Chapter 20 - The Kingdom We Built
Six months later, the Mediterranean sun felt warmer, softer, and entirely different than it had on the day Marcus’s men breached the clifftop villa.
The international syndicate led by Marcus had completely collapsed overnight following the simultaneous freezing of their illicit assets and the release of their encrypted communications to global law enforcement agencies. Marcus himself was currently residing in a high-security federal penitentiary, sharing a fate very similar to Victor Costa's.
My mother, fully recovered and living in a sunlit villa just down the coast, believed we were simply wealthy expats running a quiet international consulting firm. She still worried about my sleep schedule, completely unaware that her daughter was now the undisputed queen of the Mediterranean underground, standing side-by-side with the most formidable man in the modern criminal landscape.
I stood on the balcony of our newly rebuilt clifftop estate, the warm sea breeze tangling in my hair, a glass of chilled white wine resting in my hand.
Footsteps echoed softly behind me. Strong, familiar arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back against a solid, warm chest. Dominic rested his chin on my shoulder, looking out at the endless horizon where the deep blue water met the painted sky.
"Penny for your thoughts, Mrs. Rossi," he murmured softly against my ear.
May you like
I smiled, leaning back into his embrace and resting my hand over his where it lay flat against my stomach. The seven scars across my ribs were still tender, a permanent reminder of the night my old life ended in a hail of gunfire at the Aster Crown Hotel. But as I turned around in his arms and looked up into his dark, devoted eyes, I knew I had traded a world of fear and poverty for a kingdom built entirely on blood, loyalty, and an unbreakable love that no algorithm could ever quantify.
"I was just thinking," I whispered, smiling as I pulled him down into a slow, lingering kiss, "that catering gig really did change my life."
