Chapter 8 - They Tried to Take My Husband From Me—So I Exposed the Secret That Could End the Entire Mafia Network
Voss was in prison.
But The Chairman was larger than one person.
Six remaining members fled.
They targeted Roman.
They froze his accounts.
Turned legitimate partners against him.
Spread lies.
Claimed he had murdered his own father.
Roman's reputation collapsed.
I stood beside him.
We fought back.
The Black Ledger wasn't enough.
We needed direct evidence.
My mother found it.
A recording from twenty-five years earlier.
The founding members had met secretly.
One of them was Eleanor Voss.
Another was Roman's father.
Another was my grandmother.
But the fourth name shocked us.
A federal judge.
The fifth was a police commissioner.
The sixth was a senator.
The seventh was a billionaire philanthropist.
The network had survived because every institution had been compromised.
We released the recording.
The remaining members were arrested.
One tried to flee the country.
Another turned witness.
The city began healing.
Roman sold the remaining companies tied to the criminal operation.
He kept only a legitimate logistics company.
Then he bought the building containing the Starlight Diner.
I thought he intended to expand it.
Instead, he handed me the keys.
“What is this?”
“Your diner.”
“You bought it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you always said you wanted something nobody could take from you.”
I cried.
He smiled.
“You own it.”
The diner became ours.
Not a hiding place.
Not a headquarters.
A real diner.
People came for pancakes.
Truckers came for coffee.
Kids came after school.
Normal people.
Normal problems.
Normal life.
Exactly what I had wanted.
One evening, Roman found me sitting alone after closing.
He placed a small box on the counter.
“What now?”
“Open it.”
Inside was a new wedding ring.
Plain.
Beautiful.
No hidden compartment.
No secret message.
Just gold.
Roman took my hand.
“Our first marriage was surrounded by secrets.”
He knelt.
“I want another one.”
I laughed through tears.
“Are you proposing again?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
May you like
“Because this time there is nothing between us.”
I said yes.
