He Chose the Mafia Princess, So I Chose Her Father Chapter 10
Roman lost the Bellini succession three days later.
His father named a cousin as heir and sent Roman to
manage a warehouse in Milwaukee.
Arianna was charged with conspiracy, unlawful restraint, and arranging the attempted assault.
Corrado refused to make the case disappear.
Chicago understood the message.
Being born a Carbone did not protect you from betraying one.
Roman came to St. Catherine’s Hospital before he left the city.
He waited outside my mother’s treatment room with
the watch I had bought him still inside its small box.
One of the hotel staff must have found it after the
engagement party.
“I should have chosen you,” he said.
“You should have respected me. That came before
choosing.”
“I can fix this.”
The old promise,
Repair later.
“No, Roman. You regret losing Corrado’s support. You regret losing the position. You regret that the woman
you hid became someone he would defend in public.”
“I regret losing you.”
“Then live with it.”
I took the gift box from him and placed it in a trash can.
Not dramatically.
Not angrily.
I simply no longer needed it.
My mother completed her first treatment cycle that
spring. The employee insurance covered most of it. My salary covered the rest.
Corrado never called either one a gift.
He also did not ask me to move into his bedroom.
For six months, he did something much harder for a man accustomed to owning every room he entered.
He waited.
He took me to dinner where people could see us.
He attended my research presentation and sat in the
back row so the attention remained on me.
When he wanted to kiss me, he asked.
When I said no, he stopped.
When I said yes, he made me remember the hotel
suite, the rain, and every reason waiting had cost him sleep.
Felix improved slowly.
Some days he spoke for an hour. Some days he wanted
silence. We stopped measuring success by how normal strangers thought he looked.
At the end of the university year, I accepted a
permanent position directing a Carbone–funded sensory learning program.
The contract placed the program under an independent board.
That clause had been mine.
Corrado signed without changing a word.
The family held its summer dinner at the Palazzo Carbone.
The last time I had entered that ballroom, I had worn red for Roman.
This time, I wore black for myself.
Corrado stood at the head of the room. Felix sat beside
him, arranging four breadsticks into a perfect square.
One chair remained empty on Corrado’s right.
Every person in the ballroom knew who it was for.
Corrado did not send a guard to collect me.
He did not call my name.
He simply looked at me and waited.
The first man I loved had hidden me because he believed power mattered more than I did.
The second man had enough power to take anything he wanted.
But he left the choice in my hands.
I crossed the ballroom.
Felix smiled when I sat down.
Corrado touched the back of my hand.
“Are you sure?” he asked quietly,
I turned my palm over and threaded my fingers through his.
“Yes.”
Across the city, Roman Bellini could regret me for the rest of his life.
I was done living inside his mistakes.
For the first time, I was not anyone’s secret.