samuel.
A young Marin's mother.
And a newborn baby.
Raphael stared.
“That baby…”
Marin looked.
It was her.
On the back:
If my son fails to protect her, the Santoro family belongs to her.
Raphael cried.
His grandmother had tried to steal the family.
But the family had been protected by love all along.
The fire was contained.
The warehouse survived partially.
Raphael made a decision.
He didn't rebuild it as another criminal headquarters.
He turned it into a museum and community center.
The first room displayed Bruno's watch.
Marin objected.
“You're putting my watch behind glass?”
“Our watch.”
May you like
She smiled.
“Our watch.”
