"That was strategy. Politics." I took her hand, the ring poised at her finger. "This is real. This is me choosing you, not because of empires or alliances, but because I can't imagine my life without you."
A tear slid down her cheek. "Yes," she breathed. "Yes."
I slid the ring onto her finger—a perfect fit, as if it had been waiting for her all along. Then I kissed her, pouring eight years of loneliness and three months of falling into that single moment.
When we finally broke apart, she was crying and smiling simultaneously.
"Don't die tonight," she said fiercely. "You don't get to finally choose me and then die."
"I don't plan to." I wiped away her tears with my thumbs. "I plan to end this, come back to you, and spend the rest of my life proving I made the right choice."
My phone buzzed. Marco:Phase one complete. All pieces in position. Francesco made contact—Giuseppe is mobilizing.
I showed Sienna the message. "It's starting."
She gripped my hand, my mother's ring glinting in the dim light. "Then finish it. And come back to me."
"Always," I promised.
One more kiss, fierce and desperate, then I forced myself to leave. Angelo would keep her safe while I dealt with the threats.
As I rode the elevator up to street level, my phone buzzed again. Marco:Giuseppe's team moving toward Queens. ETA thirty minutes. Ricci's people en route to docks. It's working.
The trap was sprung. Now came the hard part.
I climbed into my car, checking my weapons one last time. Twenty men positioned strategically. Giuseppe walking into an ambush. Ricci following his greed straight into our crosshairs.
By dawn, this would be over. One way or another.
I thought of Sienna waiting below, my mother's ring on her finger, carrying our child. The family I'd never thought I'd have. The future I'd never let myself want.
My father had taught me that power was everything. That sentiment was weakness.
He'd been wrong.
As I drove toward the docks where Ricci's people were gathering, I felt no doubt. No hesitation.
I'd made my choice. And I'd burn the whole city down before I let anyone take her from me.
The war ended tonight.
CHAPTER 16
Sienna
The underground apartment had never felt so much like a tomb.
I paced the living room for the hundredth time, my fingers unconsciously twisting Luca's mother's ring—still warm from when he'd slid it onto my finger an hour ago. The diamond caught the artificial light from the screens, throwing tiny rainbows across the walls that felt obscenely cheerful given the circumstances.
I choose you.
His words echoed in my mind, along with the fierce intensity in his eyes when he'd said them. For the first time since our forced marriage, Luca Romano had chosen me not because of strategy or political advantage, but because he couldn't imagine his life without me.
And now he was out there, executing some elaborate plan to end Giuseppe and Ricci permanently. A plan that could get him killed.
"Mrs. Romano, you should sit down." Angelo's voice was gentle but firm from his position by the security monitors. "The stress isn't good for the baby."
I pressed my hand to my stomach—nine weeks pregnant, though still not showing. "I can't just sit here doing nothing while he's—" My voice cracked. "What if something goes wrong?"
