Chapter 9 - The Bullet Meant for Roarke
Adeline saw it first.
“Roarke!”
He turned.
The gun fired.
Another shot followed almost simultaneously.
Silvio collapsed.
A federal agent had fired.
Roarke remained standing.
For half a second, Adeline believed he had escaped untouched.
Then blood appeared across his abdomen.
He looked down.
And fell.
The world narrowed.
Adeline reached him before anyone else.
“Pressure!” she shouted.
Her hands pressed against the wound.
Roarke's eyes found hers.
“Posy?”
“Safe.”
“Your mother?”
“Safe.”
“Good.”
“Don't you dare.”
His mouth moved faintly.
“Bossy.”
“Roarke!”
Paramedics rushed in.
Adeline rode with him.
At the hospital, surgeons took him away.
She sat beside Eleanor for five hours.
No sleep.
No tears left.
Only waiting.
At 4:36 a.m., the surgeon appeared.
Roarke had survived.
Adeline finally broke.
Weeks followed.
Matteo was charged.
Silvio died from his wounds.
The evidence Eleanor had protected for eleven years dismantled the corrupt network responsible for Antonio Castellano’s death.
But Roarke made another decision.
He began separating himself from everything illegal his father’s empire had become.
Hotels.
Shipping.
Real estate.
Those remained.
The rest would end with him.
Not because Adeline asked.
She never did.
Because nearly dying had forced him to confront a question he had avoided his entire life.
What exactly was power worth if everyone he loved had to fear it?
Months later, Adeline stood outside nursing school again.
Roarke waited beside her.
“I can't do this.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I’m twenty-nine.”
“So?”
“Everyone will be younger.”
“Then you'll be the terrifying older student.”
“I'm not terrifying.”
He raised an eyebrow.
She hit his arm.
“Ow.”
“You were shot six months ago.”
“Exactly.”
“Wrong side.”
“Still insensitive.”
She laughed.
He handed her an envelope.
Adeline narrowed her eyes.
“No.”
“You haven't opened it.”
“I know you.”
“Apparently not.”
Inside was no check.
No tuition payment.
It was a scholarship acceptance letter.
Established by Lucia Castellano.
Awarded through an independent foundation for nursing students who had left school to become family caregivers.
Adeline looked at him.
“You did this.”
“No.”
“Roarke.”
“My grandmother did.”
Lucia's handwritten note was attached.
He tried to pay for it. I told him you would refuse. Men are slow learners.
Adeline laughed until she cried.
Then she enrolled.
Eleanor moved into a small house near the estate.
Recovery was difficult.
Three years of captivity could not disappear because the villains had been arrested.
But slowly, the family learned one another again.
Posy initially followed Eleanor everywhere.
Then she became angry.
Then confused.
Then loving.
Then angry again.
Eleanor accepted every emotion.
Adeline did too.
Roarke never tried to replace what they had lost.
He simply stayed.
One evening, nearly a year after the bathroom floor changed everything, Adeline returned to the Ambrose Hotel.
The penthouse looked exactly as she remembered.
Roarke stood near the window.
“You summoned me?”
“I invited you.”
“Your text said, ‘Come upstairs. Now.’”
“Efficient.”
“Threatening.”
“Effective.”
She entered the bathroom.
A chair sat exactly where he had placed one that first night.
On it rested the old photograph of Posy.
Beside it, the inhaler.
And beside those was a small velvet box.
Adeline froze.
“Roarke.”
He stepped behind her.
“I know you don't accept gifts.”
“Don't.”
“And you don't like debts.”
“Roarke.”
“So I'm proposing a contract.”
She turned.
He was holding the ring.
Her hands covered her mouth.
“Terms are negotiable,” he said.
She began laughing.
“You're unbelievable.”
“One lifetime. Equal partnership. No hidden conditions.”
“And what do you receive?”
“You.”
“That sounds suspiciously one-sided.”
“You haven't heard the benefits package.”
She laughed harder.
Then his expression softened.
“Adeline Vance, will you marry me?”
Her eyes filled.
Before she could answer, the bathroom door opened.
Posy stood there.
Behind her were Lucia and Eleanor.
Posy looked horrified.
“You didn't ask yet?”
“I was asking.”
“Well, hurry up.”
Adeline laughed through tears.
Roarke looked at Posy.
“Do you mind?”
“Yes.”
“Posy!”
“What? He's taking forever.”
Roarke looked back at Adeline.
She knelt in front of him instead.
“Yes.”
For perhaps the first time in his life, Roarke Castellano looked completely stunned.
Adeline kissed him.
Posy cheered.
Lucia announced that the proposal had lacked adequate planning.
Eleanor cried.
And for one extraordinary moment, the bathroom where Adeline had once awakened believing her life was about to collapse became the place where another life began.
But there was still one thing Adeline didn't know.
Something Eleanor had kept from everyone.
May you like
Even Roarke.
And three weeks before the wedding, she finally decided to reveal it.
