I Saved His Daughter And The Mafia Boss Won’t Let Me Leave Chapter 18
A few months later, the verdicts come down.
Victoria goes to prison. Kidnapping. Forgery. Fraud. Attempted murder. They throw the book at her and every single charge sticks.
The cops crack the old case wide open too. That time three years ago when Lily “disappeared”? Victoria staged the whole thing. Her family was broke and she needed cash, so she used her own kid as a ransom scheme. Every last detail comes out in court.
Derek doesn’t walk either. He drove the getaway car. He helped fake the court documents. He held the door while they dragged a screaming little girl out of her school.
They’re putting him in cuffs when he twists around and screams at me.
“Sera! I did all of this for you! Everything — it was all to get you back!”
I look at him. Really look at him. Probably for the last time.
“You never loved me, Derek.”
“You just can’t handle it. The woman you walked all over is doing better without you.”
Bianca hears Derek’s going down and cleans out whatever’s left in his accounts. Vanishes overnight. Doesn’t even leave a note.
That company he inherited from his mother? Tanks. Bad management, tax problems, the whole thing folds in on itself.
Sandra cooperates. Hands over everything she’s got on Victoria. Keeps herself out of prison. Barely. But Brennan Construction is toast, and the school bans her for life. She can’t set foot on that campus ever again.
The night before the wedding, Roman gives me two things.
First — a brand-new food truck. It looks like the one Derek destroyed, but bigger. Shinier. Everything I always wished the old one could be.
Second — a GED enrollment form. My name’s already on it. They’re holding a spot for me.
But whether I go or not? That’s my call.
I stare at him. My throat closes up.
“You… you actually remembered that?”
“Of course I remembered. You told me you always wished you could’ve kept going to school.”
He takes my hand.
“Everything you missed out on before — you can have it now.”
“The truck. A restaurant. School. Whatever you wanna do, Sera. You do it.”
I can’t talk. My eyes are burning too bad.
On the day of the wedding, Roman doesn’t use the wheelchair.
He doesn’t even bring the cane.
He stands at the end of the aisle and walks toward me. One step at a time.
Lily’s out in front of him in a little white dress, tossing flower petals everywhere, grinning so big her face might split.
By the time he reaches me, his forehead is covered in sweat. His legs are trembling.
I reach for him.
He shakes his head. Smiles.
“This time, let me come to you.”
When it’s time for the vows, Lily takes the mic.
This little girl. The one they called a mute. The one who couldn’t say her own name without shaking. She stands up in front of every single person in that room.
“I used to be really scared.”
“Scared Daddy would send me away. Scared Mommy would leave.”
“But now I know.”
She looks at us. Her eyes are crescent moons.
“Real family — even if you get lost from each other — will always fight their way back.”
Roman tips my chin up and kisses me.
The room erupts.
Lily slaps both hands over her eyes.
Her fingers are spread wide open. She’s peeking through every single gap.