Chapter 10 - Sunshine After the Storm
Six months later, the twenty-room mansion in Long Island didn't feel like a monument to the dead anymore.
The heavy iron gates were still secure, and Vince was still standing guard at the perimeter, but the inside of the house was alive with a kind of noise I used to think I would never hear again.
Footsteps pounding down the grand marble staircase.
Laughter echoing through the high-ceilinged hallways.
And every single morning, without fail, the sound of three little voices singing “You Are My Sunshine” drifting down from the kitchen while coffee brewed and pancakes sizzled on the stove.
I sat at the head of the long mahogany dining table, reviewing a shipment manifest for our legal import-export business—the legitimate enterprise I had spent the last half-year transitioning my entire empire into, leaving the docks, the gambling dens, and the protection rackets behind for good.
Grace walked into the dining room carrying a stack of school notebooks, her hair loose, wearing an ordinary sweater instead of a tactical vest or an apron. She tossed a blue notebook onto the table in front of me with a mock-serious expression.
“Sign your daughter’s permission slip, Mr. Romano,” she said, pouring herself a cup of black coffee. “Unless you want Olivia to miss the museum trip because her father was too busy playing corporate CEO.”
I picked up the pen, signing my name with a steady hand, and looked up at her. “You know, for a federal agent who swore to take me down, you’ve adapted remarkably well to domestic life.”
Grace leaned against the edge of the table, sipping her coffee with a faint smirk playing at the corners of her lips. “Witness protection in the suburbs is much more glamorous than they make it sound in Quantico, Dominic. Especially when the boss of the house actually listens when you tell him to take off his muddy boots at the door.”
From the hallway, the sound of little feet came stampeding toward us.
Nora burst into the dining room first, holding a freshly painted picture of a very lopsided yellow sun, followed closely by Sophie and Olivia.
“Look, Daddy! Look what I made for Miss Grace—for Mom!” Nora shouted, suddenly stopping herself and clamping her small hand over her mouth with a gasp.
The entire room went completely still.
My heart skipped a beat. I looked up slowly at Grace.
Grace’s face flushed a soft, beautiful shade of pink, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she looked down at the three little girls who were staring up at her with breathless, hopeful anticipation.
Olivia stepped forward, taking Grace’s hand in hers, and squeezed it gently.
“Is it okay if we call you that?” Olivia asked softly, her voice steady and clear. “Forever?”
Grace knelt down, wrapping her arms around all three of them at once, burying her face in their curls so we couldn't see the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Forever and always,” Grace whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
May you like
I stood up from my chair, walked around the mahogany table, and knelt beside them, wrapping my arms around Grace and my daughters, pulling them all into one unbreakable circle.
Outside the tall dining room windows, the sun climbed higher into the clear New York sky, casting its golden light across the marble floor, chasing away every shadow, every ghost, and every enemy that had ever dared to stand in our way.
