“Why aren’t you and my father’s men killing each other?” I ask.
Nail blinks. “We have the contract,” he says. “If it was about self-defense or defending one of our own, it would be one thing, but we weren’t going to be the ones to violate the contract without the other side violating it first. We also just heard what Gianluigi said about the contract, but … Gianluigi is dead. They have no leader and they have fewer men right now. They’re not going to start a gunfight. They’re idiots, but their self-preservation instinct is very strong. Full-fledged cockroaches.”
Maksim grabs my hand. “Come here.”
He takes me over to the crowd of men. The men that aren’t part of the Bratva eye him warily.
“Your boss is dead,” he tells them. “You could try to find a new leader out of your small number, but you know it will only lead to more division. The Bratva would kill any of you that survived your civil wars. And, by your own rules, you should be following the closest kin to Gianluigi.”
He raises my hand that’s still intertwined with his.
“If Cassandra became your new leader, I’d be willing to join the two families. You’d be able to make more money than ever. And you wouldn’t have to die.”
Some of the men raise their eyebrows and lowered voices rumble throughout the crowd. Several of them examine me, trying to see if I’m worth following. But they saw me kill my father. I raise my chin. I’ve got nothing to prove.
One of the men steps forward. He’s not the biggest man, but the way the other men regard him, he must be one of the more influential members. He bows his head to me.
“From what Gianluigi has told me, Cassandra walked straight into the Bratva’s headquarters for the sake of her daughter and managed to negotiate with the Bratva leader. The first is highly admirable. The second was an impossible task that she accomplished easily. I’d gladly follow her.”
The other Balducci men start to nod. They each bow their heads, a ripple effect of respect.
Maksim turns to me. He bows his head, giving me a measure of respect he wouldn’t be expected to offer. As I bow my head back to him, he gets onto one knee, still grasping my hand.
“This seems a bit extreme,” I say.
“I didn’t give you a choice last time. I’m giving you a choice now,” he says, his hand clinging tighter to mine. “Will you marry me, Cassandra? For real, this time. Under your own volition.”
“In a cemetery?” I ask, my heart scampering in my chest.
“I was thinking of a church, a beach, or my backyard, but if you want to get married in a cemetery, I’d be happy to do that,” he teases. “Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes,” I confirm. He nearly jumps back onto his feet. When we kiss, there’s more passion than should be permissible in a cemetery, but there’s also a security between us that I haven’t felt before. I know I am his and he is mine. Even when I hear the wolf whistles and some laughs from the other men, it doesn’t faze me. I know it doesn’t matter.
I’ve scraped through life, searching for the truth, and it found me in the heart of the cemetery. It didn’t expose organized crime, corrupt politicians, or immoral companies. It exposed me. Every part of me has been brought to light.
“I love you,” Maksim says, his mouth brushing against the edge of my mouth.
“I love you too,” I say. It’s the final truth that matters.
I unlock my apartment. As soon as I swing the door open, Lily charges toward me. I barely have time to open my arms before she hugs me, her grip so tight that it nearly hurts.
“You were gone forever!” she says. She looks around my arm, releasing me as she sees Maksim. “Maksim!”
“Hey, little bear,” he says. “How’s it been?”
She hugs him. They hold the embrace for several seconds. Maksim’s eyes are squeezed shut, but in the rest of his face, I can see the love he has for her.
Lily pulls away from him. He opens his eyes as she points to me. “Did you know Cassandra is my mother? My real mother?”
Maksim glances at me. I clench my hands together, looking away from him.
“Yes, Lily,” he says. “She wanted to tell you. She just wasn’t certain how you’d react to the news. Giving you up was her biggest regret, so she came to get you back to make up for it. She just didn’t want you to be angry about it. It’s okay if you are, but you should know that she wanted what was best for you and when you were born, she wasn’t sure if it was with her. Because of her father. Your grandpa.”
Lily folds her arms over her chest. “Grandpa wasn’t very nice.”
“He’s not a good man,” Maksim agrees. I can’t read the expression on Lily’s face. “But he’s gone now and he’s not coming back.”
Rocking on her heels, Lily glances between us. “But that doesn’t change anything, right? You’ll still take me?”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I crouch down, so we’re closer to eye level.
“Lily, I’d love to adopt you. I’ll do whatever it takes,” I say.
“I will too,” Maksim says, kneeling down beside me. “Because we’re already a family and we want to make it official.”
She bursts into a toothy smile before throwing her arms around both of us.
Epilogue Cassandra
“We are proud to announce that the recipient of the Miles Prize for Investigative Reporting goes to the staff of the Fifth Avenue Journal for their series that exposed the deep-seated and widespread corruption in the city’s leaders, which led to the mass shooting at the Delilah Festival and the ensuing cover-up.”
As I stand up, my dress gets caught on a sharp edge of the chair’s
