Chapter 10 - The Night Alessandro and I Returned to the Mansion Where the War BeganWe returned to the estate.
The same place where I had worked as a maid.
The same library.
The same black box.
Now it was full of armed men.
Bell stood beside my mother.
“You should have left the money alone.”
I stepped forward.
“It was never yours.”
He smiled.
“Everything belongs to whoever can control it.”
Alessandro raised his weapon.
“Let her go.”
Bell laughed.
“You still think you're a king.”
“No.”
Alessandro lowered his gun.
“I'm a man.”
Bell frowned.
“And that's why you lost.”
I understood.
Bell wanted Alessandro to become the old Don.
The violent one.
The man who solved problems with fear.
But Alessandro had changed.
He refused.
Instead, he handed his weapon to Dominic.
Bell stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Ending it.”
“How?”
“With evidence.”
I held up the drive.
“Everything is already public.”
Bell's face changed.
He realized.
The room filled with police.
Federal agents.
Investigators.
Journalists.
Bell had been surrounded.
He looked at my mother.
Then at me.
“You think this changes anything?”
“Yes.”
“You inherited blood.”
“I inherited choice.”
I stepped forward.
“You chose power.”
“My father chose sacrifice.”
“My mother chose protection.”
“My grandmother chose truth.”
“And Alessandro chose me.”
Bell stared.
Then smiled.
“You think love makes you strong?”
“No.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“It made me stop being afraid.”
Bell's expression finally broke.
He reached for the gun.
Dominic tackled him.
The room erupted.
Bell was arrested.
My mother was safe.
The Moretti organization was dissolved.
The black box was placed in a museum archive.
But before the night ended, I asked Alessandro something.
“Why did you really keep me in the library that first day?”
He smiled.
“Because I thought you were dangerous.”
“And now?”
“I know you are.”
I laughed.
“That's not romantic.”
“It is for me.”
He stepped closer.
“You walked into my life pretending to be invisible.”
“And?”
“You opened the one thing I couldn't.”
“What?”
“My eyes.”
I looked at him.
Then he kissed me.
The kiss was slow.
Careful.
Nothing like the violence surrounding us.
When we separated, he whispered:
“You don't have to hide anymore.”
May you like
I smiled.
Neither did he.
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