He Chose Another Heir Now He Wants Me Back Chapter 53
I grew up in Boston. I left for six years, and then I came back.
This time, I wasn’t running.
I had brought back my own career, my own name, my own choices. I had brought my mother back from the other side of the operating room doors.
The guardianship paperwork for Ray’s daughter was handled by lawyers. Until everything was finalized, she was placed in a neutral residence. Both the Morettis and the De Lucas received the same directive: no one was to touch her over Ray’s old debts.
As for Luca and Ophelia, I didn’t ask about them again.
Luca surrendering his inheritance was repayment for his mistake, not a bargaining chip to win me back. Whatever Ophelia had to face was a road she had to walk alone.
Half a month later, my mother was discharged.
Dante came to pick us up. The back seat was padded with cushions, and there were sandwiches and hot coffee on the passenger seat.
He secured my mother’s wheelchair, then opened the car door for me.
“Made up your mind?” he asked.
“I have.”
“Still leaving?”
I fastened my seat belt and looked at my mother in the rearview mirror.
She was leaning against a soft pillow, a hint of color finally back in her face. Her eyes went past my shoulder to Dante, then returned to me with a slight nod.
I looked forward.
“Let’s go.”
The car pulled away from the hospital and drove through the city, bathed in autumn sunlight.
My Paris license was mine. My partnership at the firm was mine. My mother’s future no longer depended on an engagement contract, and I no longer needed to take another man’s name to escape the old order.
The gardenia at my collar slowly warmed against my skin.
The magnolia at the old house would bloom again next year. When my mother was well, I would bring her back to see it. By then, I could walk through the De Luca family’s doors—or leave again, whenever I wished.
Because this time, I was choosing the road myself.
Just as the car pulled onto the bridge, the lawyer handling Ray’s guardianship called.
“The account Corrigan left for his daughter has been frozen at the De Luca family’s request on the grounds of an old debt. The girl is also refusing to sign the guardianship confirmation. She’ll only see you.”
I looked at the road ahead, bright with sunlight.
“Tell her I’m on my way.”