Chapter 12 - Not A Maid Anymore
Inside the velvet box was a ring.
It wasn't the gaudy, five-carat diamond he had given Vivian.
It was a delicate, vintage gold band featuring a single, perfect sapphire surrounded by tiny pearls.
“This was my mother’s ring,” Adrian said softly.
I stared at it, my breath catching in my throat. “Adrian… what are you doing?”
He didn't kneel. He just sat beside me, looking at me with total vulnerability. The mafia boss, the feared businessman, stripped down to a man who had finally found something real.
“When Vivian yelled at you to let Evie suffer, you stood your ground,” Adrian said, his voice thick with emotion. “When Hayes threatened us with a gun, you threw a trowel. When the cartel came for us, you fought back. You didn't run. You never ran.”
I looked down at my hands. “I’m just a maid, Adrian. I clean your floors.”
“You saved my family,” Adrian corrected, reaching out to gently tilt my chin up so I had to look at him. “You gave Evie back to me. You helped bring my brother home. You are the strongest woman I have ever met, Sophie Carter.”
My heart hammered against my ribs, not from fear this time, but from something entirely different.
“I don't belong in this world,” I whispered. “The money, the danger, the politics.”
“I’m leaving it,” Adrian said.
I blinked in shock. “What?”
“I’m turning the ledger over to the FBI tomorrow morning,” Adrian stated firmly. “I’m liquidating the restaurants and selling the estate. I’m moving Evie, Leo, and myself to a quiet property upstate. I’m done with my father’s ghosts.”
He picked up the ring from the velvet box.
“I’m not asking you to be my maid anymore, Sophie. I’m asking if you’ll come with us. Not as an employee. But as my partner. My equal. Let me take care of you and your sister, the way you took care of my family.”
Tears pricked my eyes. I thought about the long nights working double shifts, the constant fear of unpaid bills, and the loneliness I had carried for so long.
I looked at the sapphire ring. Then I looked into Adrian’s deep green eyes.
“I don't know how to be a mafia boss’s partner,” I smiled through my tears.
May you like
Adrian laughed, a genuine, warm sound that filled the ruined office.
“Good,” he smiled, sliding the ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly. “Because I don't want to be a boss anymore. I just want to be yours.”
