Chapter 20 - The Marble and the Rose
The heavy iron gates of the Valente estate remained closed to the criminal underworld, but they were wide open to the warmth of living.
In the grand dining hall—an eleven-meter table that had once echoed with absolute, freezing silence—two places were now regularly set near the head.
Adrienne Valente sat at the table, cutting a piece of toast for Mia, who sat beside him chattering happily about a butterfly she had seen in the garden. Rex lay peacefully beneath her chair, guarding her small red shoes just as fiercely as he guarded his master.
The shadow of the past was still there, etched into the dark wood of the locked rooms upstairs and the cold memories of a life shattered long ago. But the ice had broken.
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The mafia boss known as Il Marmo—the marble—was no longer a monument to grief. He was a protector, a father figure, and a man who had finally reclaimed his humanity through the innocent smile of a maid's little girl.
As the amber evening light poured through the tall windows, casting a golden glow across the room, Adrienne looked down at Mia, smiled, and knew that his war was finally over.
