Chapter 16 - Three Years, One Choice
The original contract remained in Cassian’s safe.
Adeline discovered it accidentally while looking for her passport.
She held it in her hands.
Three years.
Only eight months had passed.
It felt like another lifetime.
Cassian entered.
Saw the pages.
Stopped.
Adeline smiled.
“Separate bedrooms.”
“We were optimistic.”
“No affection clause.”
“Administrative oversight.”
“No children.”
“That part aged poorly.”
She laughed.
Cassian came closer.
“What are you thinking?”
“That I once asked what happened if one of us changed our mind.”
“You did.”
“You said there was no clause.”
“There still isn’t.”
Adeline looked at him.
“Maybe there should be.”
His expression tightened.
“What kind?”
“A choice.”
He said nothing.
Adeline took the contract to his desk.
Then tore it in half.
Cassian stared.
Again.
Again.
She dropped the pieces into the wastebasket.
“That seems legally questionable.”
“You have lawyers.”
“Many.”
“They’ll survive.”
He watched her.
“So?”
“So what?”
“Are you leaving?”
Adeline walked toward him.
“No.”
He exhaled.
She had known he was holding his breath.
“I want a real marriage.”
Cassian’s face changed.
“No registry office?”
“We can use one, but I expect flowers this time.”
“Reasonable.”
“Music.”
“Negotiable.”
“Cake.”
“I dislike cake.”
“I’m marrying you anyway.”
He smiled.
“A photographer.”
His smile disappeared.
“Necessary?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
“And your gloves stay off.”
Cassian looked at his hands.
“Agreed.”
They married again three months later.
Not legally necessary.
Emotionally necessary.
St. Brendan’s chapel was small.
Adeline wore a simple ivory dress.
Maryanne attended with a nurse.
Rosalind, under supervised release while awaiting sentencing agreements, sat quietly in the second row.
Gabriel stood beside Cassian.
Ezra was not allowed to attend but sent a handwritten note.
This time, choose each other.
Odette cried openly.
Cassian pretended not to notice.
When the officiant asked whether they entered marriage freely, Cassian looked at Adeline.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
This time there was a kiss.
Outside, snow fell.
The baby was seven months along.
For one afternoon, no one spoke about criminal investigations, succession or enemies.
They ate cake.
Cassian admitted it was acceptable.
Adeline called that overwhelming praise.
Maryanne had another clear moment.
She touched Cassian’s face.
“Take care of her.”
“I will.”
Then she pointed at him.
“But don’t tell her what to do.”
Adeline laughed so hard she nearly cried.
Cassian nodded solemnly.
“I have learned that.”
Gabriel muttered, “Not quickly.”
The wedding ended at sunset.
As they prepared to leave, Cassian received a call.
A legal freight facility had been set on fire.
No casualties.
Message painted on one wall:
TRAITORS DO NOT INHERIT.
Cassian stared at the photograph.
Adeline saw it.
“Go.”
“It’s our wedding.”
“And your employees are frightened.”
He looked at her.
“I’ll come.”
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow.
Cassian corrected himself.
“I would prefer you remain here.”
“Much better.”
She stayed with Maryanne.
Cassian and Gabriel went to the facility.
The fire was controlled.
The message mattered more than the damage.
Old loyalists.
Men who believed Cassian had betrayed the family by cooperating with government investigations.
One name surfaced repeatedly.
Marcus Vale.
Former Raldi security chief.
Cassian had fired him after discovering illegal extortion operations.
Marcus disappeared.
Now he had returned.
Gabriel studied the wall.
“He doesn’t want money.”
“No.”
“He wants you removed.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
“Probably.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“And the baby?”
Cassian did not answer.
He did not need to.
That night, he returned to the chapel.
Adeline had fallen asleep in a chair beside Maryanne.
Cassian crouched.
He watched her.
Seven months pregnant.
Exhausted.
Still wearing her wedding dress.
For years he had thought love created weakness.
Now he understood the opposite.
Love created stakes.
But stakes were not weakness.
They were reasons.
Adeline opened her eyes.
“You came back.”
“Always.”
She smiled sleepily.
“Dangerous word.”
“I know.”
Cassian helped her stand.
Before leaving, she looked at the altar.
“Do you regret it?”
“What?”
“All of this.”
“No.”
“Even knowing the baby made everything harder?”
Cassian touched her stomach.
The child moved beneath his palm.
“Harder isn’t worse.”
Adeline kissed him.
Outside, Gabriel was waiting.
His phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
Cassian noticed.
“What?”
Gabriel looked at them.
“Marcus took Rosalind.”
Silence.
Adeline closed her eyes.
Cassian asked, “Where?”
“Old Meridian Hotel.”
The building belonged to their father decades earlier.
Gabriel continued.
“He says he wants both Raldi brothers.”
“And if we don’t come?”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“He releases every remaining secret about the family and kills her.”
Cassian looked at Adeline.
She knew what he was thinking.
“Go.”
He hesitated.
“Cassian.”
“Yes?”
“Bring your brother home.”
He nodded.
May you like
And together, for the first time as brothers rather than rivals manufactured by other men, Cassian and Gabriel walked into the snow.
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