I Saved His Daughter And The Mafia Boss Won’t Let Me Leave Chapter 19
A year later, my little restaurant opens.
It’s nothing fancy. Just a cozy spot in Brooklyn with a hand-painted sign over the door.
I call it Five Dollars.
Because that’s how this whole thing started. Me, my last five bucks, and a bowl of mac and cheese for a scared little girl I’d never met.
The line is out the door from day one. Every. Single. Day.
I cook during the day. Classes at night. Homework after that.
Some nights I’m so wiped I fall asleep face-down on the kitchen table.
Roman scoops me up and carries me to bed the first time it happens. I nearly jump out of my skin.
“Your legs JUST healed! Put me down right now before you—”
He holds me tighter. Grins.
“What, you get to carry me and I don’t get to return the favor? That doesn’t seem fair.”
His legs are good now. Really good. No chair. No cane. He walks on his own like it was never even a question. Long days still make him sore, but he never says a word about it.
And Lily?
Lily isn’t afraid of school anymore.
She’s got friends. Real ones. She signed up for the school speech competition — by herself — and took first place.
On award day, she marches right up to that stage, grabs the microphone, and speaks into it like she owns the room.
“I wanna say thank you to my mom and dad.”
“My dad always says it’s okay if you’re slow. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.”
She pauses. Grins. The audience leans in.
“My mom says if your feet totally give out, just chuck your dad over your shoulder and haul him home.”
The entire auditorium loses it. People are howling.
Roman side-eyes me. “That last line. That was you.”
“What? No! I told her it’s okay to lean on the people who love you.”
“…I mean, same difference.”
He shakes his head. But he’s smiling.
In the car on the way home, Lily leans forward between the seats.
“Mommy. Are you still gonna carry Daddy?”
I look at Roman. Walking on his own. Standing tall. Stronger than I’ve ever seen him.
“Probably don’t need to anymore, baby.”
Roman takes my hand. Threads his fingers through mine. Takes his time about it.
“Eh. I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Lily nods like this is a very important matter.
“Mommy can carry a fire extinguisher AND Daddy.”
“She’s the toughest mom in the whole entire world.”
I laugh.
Derek used to tell me I was too much. Too rough. Too loud. Not soft enough. Not pretty enough. Not woman enough.
Roman and Lily showed me something different.
I don’t have to make myself smaller to deserve love.
I never did.
The car pulls up to the house.
Lily hops out first, grabs my hand with one of hers, Roman’s with the other.
She looks up at both of us. That grin so big her eyes almost disappear.
“Mommy. Daddy.”
“Let’s go home.”