"But you didn't leave."
"That’s only because of Bael. He had Rome drag me into a car before I could get down the street."
"No." I pulled her hand just a fraction closer, forcing her to look at me. "I think you would have changed your mind anyway."
She wiped her face with her free hand, a watery, self-deprecating laugh escaping her. "You got a lot of faith in me."
"Maybe." I shifted slightly in the bed, suppressing a wince. "Or maybe I’m just going by what I already know. You stayed before, Jamie. You nursed me back to health when you could have run. I'm just betting on that girl."
She looked at me, the walls around her heart visibly crumbling. I stared right back.
"Give me thirty or forty years," I murmured.
"Thirty or forty years?"
"Yes. Maybe fifty. If you still want to run away after that, I swear I won't stop you.”
“I love you,” she whispered, the confession tearing out of her like a secret she couldn't keep anymore. “I hate how much I love you, Vinny, because it feels too soon... and it feels like I’m stealing something meant for another woman. But I do.”
The words hit me with a force far greater than any bullet ever could. I reached up, cupping the back of her neck, and pulled her down to me. I kissed her—deep, heavy, and possessing—pouring every ounce of the life I had left into her mouth. When we finally pulled apart, her eyes were shining in the dim light of the safehouse.
The shadows were entirely gone.
“No more Sophia between us. No more running,” I said firmly, my thumb wiping a tear from her cheek. “You told me once not to live in the past. So you have to stop doing it, too.”
She nodded, a real, beautiful smile breaking through her defenses.
Carefully, she shifted and crawled onto the bed, curling her body up beside mine. She rested her head gently against my chest, one hand laying flat directly over my heart, as if she needed the physical proof of it beating beneath her palms. I wrapped my arm securely around her shoulders, holding her tight against my side.
We lay there together in the quiet room, letting the heavy emotions of everything we’d endured finally settle into the floorboards.
Outside these walls, the world was still a dangerous, unpredictable place. Her family was still corrupt, my past was still blood-soaked, and the streets didn't care about either of us. None of that had disappeared.
But in here, with her breath warm against my skin, I finally had something worth fighting for.
Something worth living for.
Epilogue
The sun was setting over the water, painting the sky in deep oranges and purples.
I stood at the makeshift altar in a black shirt and slacks, no tie, no suit. The tie would have felt too much like the old life. Bael stood to my right, arms crossed, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but still showed up. Moses and a couple of his guys lingered near the back, trying and failing to look respectful.
My hands were sweating. I hadn't been this nervous since the night I killed Vito Bellamy's son.
Then the music started — something that Jamie picked out, soft, acoustic, nothing traditional.
She stepped into view. She wore a simple white dress that hugged her curves and flowed around her thick thighs. No veil. Just her shaved head glowing under the golden light and that dangerous, beautiful smirk on her face.
She looked like the kind of peace men start wars trying to keep.
When she reached me, she took my hands without hesitation. Her palms were warm. Steady.
The officiant started speaking, but I barely heard a word. All I could see was her.
We said our vows.
I went first.
