Chapter 8 - The Wedding Nobody Expected
A year later, Gabriel and Clara married.
Not in a mansion.
Not surrounded by criminals.
They married in a small garden beside the hospital where they had first met.
Doctors attended.
Nurses attended.
Elena cried through the entire ceremony.
Connor stood beside Gabriel.
And Michael slept peacefully in his grandmother's arms.
Gabriel wore a dark suit.
Clara wore a simple ivory dress.
When she walked toward him, Gabriel's expression changed.
He looked like the man she remembered.
Not the feared Mafia boss.
Not the ruthless businessman.
Just Gabriel.
The man who once asked whether he was dying.
The man she told to stop talking.
At the altar, he whispered:
“You still worry more about the floor than me.”
She laughed.
“Someone has to.”
After the ceremony, Gabriel announced something that shocked everyone.
He was donating a significant portion of his fortune to St. Catherine.
A trauma center would be named after Clara.
Not because she was his wife.
Because she had spent years saving strangers.
Gabriel also created a foundation for women and children escaping organized crime.
Clara became its director.
Their life slowly became ordinary.
And ordinary was exactly what she wanted.
But one afternoon, Clara received a letter.
It came from prison.
Daniel.
She opened it.
He apologized.
Not for sympathy.
Not for parole.
He simply apologized.
At the bottom, he wrote:
You were the only innocent person in all of this. I hope one day I become worthy of saying your name without shame.
Clara folded the letter.
She didn't forgive him.
Not yet.
May you like
But she no longer hated him.
That was enough.
