"He also taught me that family loyalty was paramount. That our bloodline carried weight and responsibility." She paused, her gaze sweeping the congregation. "What he didn't teach me—what I had to learn myself—was that loyalty shouldn't demand silence. That family shouldn't require submission. That power and love aren't mutually exclusive."
I saw several older Moretti captains shift uncomfortably. This wasn't the speech they'd expected.
"My father made choices I didn't always agree with. But he prepared me for this moment, whether he meant to or not." Her eyes found mine across the space, drawing strength. "The Moretti family will continue. Our legacy will endure. But it will evolve. Because the world is changing, and we change with it or we die."
She didn't mention the pregnancy—we'd agreed to keep that private until the second trimester, when the risk of miscarriage dropped. But those who knew (Marco, Angelo, the inner circle) understood the weight behind her words. She wasn't speaking abstractly about legacy. She was carrying it.
She returned to her seat beside me, and I squeezed her hand once. Pride swelled in my chest—not because she'd said what I wanted, but because she'd said what she believed.
After the service ended, I watched Sienna find Isabella still sitting in the front pew, staring at the empty altar. At seventeen, Isabella looked lost in an oversized black dress.
Sienna sat beside her sister, speaking quietly. I couldn't hear the words from where I stood, but I saw Isabella's carefully maintained composure crumble. She threw herself into Sienna's arms, crying against her shoulder.
This was the sister Sienna had fought so hard to protect. The one she'd mentioned countless times with fierce protectiveness. Seeing them together now, I understood why.
After several minutes, Sienna pulled back, gripping Isabella's shoulders and speaking with intensity. Whatever she was saying made Isabella's fearful expression shift to something closer to hope.
Then Isabella's gaze found me across the space. She whispered something to Sienna before standing and walking over, her spine straightening with each step.
"You're Luca," she said, more a statement than a question.
"I am."
She studied me with Sienna's same assessing gaze. "You'll take care of her? And the baby?"
"With my life," I said simply.
Isabella's eyes narrowed. "Good. Because if you hurt her, boarding school or not, I'll find a way to make you pay."
Despite the somber occasion, I felt the corner of my mouth lift. Definitely Sienna's sister. "I believe you would."
Sienna joined us then, squeezing Isabella's hand. "Ready?"
Isabella nodded, holding tight to her sister as we moved toward the reception.
Watching them together, I understood something fundamental about Sienna's choices. Everything she'd done—agreeing to marry me, staying when she could have run, stepping into leadership—had been to protect this girl. To give Isabella the choice Sienna never had.
And I'd make damn sure she never regretted trusting me with that.
After Isabella and I rejoined the others, both families gathered at the Moretti estate for the reception. This was where the real work would begin—not mourning, but maneuvering. Every captain, every lieutenant, every soldier assessing the power vacuum and deciding where their loyalty would fall.
The meeting was held in Don Moretti's study—now Sienna's study, though many of the men gathered didn't seem to realize that yet.
Marco and I stood flanking Sienna as she sat behind her father's massive oak desk. Fifteen Moretti captains filled the room, along with five Romano lieutenants. The air was thick with tension and poorly concealed skepticism.
Vito Caruso, her father's oldest friend and most loyal soldier, spoke first. "With respect, Mrs. Romano, this family has never been led by a woman. Don Moretti's will specified—"
"Specified that control passes to me as his eldest child," Sienna interrupted smoothly. "Or, if I'm married, to my husband as proxy until male heirs come of age. I'm aware of the terms, Vito. I was there when he dictated them."
"Then Luca Romano controls the Moretti empire," another captain said, his tone making it clear what he thought of that arrangement.
"No," Sienna said firmly. "Luca and I lead together. The Romano-Moretti alliance isn't an absorption—it's a merger. Two families, equal power, unified purpose."
"That's not how it works—" someone started.
"That's exactly how it works now," I cut in, my voice carrying the weight of absolute authority. "Unless you'd prefer to challenge it. In which case, we can settle this the old way."
The room went silent. Everyone understood what "the old way" meant.
