Chapter 9 - Touch MeDaniel found Rachel beneath an overturned table.
She was alive.
That was all he saw at first.
Alive.
“Rachel.”
She looked up.
“Daniel?”
He dropped beside her.
Her forehead was bleeding from a shallow cut.
The ropes had torn her wrists.
But she smiled.
“You took your time.”
A sound escaped him somewhere between a laugh and a broken breath.
Daniel reached toward her.
Then stopped.
Even now.
Even terrified.
He waited.
Rachel understood.
“Touch me.”
He pulled her into his arms.
Daniel Moretti, the man Boston considered impossible to frighten, buried his face against his wife's hair and shook.
Rachel held him.
“I'm here.”
He couldn't answer.
Evelyn Shaw was arrested alive.
Federal prosecutors charged her with attempted murder, conspiracy, fraud, racketeering, bribery, and crimes connected to Daniel's parents' deaths.
Victor agreed to testify in exchange for consideration during sentencing.
He would still go to prison.
Daniel did not interfere.
Some betrayals required consequences even when forgiveness remained possible.
Rachel spent one night in the hospital.
Daniel slept in a chair beside her.
At 3:00 a.m., she woke and found his hand resting inches from hers.
Not touching.
Waiting.
Rachel intertwined their fingers.
Daniel woke instantly.
“Pain?”
“No.”
“Need the nurse?”
“No.”
“Water?”
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
Rachel smiled.
“You're terrible at this.”
“At what?”
“Being normal.”
“I've had limited practice.”
She shifted carefully.
“Come here.”
Daniel sat beside her.
Rachel studied him.
“Evelyn said something.”
His expression hardened.
“What?”
“She said she understood why you love me.”
Daniel became very quiet.
Rachel's smile faded.
“She was wrong?”
“No.”
One word.
Rachel stopped breathing.
Daniel looked down at their hands.
“I should have said it before somebody holding you hostage did.”
“That would've been preferable.”
“I love you.”
Rachel's eyes filled.
Daniel continued before courage failed him.
“I love that you argue with me. I love that you feed people who work for me because you think my kitchen staff somehow forgets they exist.”
“They do.”
“I love that you see people everyone else walks past.”
He looked at her.
“And I love every inch of the woman you kept thinking I wanted changed.”
Rachel cried.
Daniel wiped one tear away.
“Don't ever become smaller for me.”
She leaned forward.
Their kiss was soft.
When Rachel pulled away, she whispered, “I love you too.”
Daniel's forehead rested against hers.
Then Rachel smiled mischievously.
“But your chef still makes architectural food.”
Daniel laughed.
Actually laughed.
A nurse passing the doorway stopped in shock.
Rachel looked over Daniel's shoulder.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“You smiled publicly.”
“Medication side effect.”
“I'm the one medicated.”
“Then I'm experiencing secondary symptoms.”
Rachel laughed until her ribs complained.
Three months later, the criminal network collapsed.
Northshore's equipment was seized nationwide.
Hospitals received warnings before any additional counterfeit units reached patients.
Rachel was offered a promotion.
She refused it.
Instead, she proposed something bigger.
An independent medical-supply verification initiative.
Daniel offered funding.
Rachel refused that too.
“Conflict of interest.”
“I'm your husband.”
“Exactly.”
“You're difficult.”
“You married me.”
“I remember.”
She eventually accepted funding through an independently governed foundation with no Moretti control.
Daniel pretended this annoyed him.
Secretly, he had never been prouder.
But one question remained between them.
Their marriage had begun as protection.
The danger was over.
One evening, Daniel placed the original marriage agreement on the kitchen island.
Rachel stared at it.
“What is that?”
“Our contract.”
She became still.
Daniel slid another document beside it.
Divorce papers.
Rachel's face lost color.
Daniel saw it and immediately realized his mistake.
“No. That's not—Rachel, no.”
She stared at him.
“You're divorcing me?”
“No.”
“You put divorce papers beside our contract.”
“I handled this badly.”
“Spectacularly.”
Daniel took the papers and tore them in half.
Rachel blinked.
“Those looked expensive.”
“They were.”
“What are you doing?”
Daniel reached into his jacket.
Rachel's breath stopped.
This time, when Daniel Moretti went down on one knee, there was no security strategy.
No threat.
No arrangement.
Only a ring.
“Rachel Morgan Moretti.”
Her hands covered her mouth.
“Our first marriage was because I was afraid someone would take you from me.”
His voice softened.
“I want the second one because I can't imagine choosing a life without you.”
Rachel began crying.
Daniel looked alarmed.
“Is that yes?”
“You're proposing terribly.”
“I prepared a speech.”
“What happened?”
“You started crying.”
She laughed through her tears.
“Yes.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Yes?”
“Yes, Daniel.”
He stood.
Rachel wrapped both arms around his neck.
“Ask me properly.”
Daniel smiled.
“Rachel, will you marry me?”
She kissed him.
“Yes.”
May you like
Outside, Boston Harbor glittered beneath the evening sky.
And for once, nothing was waiting in the darkness.
