Chapter 20 - The Untouchable Empire
Later that night, long after the guests had departed and the grand estate had fallen quiet, Marco and Lena walked hand in hand through the moonlit courtyard where so much blood had once been shed.
The rain had washed the stones clean months ago. Now, white roses bloomed along the garden walls, planted by Isabella to mark a new beginning for the family.
Marco stopped by the center fountain, pulling Lena into his arms. He rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he breathed in the scent of jasmine and rain that always lingered on her skin.
"Do you ever regret it?" he asked softly into the quiet night. "Do you ever regret stepping into that hallway eleven months ago?"
Lena wrapped her arms around his neck, looking deep into the dark eyes that had once terrified half the city. She remembered the cold man who had thrown her file onto the marble floor. She remembered the broken man who had wept over her bleeding body in the rain. And she looked at the husband who cherished her beyond life itself.
"Never," Lena whispered. "Because that was the night you saw me."
Marco smiled—the full, breathtaking smile that belonged only to her. He leaned down, capturing her lips in a deep, passionate kiss that sealed their shared destiny.
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He was Marco Duca. He did not scream when men died for him. He did not cry when empires burned.
But as he held his wife under the Chicago stars, the most feared man in the city knew that he would never fall apart again—because the woman who had taken four bullets for his mother had become his armor, his heart, and his eternal empire.
