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16 **I SHOWED UP 27 MINUTES LATE TO A BLIND DATE BAREFOOT WITH MY SLEEPING NEPHEW—THE MAN WAITING WAS CHICAGO’S MOST FEARED BOSS. I EXPECTED HIM TO WALK OUT. INSTEAD, HE FELL FOR BOTH OF US—THEN HID THE ONE DECISION THAT COULD BREAK US.** / Chapter 10 / 10

Chapter 10 - FOREVER AFTER

The next evening, the bell above the front door of Crown & Curl chimed softly.

I didn't look up from my appointment book. I already knew who it was.

"Auntie Maya! Look!" Leo’s voice boomed through the salon.

He came sprinting through the door, clutching a brand-new stuffed blue shark that was nearly as big as he was.

Behind him walked Adrien. He wore a crisp navy suit with no tie, looking impossibly handsome, with Leo’s neon-yellow Spider-Man backpack slung casually over one broad shoulder. Trailing two paces behind them was Marco, quietly carrying a juice box and a half-eaten bag of goldfish crackers.

"Look!" Leo shouted, crashing into my legs. "Adrien got me a shark! And he said sharks can beat lions if the lions don't have scuba gear!"

I laughed, kneeling down to hug Leo tightly before smoothing his messy hair. "Is that what he told you?"

"It's scientifically accurate," Adrien declared, walking up to the reception desk.

He looked down at me, his hazel eyes filled with a deep, unshakable peace. He leaned over the counter, cupped my cheek in his hand, and kissed me lingeringly on the lips, completely ignoring the collective gasp from Brenda and two clients sitting under the hair dryers.

"How was your day?" Adrien asked softly.

"Better now," I smiled, leaning into his touch.

Leo tugged on Adrien’s pant leg. "Adrien, can we make oatmeal now? But without too much water?"

Adrien looked down at the little boy, his expression melting into pure affection. "We can make whatever you want, Leo. Lead the way."

As Adrien picked up Leo, throwing him onto his shoulders while Marco respectfully took the Spider-Man backpack, I looked at the three of them walking toward my SUV.

Adrien wasn't Chicago's most feared boss anymore. He wasn't a shadow or a mystery. He was the man who knew my coffee order, the man who had given up a kingdom for a home, and the man who loved us enough to burn down his entire past just to protect our future.

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At a family dinner, I stood up smiling and announced I was pregnant. The whole table went completely silent — then my mother-in-law suddenly let out a laugh and yelled: “She’s pretending to be pregnant just to milk money from us!” Before anyone could even react, she seized my hand and pushed me off the hotel rooftop to “prove” I was faking it. Broken and barely conscious, I came to in the hospital with my husband by my side, pale as a ghost and shaking. But the moment the doctor stepped in and opened his mouth, the words he said made the entire room freeze in utter disbelief and horror.

At a family dinner, I stood up smiling and announced I was pregnant. The...

At Christmas dinner, my mother-in-law pushed my plate away and said, “Leave—this table is for people who bring money into this family.” I turned to my husband and asked if he agreed, but his cold silence was the biggest mistake of his life, because two months later, my father’s true net worth destroyed his entire bloodline…

At Christmas dinner, my mother-in-law pushed my plate away and said, “Le...

And for the first time since the hospital call two years ago, I looked at my life and realized I wasn't carrying the world on my shoulders anymore.

We were a family.

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