Chapter 9 - THE SECOND PROPOSAL
Six months later, Conrad Voss walked into the Harbor Light Diner carrying flowers.
Rosa nearly dropped a coffee pot.
“No guns?”
“No guns.”
“Bodyguards?”
“Outside.”
“Tell them they’re blocking parking.”
Conrad actually obeyed.
Tessa watched from the counter, laughing.
The Meridian investigation had changed Boston.
Helena awaited trial.
Sebastian had taken a plea agreement.
Daniel was cooperating with federal investigators and rebuilding his relationship with Tessa one cautious phone call at a time.
Vivienne moved to New York.
Marcus retired from security and opened a boxing gym.
And Conrad?
Conrad dismantled the criminal half of the Voss empire.
Not overnight.
Not magically.
But deliberately.
Tessa finished her accounting degree.
Then she started a nonprofit that helped women leaving financially controlling relationships establish independent accounts, housing, and employment.
Conrad offered funding once.
She refused.
He never offered again.
Instead, he donated anonymously.
Tessa discovered it anyway.
Accountants were difficult to fool.
They had not remarried.
They had not even officially resumed dating.
They had dinners.
Walks.
Coffee.
Arguments.
Occasionally, kisses.
Slow ones.
The kind that asked instead of took.
That evening Conrad sat in the booth where Tessa had once served him coffee six years earlier.
“Why flowers?”
“Because apparently arriving with an armored SUV is considered unromantic.”
“Who told you?”
“Everyone.”
She laughed.
He reached into his coat.
Tessa immediately pointed at him.
“Conrad.”
“It’s not a ring.”
He produced a small velvet box.
Inside was the thin silver bracelet.
Restored.
Cleaned.
Still cheap.
Tessa stopped smiling.
“I thought you might want it back.”
She touched it.
“You kept it?”
“I kept everything you gave me.”
“You put it in a drawer.”
“I was an idiot.”
“That’s not a medical defense.”
“No.”
She picked up the bracelet.
“Why didn’t you wear it?”
Conrad looked embarrassed.
A mafia boss.
Embarrassed.
“It didn’t fit.”
Tessa stared.
Then she burst out laughing.
“You could have told me!”
“I was twenty-seven and terrifying.”
“You were ridiculous.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“I had it resized.”
Tessa fastened it around his wrist.
The silver looked almost absurd beside his expensive watch.
Perfect.
Conrad looked down at it.
Then at her.
“I have something else.”
“You said no ring.”
“No ring.”
He handed her a folded document.
She opened it.
A deed.
The Voss mansion.
Transferred into a charitable trust.
Tessa stared.
“What did you do?”
“I’m selling it.”
“Why?”
“It was never our home.”
Her chest tightened.
Conrad continued.
“I bought a smaller place.”
“How small?”
“Four bedrooms.”
“That is not small.”
“For a Voss, it’s practically homelessness.”
She laughed again.
Then his expression became serious.
“I’m not asking you to move in.”
“Good.”
“I’m not asking you to marry me.”
“Also good.”
“I’m asking whether I can keep earning the right to know you.”
Tessa’s eyes burned.
“You already know me.”
“No.”
Conrad shook his head.
“I knew the woman who adapted herself to survive around me.”
That silenced her.
“I want to know the woman who walked away.”
Tessa looked down.
For years she had wanted Conrad to chase her.
Then she had learned something better.
Being chased was not the same as being respected.
She looked at him.
“One date.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“We’ve had approximately forty-three.”
“First date. Starting over.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
“Seriously?”
“You’re paying.”
Conrad smiled.
“Fine.”
Rosa appeared beside them with a check.
“Fourteen dollars and eighty cents.”
Conrad reached for his wallet.
Tessa stopped him.
“Wait.”
She pulled out her own card.
Conrad frowned.
“I thought I was paying.”
“You are.”
She split the check in half.
“Seven-forty each.”
Conrad stared.
Then he laughed.
“All right, Mrs. Marlo.”
“Ms. Marlo.”
“My mistake.”
Outside, they walked through summer rain.
Conrad opened an umbrella.
Tessa stepped beneath it.
Six months earlier, she had walked into rain to escape him.
May you like
Tonight she walked beside him because she chose to.
There was all the difference in the world between those two things.
