Chapter 6 - The Mafia Boss Gave Up His Empire for the Woman He Was Supposed to Marry Under False Pretenses
Cassian faced the consequences of his family's crimes.
He gave testimony.
He turned over records.
The legitimate side of the Vale organization was rebuilt.
His employees stayed.
The criminal network collapsed.
The news called it the fall of the Vale empire.
I called it the beginning of his life.
He moved into a smaller house with me and my mother.
It was strange.
A man who had owned mansions suddenly arguing over grocery lists.
One morning, I found him struggling with a coffee machine.
“You've killed people.”
“I've also negotiated peace agreements.”
“You're losing to coffee.”
He glared at the machine.
“It has complicated buttons.”
I laughed.
He smiled.
We were learning normal life.
Slowly.
Then my mother called me into her room.
She gave me a letter.
Your father wrote this for you.
I opened it.
Lydia,
There is one truth I never managed to tell you.
You were not born into the wrong family.
You were born into a family that lost its way.
Do not spend your life running from your name.
Build a new one.
I cried.
Cassian found me afterward.
He didn't ask questions.
He simply sat beside me.
I rested against his shoulder.
“I miss him.”
“I know.”
“I never got to say goodbye.”
“You don't have to.”
He kissed my forehead.
“You can talk to him whenever you need.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
“Tell him what you became.”
A month later, Cassian proposed.
Not in a chapel.
Not with contracts.
Not in front of armed men.
He proposed in our kitchen.
He burned the dinner.
Forgot the ring in his pocket.
And dropped to one knee beside a pot of ruined pasta.
I laughed so hard I cried.
“Lydia Carter, I know our beginning was a disaster.”
“That’s one word for it.”
“I know I hurt you before I knew how much you mattered.”
“Yes.”
“I cannot change the past.”
“No.”
“But I can spend the rest of my life giving you a future you choose.”
He opened the ring box.
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at him.
“The real wedding this time?”
“The real one.”
“Then yes.”
He kissed me.
My mother started applauding from the doorway.
“I knew you'd say yes.”
I groaned.
“You were listening?”
“Of course.”
The wedding was scheduled for spring.
But there was one last obstacle.
The trust.
It still existed.
And someone else wanted it.
Margaret's lawyer filed a claim.
He argued that the marriage had been promised under family agreement.
Cassian refused.
The court froze the assets.
For months, the case dragged on.
Finally, I testified.
I told the truth.
About the dress.
The threats.
The ledger.
The kidnapping.
The lies.
The court ruled the old arrangement invalid.
The trust became mine.
And I did something nobody expected.
I gave most of it away.
Medical foundations.
Housing assistance.
Education.
Women's shelters.
My father had wanted me powerful enough to say no.
I used that power to make sure other women had choices too.
Cassian watched me sign the papers.
“You don't need to do this.”
“I know.”
“You're giving away billions.”
“I don't want money to control anyone the way it controlled us.”
He nodded.
May you like
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
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