Chapter 15 - The Choice Between a Throne and a Family
Sentencing was scheduled for early spring.
Until then, Matteo remained free under strict conditions.
His empire continued dissolving.
Warehouses sold.
Front companies closed.
Accounts were surrendered.
Men who wanted legitimate lives were assisted in finding them.
Others disappeared into organizations Matteo no longer controlled.
Arthur resigned from security work.
Matteo stared at him.
“You’re leaving?”
Arthur shrugged.
“I’m forty-six.”
“So?”
“I’m tired.”
“Of me?”
“Mostly.”
Matteo smiled.
Arthur continued.
“I have a brother in Colorado. Owns a construction company.”
“You hate construction.”
“I also hated getting shot at.”
“Fair.”
Matteo stood.
They shook hands.
Then Matteo hugged him.
Arthur froze.
“Therapy has ruined you.”
“Get out.”
Arthur laughed.
Before leaving, he looked toward the nursery.
“You did the right thing.”
Matteo’s expression turned serious.
“About what?”
“Finally choosing them.”
Matteo looked down.
“I should’ve chosen them before there was a choice.”
“Yes.”
Arthur had never been sentimental.
That was why Matteo trusted the words.
Norah continued living between the brownstone and penthouse.
The arrangement confused everyone except Sofia.
She slept wherever her parents were.
Matteo never asked Norah to move home.
One afternoon, Norah finally asked why.
They sat on the balcony while Sofia slept inside.
“Why haven’t you asked?”
Matteo knew immediately.
“Because I want you here only if you choose it.”
“That’s annoyingly healthy.”
“Keller.”
“Of course.”
Norah smiled.
“What if I never come back?”
Matteo looked toward the harbor.
“Then I learn to be grateful for whatever family we can be.”
Norah studied him.
“What if I divorce you?”
“I’ll sign.”
“What if I date someone else?”
That one hurt visibly.
Matteo looked away.
“I’ll hate it.”
Norah waited.
“But I won’t interfere.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You sure?”
“No.”
She laughed.
“At least that’s honest.”
“I would want to interfere.”
“Matteo.”
“I said want.”
He looked at her.
“I wouldn’t.”
Norah leaned back.
“That might be the biggest change yet.”
Matteo smiled.
Then she became serious.
“I don’t want anyone else.”
He stopped.
Norah’s heart pounded.
“I tried imagining it.”
“Norah…”
“I’m not finished.”
He closed his mouth.
“I don’t trust you completely.”
“I understand.”
“I may never trust you the way I did.”
“I understand.”
“I don’t want the marriage we had.”
“Neither do I.”
Norah looked directly at him.
“But maybe I want a different one.”
Matteo stopped breathing.
She stood.
His eyes followed.
“Don’t propose.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You absolutely were about to.”
“I was thinking.”
“Your thinking face looks dangerous.”
Matteo laughed.
Norah walked inside.
He followed.
She opened Evelyn’s folder.
The unsigned divorce papers remained inside.
Norah removed them.
Matteo stared.
Then she tore them in half.
Once.
Twice.
Not ceremonially.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Matteo’s eyes filled.
“This doesn’t erase anything,” Norah said.
“No.”
“It doesn’t restore your rights to my life.”
“No.”
“You still ask.”
“Yes.”
“You still tell me the truth even when it makes me angry.”
“Yes.”
“And if you ever—”
“I know.”
Norah glared.
He smiled through tears.
“Sorry.”
She laughed.
Then kissed him.
The first kiss since the night before he left for Greece.
Matteo did not move for half a second.
Then kissed her back gently.
No desperation.
No claiming.
Norah pulled away first.
“You can breathe.”
“I am breathing.”
“No.”
They both laughed.
That evening, Matteo held Sofia while Norah cooked.
It looked almost painfully ordinary.
He wanted to memorize everything.
Because sentencing was six weeks away.
Every day now carried an expiration date.
Norah knew it too.
She began taking photographs.
Matteo feeding Sofia.
Matteo asleep with Sofia on his chest.
Matteo standing in the kitchen ruining pancakes.
Matteo reading a children’s book in a tone Sofia was too young to understand.
One night, Norah found him sitting alone in the nursery.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
He smiled.
Then looked at Sofia.
“What if she forgets me?”
Norah’s heart broke.
“She won’t.”
“She’s a baby.”
“We’ll make sure she knows.”
“We?”
Norah sat beside him.
“Yes.”
Matteo looked at her.
She took his hand.
“We.”
For years, Matteo thought family meant people who could never leave.
Now he understood.
Family was people who were free to leave and still sometimes chose to stay.
He squeezed Norah’s hand.
“I don’t deserve this.”
Norah’s expression sharpened.
“Don’t make me responsible for deciding what you deserve.”
He nodded.
“Right.”
“I’m here because I choose to be.”
Matteo looked down.
The lesson still brought him to tears.
On sentencing morning, Norah helped him straighten his tie.
They stood in the bedroom where she had once packed a suitcase to escape him.
Sofia sat on the bed between pillows.
Matteo looked around.
“Strange.”
“What?”
“This room.”
Norah knew.
“Last time I packed here, I was leaving you.”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
Matteo looked at the small overnight bag.
“Now I’m leaving because I finally stopped running from myself.”
Norah kissed him.
Outside, cameras waited.
Reporters shouted questions.
Matteo ignored them.
Inside the courthouse, he learned the price of consequences.
Forty-two months.
Three and a half years.
Norah closed her eyes.
Matteo did not react.
He had expected worse.
He was ordered to surrender in thirty days.
Thirty days.
That night, the penthouse was quiet.
Matteo stood at the window holding Sofia.
Norah approached from behind.
“Thirty days.”
“Yes.”
She wrapped her arms around him.
Matteo looked down at his daughter.
For most of his life, thirty days had been enough time to intimidate rivals, hide money, arrange escapes, or rewrite outcomes.
This time, he would do none of those things.
He would spend thirty days being a husband.
A father.
May you like
And then he would walk voluntarily into the consequences of the man he had been.
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