Chapter 9 - The Family Dinner
One year to the day after the glass shattered against the bedroom wall, the Moretti dining room looked entirely transformed.
Gone were the tense, suspicious silences, the armed guards standing awkwardly behind chairs, and the venomous glares of relatives waiting for a dying man to sign away his wealth. Instead, the enormous mahogany table was filled with simple, warm conversation, the clinking of wineglasses, and the rich aroma of authentic Italian ossobuco prepared by the estate's new chef.
At the head of the table sat eighty-one-year-old Victor Moretti, looking healthier, sharper, and more vibrant than he had in five years. To his right sat Dominic, impeccably dressed as always, but with an ease in his posture that nobody had seen since before the stroke.
And to Dominic’s right sat Claire, laughing at a dry joke Victor had just made about his old rivals in the Boston docks.
“I’m telling you, the commissioner tried to play golf with me yesterday,” Victor announced proudly, gesturing with his fork. “I told him my nurse wouldn't let me walk the course unless he agreed to settle our tax audit first.”
The table erupted in light laughter. Even the two longtime security guards standing near the double doors smiled faintly.
After dinner, while Victor retired to the library for his evening cigar with Dominic following closely behind, Claire stepped out onto the wide stone veranda overlooking the moonlit ocean. The cool autumn breeze carried the scent of pine and saltwater.
Footsteps echoed softly on the stone behind her.
Dominic stepped out onto the veranda, holding two crystal glasses of aged bourbon. He handed one to Claire, leaning his forearms against the stone balustrade beside her.
“You’ve quieted down tonight,” Dominic observed, his dark eyes reflecting the moonlight dancing on the water.
“I was just thinking about the first night I walked into this house,” Claire said softly, swirling the amber liquid in her glass. “When that glass shattered against the wall, I honestly thought I wouldn't last thirty minutes.”
Dominic turned his head, looking at her with an intense, quiet affection that few people in the world were ever privileged to see. “If you had walked out that night, I probably would have had to chase you down all the way to Boston.”
Claire smiled, glancing sideways at him. “Is that a threat, Mr. Moretti?”
May you like
“It’s a guarantee,” Dominic replied smoothly, raising his glass to clink against hers.
Inside the mansion, Victor Moretti sat by the library window, looking out through the glass at his son and the woman who had saved not just his life, but his entire family. For the first time in his long, violent, and complicated reign over the underworld, the old mafia boss felt a profound, unbreakable peace.
