Chapter 10 - THE PROMISE ACROSS THE THRESHOLD
The silence in the grand parlor felt sacred.
Outside, the city of Chicago was waking up to a brand-new dawn—one where the shadows of the Bennett syndicate no longer hung over its streets.
I looked down at the sapphire ring resting in its velvet bed.
Then I looked up into Dante’s dark, unwavering eyes.
“You realize,” I whispered with a faint, trembling smile, “I’m terrible at making coffee.”
Dante let out a low, genuine laugh that reached all the way to his eyes—a sound I had never heard in public, reserved only for the quiet hours in the kitchen.
“I’ll hire a chef,” he murmured, sliding the platinum band onto my finger. “Or I’ll learn to make it myself.”
The ring fit perfectly.
It felt heavy, warm, and real.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Dante’s expression softened completely.
He pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my neck as his strong arms lifted me off the sofa.
For the first time in six years, the weight in my chest was entirely gone.
A week later, the private estate in Lake Geneva played host to a very different kind of gathering.
No politicians.
No corrupt board members.
No media circuses.
Just a small group of trusted loyalists, federal liaisons who looked the other way, and my mother, sitting proudly in her wheelchair, her health restored by the best medical treatments money could buy, smiling as she watched us exchange vows under a white wooden archway.
“You clean up alright for a maid,” Dante whispered against my lips right after the officiant pronounced us husband and wife.
“And you’re entirely too arrogant for a reformed mob boss,” I retorted, kissing him back without hesitation.
The reception was quiet, warm, and filled with laughter.
In the distance, across the serene blue waters of the lake, the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in shades of gold and deep violet.
We stood on the wooden dock together, watching the ripples fade into the dark water.
“Are you happy, Elena?” Dante asked softly, his arm wrapped securely around my waist.
I leaned my head against his shoulder, feeling the steady, rhythmic beat of his heart.
May you like
“I have everything I ever wanted,” I said.
And for the first time in my life, every single word was the absolute truth.
