Chapter 11 - THE ASHES OF AN EMPIRE
Three weeks later, Viktor Morena was arrested by federal marshals in a midnight raid on his docks.
His syndicate was dismantled, its assets seized by federal receivers.
The Sovereign penthouse was repaired, its bullet-riddled walls replaced by gleaming new glass and polished wood.
Yet, despite the peace that settled over the city, I packed my canvas suitcase in the master bedroom.
Daniel stood in the doorway, watching me with quiet agony in his gray eyes.
“You’re leaving?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.
“I need space, Daniel,” I said, folding a sweater and placing it inside the bag.
“You engineered my life from the shadows.”
“You lied about how we met.”
“You brought me into a war zone.”
“I kept you alive!” Daniel stepped forward, his hands trembling.
“You kept me trapped in a web of your family’s ghosts, Daniel!” I turned around, tears spilling over my lashes.
“I was just a surrogate for your dead sister!”
“No!” Daniel shouted, closing the distance and grabbing my shoulders.
“Look at me, Emily!”
“At first, yes—you reminded me of her.”
“But every single day I spent with you, I stopped seeing Sarah.”
“I only saw you.”
“The brilliant, fierce, beautiful woman who saved my life in a restaurant and shot out a chandelier to save it again.”
“I fell in love with you, Emily Carter.”
“Not a ghost.”
I stared into his tortured eyes, seeing the absolute truth burning in his soul.
I didn't pull away.
Instead, I reached up, placing my hand against his cheek.
“Then prove it, Daniel,” I whispered.
“Walk away from the syndicate.”
“Leave the blood behind.”
“Let’s open Maple Street Books together and leave this world in the past.”
Daniel went completely still.
The mafia boss of Boston looked down at his hands—hands that had built an empire on fear and violence.
May you like
Then he slowly nodded.
“Done,” he whispered.
