Chapter 6: The Shadows of the Past and the Final Reckoning
Dante reached out, his warm fingers gently tracing my cheekbone, his touch sending a warm, electric thrill straight down my spine. Before he could speak, the heavy glass doors behind us slid open, and my brother David—who had rushed home from his fellowship overseas the moment he heard about the cathedral incident—walked out onto the terrace, accompanied by a federal marshal. David looked tired but deeply relieved, holding a thick manila envelope. "Victoria, Dante," David greeted us respectfully, nodding to Moretti. "I just came from the federal courthouse downtown. Nathan’s plea deal was just finalized. He tried to pin the entire dress-slashing conspiracy on his mother and Veronica, but the digital forensics team recovered the encrypted text messages between him and Veronica from his phone. He approved the plan three days before the wedding to ensure he could inherit your grandfather’s trust fund without a messy divorce settlement." David handed the envelope to Dante, who accepted it calmly and slipped it into his jacket pocket without even opening it.
"What happens to him now, David?" I asked softly. "Ten years in a federal penitentiary upstate," David replied grimly. "And because of the civil asset forfeiture judgments, every single dollar of his personal accounts has been stripped to pay restitution to the victims of his corporate frauds. He’s going to prison a penniless nobody." I felt a strange sense of closure wash over my spirit. There was no anger left, no desire for revenge—just the pure, clean satisfaction of absolute justice. Nathan was a ghost of a nightmare I had finally woken up from. David smiled warmly, kissing my forehead. "I’m going back inside to grab some dessert, but I'm so proud of you, sis. You survived the worst of them." As David walked back into the ballroom, leaving Dante and me alone under the starlit Manhattan sky, Dante turned his full body toward me, resting both hands gently on my waist. "The past is buried, Victoria," Dante whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "And your future... belongs to us."
