Chapter 10
The courthouse steps were crowded.
Reporters shouted Serena’s name.
Dante stayed beside her.
He couldn’t enter the witness box with her.
He couldn’t answer questions for her.
He could only walk beside her until the courtroom doors separated them.
Serena stopped outside.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“What if I freeze?”
“Then breathe.”
“What if he looks at me?”
“Look somewhere else.”
“At you?”
Dante nodded.
“I’ll be there.”
Serena entered.
Vincent sat at the defense table.
For the first time in her life, he looked old.
The prosecutor called her.
“Serena Cavali.”
She took the oath.
Questions began.
Her marriage.
The planned attack.
The threats.
Daniel Mercer.
Thomas Bellini.
Her mother.
Arthur.
Vincent’s defense attorney attacked her credibility.
“You lied to your husband for three years?”
“Yes.”
“You deliberately manipulated his perception of you?”
“Yes.”
“You concealed information?”
“Yes.”
“So lying comes naturally?”
Serena looked toward Dante.
He remained still.
She remembered his words.
Breathe.
She turned back.
“No.”
The lawyer frowned.
“But you admit—”
“I lied because I believed telling the truth would get my husband killed.”
The courtroom became quiet.
The attorney changed tactics.
“Your relationship with Mr. Romano has deteriorated?”
“He ordered my husband’s death.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It explains my answer.”
A few people shifted.
Vincent stared at her.
The lawyer asked, “Do you hate the defendant?”
Serena looked at the man who had raised her.
For years she would have answered carefully.
Now she didn’t.
“No.”
Vincent blinked.
Serena continued.
“I wish I did.”
The courtroom fell silent.
“Hating him would be easier.”
Her voice trembled.
“He was my father for most of my life. I wanted him to love me. I spent years believing that if I behaved perfectly, maybe he would.”
Vincent looked away.
“But loving someone doesn’t mean protecting them from consequences.”
Dante felt pride and sadness collide inside him.
Serena finished her testimony.
When she left the witness stand, her legs trembled.
Dante met her outside.
She walked directly into his arms.
He held her.
No cameras mattered.
No family reputation.
No old rules.
“You did it,” he whispered.
“I hated every second.”
“You still did it.”
Weeks later, Vincent was convicted on multiple charges related to conspiracy, murder, corruption, and organized crime.
Arthur accepted a plea agreement in exchange for turning over the remainder of his archives.
Neither man would return to power.
The old world collapsed.
Dante’s own legal situation remained complicated.
His cooperation spared him the worst consequences, but he paid enormous fines, surrendered businesses tied to illegal activity, and accepted years of oversight.
He agreed without complaint.
Marco transformed the remaining Cavali logistics businesses into legitimate companies.
Serena established a foundation using part of the fortune she inherited from Thomas Bellini’s estate.
It supported families affected by organized crime.
Some people called it redemption.
Serena didn’t.
“You can’t buy redemption,” she told Dante.
“What do you call it?”
“Responsibility.”
He liked that better.
Six months after the night of the divorce papers, they moved.
Not to Aspen.
Not Manhattan.
A renovated house outside the city.
Large enough for privacy.
Small enough to feel inhabited.
On their first night, Serena stood in the bedroom doorway.
Dante placed his bag in the guest room.
She watched.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving you space.”
Serena hesitated.
Then walked toward him.
She took his hand.
“I don’t want separate rooms tonight.”
Dante searched her expression.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He waited.
Serena smiled.
“I’m sure because I’m choosing it.”
That distinction meant everything.
Dante followed her.
The bedroom door closed.
May you like
For the first time in their marriage, not because Serena was hiding behind it.
But because she had invited Dante to stay.
