Chapter 7 - The Last Funeral
Adrian returned to his own grave carrying a gun.
Elena walked beside him.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“We discussed this.”
“Apparently not enough.”
They entered the cemetery together.
Luca stood beside Adrian's marble headstone.
Thomas Marlowe waited near the mausoleum.
Two men who had manipulated their lives.
Two men who believed love was weakness.
Thomas smiled.
“Elena.”
She ignored him.
Luca looked at Adrian.
“Brother.”
“End this.”
“I intend to.”
Luca wanted escape.
Thomas wanted revenge.
Neither trusted the other.
That was their weakness.
Adrian knew it immediately.
“You're going to betray him,” Adrian told Thomas.
Luca turned.
Thomas's expression shifted.
Adrian continued.
“The Crown is gone. Luca knows too much.”
“Shut up.”
Luca aimed at Thomas.
Thomas aimed at Luca.
Elena almost laughed.
“After everything you've done, neither of you can trust anyone.”
Thomas looked at her.
“I did this for you.”
“No.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You did it because control made you feel powerful.”
Thomas lowered his weapon slightly.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
Her voice stayed calm.
“You let your daughter believe you were dead.”
Thomas looked wounded.
“You chose Adrian.”
Elena shook her head.
“This isn't about choosing him.”
She looked at her father.
“I'm choosing myself.”
Sirens approached.
Thomas heard them.
His expression changed.
Adrian had expected him to run.
Instead Thomas raised his gun toward Elena.
Luca moved first.
He struck Thomas's arm.
The shot went wide.
Adrian tackled Luca.
Federal agents flooded the cemetery.
Thomas was arrested.
Luca lay beneath Adrian.
The brothers stared at each other.
“Why?” Adrian asked.
Luca looked toward Elena.
“Because some things shouldn't happen twice.”
Adrian understood.
Luca had watched their father destroy them.
He had become monstrous.
But somewhere beneath everything remained the younger brother Adrian remembered.
Luca surrendered.
No heroic escape.
No final bullet.
Just handcuffs.
As officers led him away, Luca stopped.
“Adrian.”
Adrian looked at him.
“I'm sorry.”
Adrian didn't forgive him.
Not then.
Maybe not ever.
But he nodded.
Sometimes that was all two broken brothers could offer.
Thomas received life imprisonment after the Crown evidence produced dozens of convictions.
Luca accepted a plea agreement requiring decades in prison in exchange for testimony.
Daniel entered a federal protection program.
Marco remained beside Adrian, although rebuilding trust took time.
And Adrian?
Adrian did something nobody expected.
He dismantled the Moretti criminal organization.
Not overnight.
Not magically.
He sold legitimate businesses to employees.
He closed illegal operations.
He gave evidence against men who refused to leave.
It cost him money.
Power.
Influence.
He didn't care.
One evening Elena found him standing inside his empty office.
“You're really doing it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Because I spent my entire life becoming someone nobody could hurt.”
He approached.
“Then I discovered the person I loved most was hurt because of who I'd become.”
Elena touched his cheek.
“You're not doing this for me.”
“No.”
“Good.”
He smiled.
“I learned that lesson.”
“You're doing it because you want another life.”
“Yes.”
“With me?”
“If you'll have me.”
Elena considered him dramatically.
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“You're enjoying this.”
“Very much.”
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
His expression changed.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
Six months later, Adrian returned to Saint Gabriel Cemetery.
The grave was gone.
He had ordered it removed.
There was something disturbing about owning a grave while still breathing.
Elena stood beside him.
She wore a simple blue dress.
No tears.
No wedding gown.
No white roses.
Adrian looked at the empty space.
“I spent eleven months hiding behind those mausoleums.”
Elena took his hand.
“And approximately twenty minutes watching me humiliate myself.”
“You were not humiliating yourself.”
“I told your grave I loved you.”
“I enjoyed that part.”
She hit his arm.
Adrian smiled.
They walked through the cemetery.
At the gate, he stopped.
“Elena.”
She turned.
Adrian reached into his pocket.
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Here?”
“You said dramatic proposals were manipulative.”
“This is worse.”
“I know.”
He lowered himself onto one knee.
Elena covered her mouth.
Adrian held a small ring.
No Moretti diamonds.
No family heirloom.
Something new.
“Elena Marlowe, I already wasted almost a year pretending to be dead.”
She laughed through sudden tears.
“I'd prefer not to waste another minute pretending I can live without you.”
“Adrian—”
“I love you.”
Her smile disappeared.
Those words mattered.
Adrian Moretti had never said them easily.
“I loved you when I was stupid enough to believe leaving would protect you. I loved you when you were standing at my grave. I loved you when you slapped me.”
“You deserved that.”
“I absolutely deserved that.”
She laughed again.
“I love you now. And if you'll let me, I'd like to spend the rest of my very much alive life proving it.”
Elena looked at him.
“Yes.”
Adrian blinked.
“That quickly?”
“Don't ruin it.”
He stood.
She kissed him.
A year later, Elena walked toward Adrian again in a wedding dress.
This time she didn't run.
Her mother sat in the front row.
Marco stood beside Adrian.
There were no hidden gunmen.
No criminal alliances.
No secret fathers.
No fake deaths.
Daniel sent a short letter wishing them happiness.
Luca sent one too.
Adrian read it alone.
Take care of her.
And try staying alive this time.
Adrian kept the letter.
Elena reached him.
“You're smiling.”
“Luca.”
“Good smile or bad smile?”
“Complicated.”
“That family specialty.”
Adrian took her hands.
The ceremony was small.
The vows were simpler than either expected.
When Adrian said, “Until death do us part,” Elena raised one eyebrow.
Guests laughed.
Adrian sighed.
“I knew that line would be a problem.”
Elena whispered, “No faking it.”
“No faking it.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
They kissed.
Three years later, Elena returned to Saint Gabriel Cemetery.
Not to mourn Adrian.
He was beside her carrying their two-year-old daughter, Sofia, who was attempting to steal his sunglasses.
“Those are mine,” Adrian told her.
Sofia laughed.
Elena watched them.
The cemetery no longer frightened her.
Her father's lies had ended there.
Luca's war had ended there.
Adrian's false grave had once stood there.
But graves were markers for what had ended.
Their life had begun afterward.
Adrian walked toward Elena with Sofia in his arms.
“She stole my glasses.”
“You're a former mafia boss. Handle it.”
“I've negotiated with armed men who were more reasonable.”
Sofia placed the sunglasses crookedly on her tiny face.
Elena laughed.
Adrian stopped.
That sound.
The same sound he'd once feared he would never hear again.
He kissed Elena's forehead.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“You're staring again.”
“I know.”
Elena leaned against him.
Sofia reached between them and grabbed both their faces.
Adrian laughed.
Once, Elena had knelt in this cemetery believing the man she loved was beneath the earth.
Once, Adrian had watched from the shadows believing loving her meant staying hidden.
They had both been wrong.
Love hadn't saved them because it made danger disappear.
It saved them because eventually it made them stop hiding.
Elena slipped her hand into Adrian's.
“Ready to go home?”
Adrian looked at her.
Then at their daughter.
For most of his life, home had meant guarded gates, locked doors and men carrying guns.
Now it meant this.
“Yes,” he said.
Together, they walked out of the cemetery.
May you like
And this time, Adrian Moretti didn't remain behind in the shadows.
THE END
