Chapter 7 - The Crown of the EmpireThree months later.
The spring sun was brilliant and warm, casting bright gold light across the manicured lawns of a sprawling private estate on the north shore of Long Island.
Inside the grand ballroom, the air smelled of white roses, fresh orchids, and expensive champagne. Elegant string quartet music drifted through the vaulted ceilings, where hundreds of high-society figures, corporate executives, and syndicate leaders mingled in hushed, respectful awe.
I stood before the full-length gilded mirror in the bridal suite, smoothing the heavy layers of custom silk and Chantilly lace cascading down my silhouette. The dress had been flown in from Milan three days ago, tailored to fit me as though it were the only garment I had ever worn.
The door clicked open.
Dante walked in, wearing a bespoke black tuxedo that fit his broad shoulders with lethal precision. He stopped a few feet away, his dark gray eyes softening as they swept over me from head to toe.
“You take my breath away,” he murmured, crossing the room to stand behind me, resting his hands gently on my bare shoulders.
I leaned my head back against his chest, letting out a soft sigh of contentment. “You clean up nicely for a mafia boss.”
“Only for my queen,” Dante whispered, pressing a warm kiss into the crook of my neck.
Downstairs, the empire was secure. Miller’s faction had been permanently neutralized, their assets absorbed into the Rocco network, and federal prosecutors had conveniently lost interest in investigating the Victoria restaurant shootout.
More importantly, Helena was currently attending one of the finest private academies in New York, completely safe, happy, and complaining only about geometry homework instead of overdue rent.
The three-minute voice messages demanding my father's debts were a distant, forgotten nightmare. The Victoria was a chapter of my life I looked back on with mild amusement.
I turned around in Dante’s arms, wrapping my hands around his neck, looking up into the eyes of the man who had turned my world upside down with a single word on a pillow—or rather, a single look across a crowded dining room.
“Are you ready?” Dante asked, a rare, brilliant smile breaking across his angular face.
May you like
I smiled back, my eyes shining with absolute certainty.
“Let’s go claim our kingdom.”
