The words hit harder than Giovanni's condemnation. "Proud?"
"So proud." She cups my face more firmly. "You chose love over power. That takes more courage than anything your father has ever done."
Her hands drop to straighten my collar. "Go home to your wife. Be happy. That is all I have ever wanted for you."
"Will you be okay?"
"I have been okay for thirty years. I will be okay for thirty more." She touches my cheek. "You do not need to worry about me."
"Come visit when the baby is born. I want my child to know their grandmother."
"Nothing could keep me away." She pulls me into a hug, and I hold tight, breathing in her familiar rose perfume. "I love you, Mama."
"I love you too, mio figlio. Now go. Your family is waiting."
Gabriel, Luca, and Rosalina are waiting in the living room when I get home. They are on their feet the moment I step inside.
"Well?" Gabriel asks, his voice carefully controlled.
"I am officially no longer the heir to the Salvatore empire," I say, and the words taste like freedom. "My father disowned me. Cut me off. Told me I was weak and would fail."
Rosalina reaches me first, her hands framing my face, eyes searching. "Dante—are you okay?"
"I am fine." I catch her hands in mine. "Better than fine. I am free."
"Free," Luca repeats, testing the word.
"Free," I confirm. "From expectations. From the organization. From spending my entire life trying to earn approval from a man who will never give it."
I look at each of them—Gabriel who has been my brother in everything but name, Luca who has never asked me to be anything but myself, Rosalina who turned my world upside down in the best way possible.
"I chose you," I say, voice rough with emotion. "All of you. And I do not regret it."
Gabriel's hand settles on my shoulder. "What about money? Protection?"
"We will figure it out. I have savings. We have skills." I grin. "Worst case, we become the most overqualified security consultants in New York."
Luca laughs, bright and slightly hysterical. "Security consultants. Former mafia heir and associates offer tactical expertise. We will have clients lining up."
"We could go legitimate," Gabriel muses. "Build something legal. Sustainable."
"Something ours," Rosalina adds, eyes bright with tears. "Not your father's. Not the mafia's. Just ours."
I pull her against me, my hands settling on her stomach. "Ours. A life we choose. A family we build. No legacy to live up to. Just us."
"And two babies," Luca adds, grinning. "Do not forget Erin is pregnant too."
"Two babies that will grow up safe," I say firmly. "Without violence. Without politics. Without any of the poison that infected my childhood. They will know they are loved. They will never doubt they are enough."
My voice cracks, and I do not try to hide it. Gabriel's hand tightens on my shoulder.
"That is worth fighting for," he says quietly.
"Then it is settled," Luca declares. "We are officially retired from the mafia life. Reformed criminals opening a security consulting business."
"We have twenty combined years of tactical experience," Gabriel points out. "And terrifying reputations."
Rosalina turns in my arms, her hands framing my face. "You did the right thing, Dante. The brave thing."
