The Underboss Voted No So I Chose A New Life Chapter 20
Hadrian stayed in New York.
He left all the private group chats and stepped down as the Bellini family’s underboss.
The boss gave the ring to another candidate. Hadrian was reassigned to manage a legitimate hotel, a business unrelated to the Family’s core operations. The men who had once waited for his word at the long table now only gave him polite nods when they saw him.
Every Friday after work, he went to the station and sat for a while.
Fewer and fewer paper tickets came out of the machines, but he started keeping every one he got.
He flew the New York–Austin route thirteen times.
Sometimes he stood across from my office building. Sometimes he watched me interviewing people from a distance at the old station.
He never approached me again. He only left breakfast at the reception desk.
The first time, I had it sent back.
The second time, too.
After that, he stopped bringing it.
The fourteenth time, he stood at the gate for a long time but never boarded.
The ticket in his hand expired.
He put it into the tin box, the back blank, nothing written on it.
That spring, I went to New York on a business trip.
Passing city hall, I saw a couple at the entrance taking wedding photos.
The man wore a pale blue shirt. The woman wore a white dress.
I watched for a moment, then kept walking.
Hadrian was standing across the street.
He had grown much thinner. The watch was gone from his wrist, and the underboss ring was gone from his hand.
When he saw me, he took two unconscious steps forward, then stopped.
“Mireille.”
“Long time no see.”
Polite, like two old acquaintances who had only met a few times.
He asked, “How long are you here?”
“Two days.”
“Do you have time for dinner?”
“My schedule’s full.”
“Then next time.”
I didn’t answer.
The light changed, and the crowd moved forward.
As we passed each other, he said quietly, “That vote in your favor—I’ve owed you that for a long time.”
I paused for one second.
“It’s not that you owed it to me.”