Chapter 10 - Happily Ever After in Chicago
Six months later, the front-page headline of the Chicago Tribune wasn't about syndicate bloodbaths or mysterious hotel room executions. It was the society wedding of the decade.
The ceremony took place on a breathtaking private terrace overlooking Lake Michigan under a canopy of white roses and warm amber fairy lights. There were no armed guards in suits lurking behind the pillars—well, none that were obvious, anyway—and Rocco was standing proudly near the altar holding the velvet ring box with hands that looked far too large for delicate ribbon.
I stood before the mirror in the bridal suite, smoothing down the layers of French lace and silk of my wedding gown, my heart overflowing with a peace I never knew existed. The front desk clerk who had handed me the wrong keycard that fateful night had long since retired with a very generous, anonymous severance package, and the Castellani real estate empire was clean, legitimate, and firmly under Luciano’s reformed leadership.
The heavy oak door swung open, and Luciano stepped inside. He wore a sharp black tuxedo that fit his broad shoulders to perfection, his winter-gray eyes softening the instant they landed on me. He stopped dead in his tracks, his breath catching in his throat.
"You look..." He swallowed hard, walking slowly across the room until he stood right in front of me, taking my trembling hands in his. "Words fail me, Mrs. Castellani."
"Good," I smiled, leaning up to press a light kiss to his cheek. "Because for an event planner, silence is the ultimate compliment."
Luciano laughed softly, wrapping his arms securely around my waist and pulling me against his chest, right where I belonged. "Who would have thought," he murmured against my hair, "that a single innocent mistake inside a hotel room could change our lives so completely?"
May you like
"I told you," I whispered, smiling as the strains of wedding music began to drift up from the terrace below. "I'm very good at fixing things."
And as he kissed me—not with the desperation of a man running for his life, but with the quiet, unshakable certainty of a man who had finally found his home—I knew that every wrong turn, every mistaken keycard, and every dangerous night had led me exactly where I was supposed to be.
