Chapter 10 - The Last Bullet From the Old LifeVictor proposed eight months later.
He never got the chance to finish.
Nora graduated on a Saturday afternoon.
Her classmates threw caps into the air.
Victor stood beside Adrian and Dom.
Nora spotted him immediately.
Black suit.
No tie.
That expression that told the world he did not care about ceremonies while simultaneously having arrived two hours early.
Nora walked toward him.
Victor held flowers.
“You brought flowers?”
“I was advised this is normal.”
“By whom?”
“Dom.”
Dom looked offended.
“Don’t blame me.”
Victor handed them over.
Then reached into his pocket.
Nora’s eyes widened.
“You waited.”
“Eight months.”
“You counted?”
“Two hundred forty-three days.”
“Victor—”
A gunshot cracked across the courtyard.
Victor tackled Nora.
People screamed.
Dom moved.
Adrian shouted.
Another shot struck stone.
Victor covered Nora with his body.
The shooter disappeared into the crowd.
Within minutes, police surrounded the campus.
Nora sat inside an ambulance.
Victor paced nearby.
She was unharmed.
He was furious.
“Who?”
Adrian approached.
“We know.”
Victor stopped.
“Who?”
“Salvatore.”
Victor stared.
“He’s in federal isolation.”
“Not anymore.”
Adrian handed him a phone.
News alert.
SALVATORE FALCONE ESCAPES DURING PRISONER TRANSPORT.
Victor’s face became lethal.
The past had returned one final time.
Salvatore did not run.
He went to the Falcone estate.
The house where Victor and Adrian had grown up.
The house built after their parents died.
He wanted them to come.
Victor intended to go alone.
Nora refused.
“This ends with us.”
“No.”
“Victor.”
“I almost watched you get shot at graduation.”
“And locking me inside a house won’t change what happened.”
“I can’t lose you.”
Nora stepped closer.
“Then stop trying to protect me by removing my choices.”
Victor closed his eyes.
The lesson.
Again.
He hated it.
But he understood.
“Stay behind me.”
“I can agree to that.”
They entered the estate together.
Salvatore waited in the old dining room.
Seventy years old.
Gray.
Still dangerous.
He looked at Victor.
“My boy.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Don’t.”
Salvatore smiled.
“You built everything I wanted.”
“No.”
“You became me.”
Victor looked at Nora.
Then Adrian.
Then back at Salvatore.
“No.”
Salvatore laughed.
“You killed men.”
“Yes.”
“Ruled through fear.”
“Yes.”
“Built an empire.”
“Yes.”
Victor stepped forward.
“And then I walked away.”
Salvatore’s smile vanished.
“That makes you weak.”
“No.”
Victor looked at Nora.
“It made me free.”
Salvatore drew a gun.
Adrian shouted.
Nora moved.
Victor moved faster.
A single shot exploded.
Salvatore’s weapon fell.
He collapsed.
Alive.
Wounded.
Victor stood over him.
Years earlier, Victor would have finished it.
Nora knew.
Salvatore knew.
Victor lowered his weapon.
Sirens approached.
Salvatore stared.
“Kill me.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“You coward.”
“No.”
Victor looked at his uncle.
“You don’t get to turn me into you one last time.”
Federal agents arrested Salvatore.
This time, he disappeared into a prison from which nobody escaped.
Outside the estate, dawn arrived.
Nora sat on the stone steps.
Victor joined her.
“You okay?”
“You ask me that a lot.”
“You create situations where I need to.”
She smiled.
Victor reached into his pocket.
Nora laughed.
“Seriously?”
“I have been interrupted twice.”
“Once.”
“The first time you interrupted me.”
“That counts?”
“Yes.”
He opened the box.
Nora stared at the ring.
Victor did not kneel.
Not yet.
He looked at her.
“Nora Dempsey, you saved my life before you knew me.”
His voice became quieter.
“Then you spent the next year teaching me that keeping someone isn’t the same as loving them.”
Nora’s eyes filled.
“You told me no more times than anyone alive.”
“That sounds romantic.”
“I’m getting there.”
She laughed through tears.
Victor finally knelt.
“I don’t want to own you.”
His eyes met hers.
“I want to deserve the days you choose me.”
Nora stopped laughing.
That was the sentence.
Not queen.
Not mine.
Not protection.
Choice.
Victor asked, “Will you marry me?”
Nora smiled.
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
“You could have answered faster.”
She laughed.
Victor slid the ring onto her finger.
Then Nora kissed him while the sun rose over the house where so many lies had begun.
May you like
The old Falcone world ended there.
Something new began.
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