Chapter 8 - After Becoming His Wife by Choice, I Learned What the Mafia Boss Had Been Hiding From Me
Marriage was not the end.
It was the beginning.
Cassian and I moved into a house overlooking the Hudson.
My mother lived nearby.
Evelyn rebuilt her career.
Clara opened a restaurant.
The other former wives began new lives.
The headlines faded.
But one thing remained.
Cassian still woke from nightmares.
One night, I found him in the hallway.
“You okay?”
He looked at me.
“My father.”
“What about him?”
“I dreamed he was standing in the chapel.”
“And?”
“He asked why I chose you.”
“What did you say?”
“That I didn't.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Cassian smiled.
“I chose you before I knew I was choosing.”
I kissed him.
Months later, Norah called.
She was one of the former wives.
She had found something.
A letter from Victor.
It contained one final confession.
He had not started Project Black.
Cassian's grandmother had.
Three generations had built the system.
Victor had simply continued it.
The true enemy had always been the belief that power justified anything.
Cassian read the letter.
Then burned it.
“Why?”
“Because I don't want our children inheriting it.”
I looked at him.
“Children?”
He smiled.
“I've been thinking.”
My heart raced.
We had talked about the future.
But not seriously.
Now we did.
A year later, our daughter was born.
We named her Helen.
After my mother.
Cassian held her and cried.
The feared man everyone once whispered about could barely speak.
“She’s perfect.”
“She is.”
He looked at me.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For choosing me after everything.”
May you like
I smiled.
“You chose me first.”
