Chapter 10 - Before SunriseTwo weeks later, the war for Baltimore was over before the public ever knew it began.
Don Salvatore Moretti had vanished, his sprawling criminal empire quietly carved up and absorbed under the ironclad dominion of the Vescari syndicate. Julian Vance was sitting in a federal prison cell facing federal fraud charges, courtesy of a meticulously detailed financial audit provided anonymously to the FBI—an audit stamped with the seal of the Vescari legal team.
My old apartment in Dundalk was empty, its lease broken, its debts erased.
Instead, I stood on the sprawling marble balcony of the Vescari penthouse overlooking the glittering Baltimore harbor as the first rays of golden sunlight broke across the horizon.
Behind me, the heavy oak door clicked open.
Footsteps approached—heavy, deliberate, and entirely familiar. Then came the unmistakable click-clack of thick claws tapping against the polished hardwood floor.
Titan trotted out onto the balcony, nudging his cold nose against my hand. I laughed softly, scratching him behind his right ear—right over the old scar.
Dante stepped out beside me, wearing a crisp charcoal suit without a tie, holding two cups of steaming black coffee. He handed me one, his fingers brushing against mine.
“Marcus’s first week at his new private academy went well,” Dante said quietly, looking out over the water. “He made the soccer team. And he has personal security detail that looks like college tutors so he doesn't feel suffocated.”
I took a sip of the coffee, feeling the warmth spread through my chest. I turned to look at the man who had turned my entire world upside down, dragging me from a damp basement laundry room into the dangerous, glittering heart of the underworld.
“You didn't have to go that far for him, Dante,” I said softly.
Dante turned his head, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made the morning air feel electric. He reached out, gently pulling me against his side, just where Titan had rested his head that very first night.
“I told you the moment I found you in that basement, Rosie,” Dante whispered, his lips brushing my forehead just as the sun fully crested the horizon. “You belong to me. And anyone who is part of your world is part of mine.”
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I smiled, leaning into his strength, knowing full well that the storm was behind us, and we were the ones holding the thunder.
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