Chapter 6 - THE DECLARATION OF GRAYHAVENSilence hung over the Grand Ballroom like a heavy fog.
No one moved. No one dared to breathe. Three hundred wealthy socialites, mob leaders, and politicians stared at the plus-size former housekeeper who had just shot the most powerful lawyer in Chicago without blinking an eye.
Silas Marcone stepped forward, his massive frame towering beside Mara.
He didn't look at Vincent Vance, who was currently being dragged off the stage by two loyalist soldiers, weeping and bleeding onto the polished oak boards.
Silas reached down, taking Mara’s hand in his, lifting it high into the air so the whole ballroom could see the Marcone Lion Ring blazing on her finger.
"Leaders of Chicago! Members of the Commission!" Silas’s voice boomed across the room like thunder, echoing off the high gilded ceilings. "Today, you witnessed a traitor try to steal my empire. But more importantly... you witnessed the woman who saved my life."
He turned to look at Mara, his hazel eyes softening with a deep, fierce, naked devotion that made the entire crowd hold its breath.
"For four years," Silas spoke into the microphone, his deep voice carrying across every radio frequency tapped into the event, "this city believed I was a king without a heart. They thought I cared only for territory, shipping lines, and power."
He dropped to one knee before Mara on the stage.
Gasps erupted from the crowd.
Don Silas Marcone—a man who had never bowed to judges, presidents, or rival syndicate kings—was kneeling on the floor before a maid from the South Side.
Little Poppy stood beside her mother, clapping her hands happily. "Look, Mama! Mr. Silas has a knee on the floor!"
Silas looked up into Mara’s dark, tearing eyes.
"Mara Ellison," Silas said, his voice trembling with genuine, unscripted emotion. "You patched my wounds when I was dying. You shielded your daughter with your life. You walked into this room of monsters and took control of my world."
He reached into his tuxedo jacket, pulling out a massive velvet ring box. Inside lay a flawless thirty-carat oval-cut canary yellow diamond surrounded by double halos of pink argyle diamonds—the Sun of Grayhaven, worth fifty million dollars.
"I don't just offer you my empire, Mara," Silas growled softly, sliding the breathtaking ring onto her finger beside the signet. "I offer you my life, my blood, and my heart. Stand before this city as my Donnessa... as my future wife."
Tears spilled over Mara’s dark lashes, tracing warm paths down her cheeks. She looked at the ring, then looked down at the most feared man in the Midwest, who was looking up at her like she was the only star in the night sky.
"Yes," Mara whispered.
Then she raised her voice, clear and strong: "Yes, Silas! I will marry you!"
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Silas stood up in a flash, wrapping his massive arms around her broad, soft waist, lifting her entirely off her feet, and kissing her deeply in front of the entire city!
The Grand Ballroom erupted into wild, deafening applause! The Senior Commission Boss raised his glass of champagne, roaring, "To the Don and the new Donnessa!"
