Chapter 6 - The Mafia Boss Who Chose His Daughter Over the Throne
Patrick went to prison.
The Sullivan empire began to disappear.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But legally.
Declan sold businesses.
Closed warehouses.
Paid employees.
Returned money when possible.
Some allies abandoned him.
Others followed.
Tommy stayed.
He had spent years serving Declan.
Now he worked in security for legitimate businesses.
The city changed around us.
I changed too.
I stopped wearing oversized hoodies every day.
Not because Declan asked.
Because I wanted to.
My body was different.
I accepted it.
Mae grew.
She had Declan's eyes.
My stubbornness.
And a laugh that could destroy every wall in the room.
One afternoon, Declan brought home another box.
I stared at him.
“No.”
He smiled.
“What?”
“No dresses.”
He laughed.
“It's not a dress.”
I opened the box.
Inside was a small yellow sweater.
Baby-sized.
A tiny embroidered crown sat on the front.
I smiled.
“For Mae.”
“Yes.”
I kissed him.
“I love it.”
He looked surprised.
“What?”
“You kept it.”
“Of course.”
He smiled.
“I finally understand.”
“What?”
“A gift isn't supposed to buy forgiveness.”
“No.”
“Or replace presence.”
“No.”
“It should simply say, I thought of you.”
I kissed his cheek.
“You're learning.”
He grinned.
“Slowly.”
We rebuilt our lives.
We moved out of the penthouse.
We bought a quiet house near Lake Geneva.
There were no marble floors.
No armed men in every hallway.
Just a kitchen.
A backyard.
A nursery.
A porch.
Declan hated the suburban noise.
Especially lawnmowers.
I loved it.
He learned to grill.
Badly.
He learned to change diapers.
Surprisingly well.
He learned to hold Mae at three in the morning while she cried.
He learned that sometimes a crying baby could be more frightening than twenty armed enemies.
One night, he sat beside me on the porch.
Mae slept inside.
The lake was dark.
“I never thought I'd live like this.”
I smiled.
“Neither did I.”
“Are you happy?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
He took my hand.
“I'm sorry it took a bullet.”
I laughed.
“It took more than that.”
He looked serious.
“I know.”
Then he kissed my forehead.
We remained silent.
I thought about the dresses.
All those expensive boxes.
All the things I had returned.
At the time, Declan thought I hated his gifts.
He hadn't understood that I was using them as clues.
They had led me to Patrick.
They had saved our lives.
And in the end, the most important thing wasn't the evidence.
It was that Declan had finally learned to see me.
Not as his wife.
Not as the mother of his heir.
Not as someone to protect like property.
As Norah.
The woman he loved.
The woman who challenged him.
The woman who refused to be bought.
The woman who had stood beside him when he dismantled everything.
I rested my head on his shoulder.
He wrapped his arm around me.
Then Mae cried from inside.
Declan sighed.
“I'll get her.”
I laughed.
“You're the mafia boss.”
“Former.”
“Right.”
He stood.
“Former mafia boss.”
He disappeared inside.
I smiled.
May you like
Maybe that was the happiest sentence of my life.
Former.
