Chapter 13 - The Reckoning at the Bellini EstateHe took my hand and led me down the grand staircase.
As we reached the top of the stairs, the music stopped.
The conversations ceased.
Two hundred men and women turned their faces upward.
The captains of the Moretti family raised their crystal glasses.
Luca raised his hand, commanding complete silence.
“Tonight, we celebrate survival,” Luca projected his voice across the great hall. “We celebrate loyalty. And we celebrate the future.”
He looked down at me, his eyes full of pride.
“Three weeks ago, an enemy tried to strike this family from within. They thought they could tear us down with poison and deceit.”
He gently pulled me forward so that I stood at his side.
“This woman, Emma Reed, stood between death and my sister. She stood between death and me.”
A murmur of deep respect rippled through the gathered crowd.
Antonio raised his glass high from the kitchen doorway, tears of pride in his eyes.
“From this day forward,” Luca declared, his voice echoing off the high vaulted ceilings, “Emma Reed is under the eternal protection of the Moretti name. To respect her is to respect me. To touch her is to wage war against the entire family.”
A thunderous cheer erupted from the room.
Applause echoed like rolling thunder.
Sienna stood at the front of the crowd, clapping with a radiant smile on her face.
Luca turned to face me completely.
The crowd’s cheers slowly died down as they realized what was about to happen.
Luca reached into his tuxedo jacket.
He pulled out a small black velvet box.
My heart began to hammer against my ribs.
“Luca...” I whispered, my hands flying to my mouth.
The ruthless Don of Chicago—a man who had never knelt before any king, law, or rival—lowered himself onto one knee before me.
Gasps of awe swept through the grand hall.
Luca opened the velvet box.
Inside sat a breathtaking, flawless emerald-cut diamond ring, surrounded by a halo of smaller stones that shimmered like stars.
“Emma Reed,” Luca spoke, his voice trembling slightly with pure emotion. “You brought honor and light into a house of shadows. You saved my life, but more than that, you showed me what it truly means to live.”
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He looked up into my eyes with everything he had.
“Will you do me the ultimate honor of becoming my wife?”
