Chapter 10 - The Queen of the ShadowsSix months later, the Ristorante Bellagio was just a distant memory, a chapter from another lifetime.
The massive wrought-iron gates of the Moretti estate swung open, welcoming the sleek black SUV as it rolled up the winding driveway toward the grand stone villa. Inside the car, I adjusted the collar of my designer coat, looking out at the sprawling gardens and the armed guards standing at respectful attention.
In my arms, a now-toddler Lukas chattered happily, clutching a small silver toy in one fist and tugging playfully at my hair with the other.
As I stepped out of the vehicle, Dante was waiting on the grand marble steps. He didn't look like a mob boss in that moment; he looked like a man who had finally found what he lost in the dark. He walked down the steps, took his son from my arms with one hand, and extended his other hand to me.
I took it without hesitation, letting him pull me up the stairs and into the brightly lit foyer.
Above the massive stone fireplace hung a new painting—not of a ghost from the past, but of a living family. Dante, myself, and little Lukas, standing together under the golden sun, untouchable, unbreakable.
The old world of fear and running from dragons was dead.
May you like
We were the dragons now.
And no one would ever touch us again.
