Chapter 17 - The Last Car She Ever Expected to Tow
Three weeks passed.
Matteo did not propose.
Riley found this hilarious.
Sofia found it unacceptable.
“You scared him,” Sofia said.
“I did nothing.”
“You laughed.”
“He opened an engagement ring at a cemetery.”
“He did not open it intentionally.”
“That makes it funnier.”
Sofia sighed.
“My brother negotiates hundred-million-dollar contracts.”
“Yes.”
“He has dealt with federal investigations.”
“Yes.”
“He has faced Victor without blinking.”
“Yes.”
“And you have reduced him to a nervous teenager.”
Riley smiled.
“Good.”
Matteo attempted subtlety.
It did not suit him.
He suggested dinner at expensive restaurants.
Riley suspected proposals and refused.
He suggested a weekend in New York.
She claimed staffing problems.
He booked a private boat.
It rained.
Connor found the entire situation delightful.
Patrick finally intervened.
“Leave the man alone.”
Riley stared.
“You’re on his side?”
“I’m on the side of eventually having grandchildren.”
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Go dispatch something.”
“I’m retired.”
“Then retire farther away.”
One Friday afternoon Riley received a towing request.
Luxury vehicle.
Mercer Grand.
Loading zone.
She stared at the dispatch screen.
“No.”
Connor appeared suspiciously innocent.
“What?”
She pointed.
“That address.”
“Coincidence.”
“And vehicle?”
Connor looked.
“Black Lamborghini.”
Riley narrowed her eyes.
“Connor.”
“City parking enforcement called it.”
“You’re lying.”
“I am offended.”
“You smile when you lie.”
“I smile constantly.”
Riley grabbed her keys.
“If this is stupid, I’m firing you.”
“I own twenty percent.”
“I’ll find a way.”
When Riley arrived, the Lamborghini was parked beneath the same loading-zone sign.
Matteo stood beside it.
Wearing the same style black shirt from the day they met.
Three security men stood nearby.
Adrian.
Luca was gone, of course.
His absence still carried sadness.
But two new guards tried unsuccessfully not to smile.
Riley climbed out.
“You have got to be kidding.”
Matteo looked at the sign.
“Apparently I never learn.”
“You deliberately parked illegally?”
“I prefer to call it historical reenactment.”
Riley stared.
“You’re paying the release fee.”
“I expected that.”
She lowered the flatbed.
Matteo watched.
“You’re actually towing it?”
“Once the straps are on, the argument is over.”
Adrian laughed.
Matteo looked betrayed.
“You’re supposed to protect me.”
“Not from this.”
Riley loaded the Lamborghini.
Tourists began filming.
“Great,” Matteo muttered.
“Round three of internet humiliation.”
Then he walked toward her passenger door.
Riley blocked it.
“No.”
He smiled.
“Take me with it.”
Her chest tightened.
The exact words.
The moment everything changed.
Riley stepped aside.
Matteo climbed in.
She drove.
No destination was listed.
“Where are we going?”
“Your yard.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
They arrived near sunset.
Morgan Towing looked different now.
Construction surrounded the neighboring land.
But the original brick garage remained.
The old sign had been restored.
MORGAN TOWING & RECOVERY — FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1987.
Riley parked.
Everyone appeared to be gone.
Suspicious.
Very suspicious.
“Where’s Connor?”
“Home?”
“You’re bad at lying.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Matteo climbed out.
Riley followed.
He walked toward the spot where the old family photograph had hung.
The photograph was there again.
Patrick.
Ellen.
Salvatore partly visible.
But beside it hung another.
Taken recently.
Riley beside her truck.
Matteo leaning against the passenger door.
Both laughing.
Riley stared.
“When was that?”
“Sofia.”
“Of course.”
Matteo stood beside her.
“The first time I came here, I thought this place was a business problem.”
Riley looked at him.
“I know.”
“I looked at the land and saw value.”
“I know.”
“Then I looked at you and saw trouble.”
“That was accurate.”
He smiled.
“You were the first person in years who told me no without calculating what it would cost.”
“You deserved it.”
“I did.”
His expression softened.
“You changed how I think about everything.”
Riley’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Matteo.”
“No, let me finish. I rehearsed this.”
She smiled.
“That worries me.”
“It should.”
He took her hands.
“My father spent his life believing power meant controlling what happened next.”
Riley listened.
“I thought I was different because I used contracts instead of fear.”
He shook his head.
“But I still planned everything.”
“Very annoying.”
“Yes.”
“You’re improving.”
“Riley.”
“Sorry.”
He smiled.
Then became serious again.
“You taught me there are things you cannot negotiate into certainty.”
His thumb brushed across her fingers.
“You trust someone or you don’t.”
Riley’s eyes burned.
“You choose someone or you don’t.”
He reached into his pocket.
Riley whispered, “Not the cemetery ring.”
“It has recovered from the incident.”
She laughed through tears.
Matteo knelt.
For once, Riley Morgan had no clever reply.
He opened the box.
“Riley Morgan, will you marry me?”
She stared at him.
Three seconds.
Four.
Matteo’s confidence began to crack.
“Riley?”
She folded her arms.
“You illegally parked again.”
His mouth opened.
She smiled.
“Yes.”
Relief transformed his face.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
He stood.
She kissed him.
Applause exploded from inside the garage.
Riley broke away.
“Oh no.”
Connor, Patrick, Sofia, Isabella, Aunt Teresa, Adrian and half the Morgan Towing staff emerged.
Riley stared at Matteo.
“You invited everyone?”
“They threatened me.”
Sofia called, “Lie!”
Matteo sighed.
Riley laughed.
Patrick hugged her.
Then Matteo.
Then warned him quietly enough that everyone still heard:
“You hurt her, I own tow trucks.”
Matteo nodded solemnly.
“Understood.”
Aunt Teresa was already discussing food.
Connor was taking photographs.
Sofia demanded to see the ring.
Riley looked around.
Her family.
His family.
Their strange, complicated collection of people.
For the first time since Ellen died, the yard did not feel like something Riley had to protect from disappearing.
It felt alive.
Changing.
Still hers.
Later, after everyone left, Riley and Matteo sat on the hood of her pickup.
His Lamborghini remained on the flatbed.
“You realize you actually have to pay to release it,” Riley said.
“You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
“Riley.”
“Rules.”
He sighed.
“How much?”
She smiled.
“More this time.”
“Why?”
“Repeat offender.”
He laughed.
Then pulled her closer.
Riley rested her head against him.
Beyond the yard, construction lights glowed.
A new neighborhood was being built.
But the original garage remained.
So did the old sign.
Some things deserved to change.
Some deserved to stay.
And sometimes love arrived not with perfect timing, but strapped to the back of a tow truck.
Yet one question remained.
Riley and Matteo had found each other.
Could two families with decades of painful history actually become one?
Their wedding would answer that.
May you like
And knowing the Morgans and Ducas, nothing about it was going to be simple.
---
