Chapter 9 - Spring on the CoastSix months later, the snow had melted away, replaced by the brilliant, golden sunlight of a warm May afternoon.
The black iron gates of the Chicago mansion were locked behind us for the last time. We didn't need the fortress anymore. The Commission had been dismantled, the old bosses were retired in Florida or Europe, and the Moretti syndicate had transitioned entirely into a legitimate, international shipping and logistics corporation headquartered in downtown Chicago.
We were standing on the wide wooden wrap-around porch of a sprawling shingle-style house perched on a high granite bluff overlooking the rocky Atlantic coast in Maine.
The air smelled of salt water, pine trees, and wild roses.
Lily was down on the beach below, running across the golden sand with a golden retriever puppy, her laughter carrying up on the ocean breeze like music.
I stood by the porch railing, holding a cup of coffee, watching her run.
A pair of strong, familiar arms wrapped around my waist from behind, and a warm chin rested gently on my shoulder.
“She looks happy,” Luca murmured, his breath warm against my neck.
“She is happy,” I smiled, leaning back against his chest. “No uniforms. No bodyguards hiding in the hedges. Just school, beach days, and ice cream.”
Luca turned me around in his arms, his dark eyes looking down at me with an intensity that made my heart skip a beat—just like it did the first time he handed me that check across the dining table.
“And you?” Luca asked quietly, his hand coming up to gently tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Are you happy, Claire?”
I reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck, looking into the eyes of the man who had burned down an empire just to keep his daughter—and me—safe.
“I think,” I smiled softly, “this is the best job I’ve ever had.”
Luca let out a low, rich laugh, pulling me tight against him as the ocean waves crashed against the granite cliffs below.
The past was gone. The shadows of the Chicago underworld were a million miles away.
We weren't the boss and the maid anymore.
May you like
We were a family.
And as the afternoon sun flooded the New England coast with golden light, I knew that the hardest part of our story was finally over—and our real life had just begun.
