Chapter 7 - Breaking the Chains
The purge of Paulie's remaining network took less than forty-eight hours.
With Paulie gone and the capos firmly back under Massimo's absolute control, the Pascale family wiped out every Valenti asset within fifty miles of Boston. The war was over before the public even knew it had begun.
Back at the estate, the atmosphere was no longer cold or empty.
The heavy iron gates remained, but inside, the stone mansion was filled with light, music, and life.
Massimo spent his mornings working in his study—standing at his desk—and his afternoons in the gym with me, pushing his recovery from basic walking to athletic agility.
By November, he was walking completely unassisted, with only a minor limp in his right leg that was rapidly disappearing.
One evening, I was sitting at the library desk, typing up the final research paper for my doctoral thesis.
A sleek white envelope slid across my keyboard.
I looked up. Massimo stood beside me, dressed in a simple black sweater, holding a glass of red wine.
"What's this?" I asked, opening the envelope.
Inside was a cashier's check made out to Boston University for $150,000—covering my entire remaining tuition, my doctoral graduation fees, and a full research grant for neurological rehabilitation.
I stared at the numbers, my mouth open. "Massimo... this is way more than $50,000."
"The fifty thousand was for a nurse," Massimo said softly, pulling a chair close and sitting beside me. "The grant is for the brilliant doctor who gave me my life back."
Tears sprang to my eyes. "Massimo, I can't accept this—"
"You will accept it," he said firmly, catching my chin in his warm fingers, kissing my lips gently. "Because you earned every penny. And because I want my wife to have everything she deserves."
I froze. "Your... your what?"
Massimo smiled—a genuine, breath-taking smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box. Inside sat a magnificent, flawless oval-cut diamond ring surrounded by a band of micro-emeralds.
"Tessa Fitzgerald," Massimo said, his voice deep and thick with emotion as he looked into my eyes. "I hired you to teach me how to walk again. But you taught me how to feel, how to trust, and how to live. I don't want an empire without you."
He took the ring out of the box.
"Will you marry me?"
May you like
I didn't answer with words. I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him down into a passionate, crying, laughing kiss.
"Yes!" I sobbed against his mouth. "Yes, Massimo! A thousand times yes!"
