Chapter 10 - The King's New Vow
Six months later, the Moretti estate was quiet again.
The spring sun was beginning to warm the stone courtyards, and the rose bushes in the garden were finally coming back into bloom. Inside the study, Aleandro Moretti sat at his mahogany desk, signing a stack of legitimate shipping contracts that signaled the final transition of his empire from shadows into the light.
A soft, hesitant knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Aleandro said without looking up.
The door creaked open, and Emma slipped into the room, holding her yellow crayon notebook. She walked right up to the desk, her expression solemn, and slid a fresh drawing across the wood.
Aleandro looked down. It was a picture of a large stone house with a garden, a bright yellow sun, and a tall man standing by the front door wearing a charcoal suit—with a little girl standing beside him, holding a yellow crayon.
Aleandro smiled—a real, genuine smile that reached his eyes for the first time in a very long time.
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"It's a masterpiece, Emma," Aleandro said softly, picking up the drawing and placing it carefully in the center of his desk, right where the old hidden panel used to be.
He leaned back in his leather chair, looking out the tall windows toward the courtyard where the world kept moving, silent and unbroken. He had lost a woman who loved him enough to betray him, but he had saved something more important: his code, his empire, and the unbreakable resolve of a man who would never again let anyone mistake his silence for weakness.
