Chapter 10 - THE FINAL SURPRISEOne year later.
The Chicago underworld had been completely restructured. Dominic Caruso had survived, and the Russian syndicate had been dismantled, piece by piece.
We stood on the balcony of his penthouse, overlooking a city that no longer felt like a minefield. The "waitress" was gone, replaced by a partner, a strategist, and a woman who had found a home in the heart of a storm.
Dominic didn't look like the man I’d met in that restaurant; the tension had left his jaw, and the scar felt less like a mark of battle and more like a history lesson. He stepped behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist, his head resting on my shoulder.
"The international delegates are asking for you again," he murmured. "They say they won't sign the new shipping accord unless you're the one leading the conversation."
May you like
I smiled, looking at the city lights. "Maybe I'll do it," I said. "But only if you promise to stop acting like you don't know how to speak Japanese."
He laughed, a rare, genuine sound that made the room feel warmer. We had both been people defined by the roles others had assigned to us—the mafia boss and the invisible worker. But we had rewritten our own ending. As I turned to face him, knowing that the empire we were building was based on truth instead of secrets, I knew the real deal was the one we had made with each other. The war was over, and for the first time in his life, Dominic Caruso didn't need to fear the silence. He had found his voice, and it was mine.
