Chapter 13 - The Last Visit to Sweet Mercy
They reached Sweet Mercy to find the front door untouched.
No broken glass.
No forced entry.
The alarm had been triggered inside.
Damiano entered first.
Serena followed.
On the counter sat a box.
Inside was the ruby cameo.
Again.
Serena stared at it.
“I am beginning to hate that thing.”
A note lay beneath it.
ONE LAST CONVERSATION.
Carlo stepped from the kitchen.
Older.
Bleeding.
Unarmed.
Damiano raised his gun.
“Stop.”
Carlo did.
Serena looked at him.
“How did you get in?”
“Your mother showed me the hidden door once.”
“Lucia?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, Carlo looked almost human.
Then Serena remembered the dead.
“What do you want?”
“To see what she built.”
He looked around Sweet Mercy.
“Lucia talked about opening a restaurant once.”
“She would have hated you saying that like you knew her dreams.”
Carlo flinched.
Good.
Damiano ordered him to kneel.
Carlo complied.
No fight.
No trap.
“I didn’t escape,” he said.
“What?”
“The transport was attacked.”
“By whom?”
“Hale’s remaining men.”
Victor Hale had decided Carlo might change his mind about protecting certain secrets.
The crash was an attempted execution.
Carlo escaped.
“Why come here?” Serena asked.
“Because this is the one place they wouldn’t expect.”
“Then you’re using me again.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
Carlo looked at Damiano.
“Call the agents.”
Damiano didn’t lower the gun.
“You’re surrendering?”
“I’m tired.”
Serena laughed softly.
“People like you always become tired after everyone else pays the price.”
Carlo looked at her.
“You sound like Lucia.”
“Stop saying that like it gives you access to me.”
He lowered his gaze.
Agents arrived.
Before they took him, Carlo placed the cameo on the counter.
“It was hers.”
Serena didn’t touch it.
“She isn’t here to forgive you.”
“I know.”
“And neither am I.”
Carlo nodded.
For the first time, he seemed to understand that apology did not guarantee absolution.
He was taken away.
The remaining Hale associates were arrested within days.
Victor Hale entered protective custody pending testimony.
Adrian testified against his father.
The legal machine continued.
But Serena’s life finally became quieter.
Then Damiano became strange.
He disappeared for hours.
Took mysterious calls.
Met Mia without Serena.
Marco became terrible at lying.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“You just looked at the ceiling.”
“I look at ceilings.”
“Not when you’re innocent.”
Leo knew too.
Children were worse.
“Uncle Damiano said I can’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Excellent secrecy.”
“Thanks.”
Serena suspected.
But she refused to assume.
One Saturday, Mia asked Serena to cater a small anniversary dinner at the wedding venue.
Serena almost refused.
The bridal suite still carried unpleasant memories.
But Mia insisted.
“Closure.”
Serena agreed.
She arrived wearing a dusty-rose dress Mia had chosen.
“That’s suspiciously formal.”
“Trust me.”
“Your family ruined that phrase.”
Mia laughed.
The bridal suite was filled with white roses.
Exactly like the wedding.
The marble table stood beneath the chandelier.
On it sat Serena’s yellow handbag.
She frowned.
“I left that at home.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Damiano entered.
Black suit.
Open collar.
Same as the day they met.
Serena stared.
“No.”
He smiled.
“What?”
“If this is some weird reenactment where you search my purse again, I’m leaving.”
“Open it.”
She did.
Wallet.
Keys.
Lipstick.
Peppermints.
Emergency sewing kit.
Green dinosaur.
She laughed.
Then she found a small black velvet box.
Her hands stopped.
Damiano stepped closer.
“Serena.”
“Don’t you dare make a speech about the purse.”
“I had a speech.”
“Of course.”
“I’m abandoning it.”
“Growth.”
He took the box.
Then knelt.
Serena covered her mouth.
Damiano looked up.
“The first time I saw you with this bag, I thought trust meant having nothing to hide.”
Her eyes filled.
“You taught me trust means having something vulnerable and believing another person won’t use it against you.”
Serena was crying now.
“You’re getting better at speeches.”
“I practiced.”
“I know.”
“I love you. I love your bakery. I tolerate your terrifying mixers.”
“They can hear you.”
“I love Leo’s dinosaur collection. I love that you tell me when I’m wrong, which is apparently often.”
“Very.”
“And I want every ordinary morning I can get with you.”
He opened the box.
A simple diamond ring.
Not enormous.
Not ostentatious.
Exactly Serena.
“Serena Sinclair, will you marry me?”
She looked around.
Mia crying.
Nathan smiling.
Marco pretending not to.
Elena holding Leo.
Rosa trembling.
Theresa standing near the door.
Family.
Complicated.
Imperfect.
Chosen.
Serena looked back at Damiano.
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“You made me nervous.”
“Good.”
She kissed him.
Leo shouted, “She said yes!”
Everyone laughed.
Later, Serena remembered Lucia’s letter.
For my daughter on her wedding day.
Now there would be one.
She wondered what it contained.
Months passed.
They planned a small wedding.
Serena refused the Vercelli estate.
“No.”
“The venue?”
“No.”
“Hotel?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Sweet Mercy.”
Damiano stared.
“The bakery?”
“It’s where my parents raised me. It’s where I built my life. It’s where you learned not to destroy cookware.”
“Romantic.”
“Deeply.”
The night before the wedding, Serena stayed late.
She placed Lucia’s unopened letter on the counter.
Tomorrow.
She turned off the lights.
A knock came from the front door.
Theresa stood outside.
Serena opened it.
Her aunt looked frightened.
“What happened?”
Theresa handed her another envelope.
“I found this inside Lucia’s papers.”
Serena looked down.
On the front were six words:
READ THIS BEFORE YOU MARRY DAMIANO.
Serena stared at Theresa.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
She broke the seal.
Inside was one page.
Serena read the first line.
Then stopped.
May you like
Because Lucia had written:
If my daughter ever falls in love with Damiano, there is one truth she must know before she becomes his wife.
