Chapter 10 - Worth Fighting ForCaprice woke in a room without windows.
Her head hurt.
Her mouth tasted metallic.
She tried to move.
Her wrists were tied.
Not tightly.
That frightened her.
Whoever had taken her was not worried about escape.
A light came on.
Victor Sloane sat across from her.
Caprice stared.
“You.”
Victor smiled.
“You sound disappointed.”
“I was hoping for someone interesting.”
His smile widened.
“I understand why Diamond loves you.”
“Good for you.”
Victor leaned back.
“You don’t fear correctly.”
“I’ve been poor.”
Caprice’s voice was dry.
“After debt collectors, minimum wage, dementia bills, and your son’s personality, kidnapping is less impressive than you think.”
Victor laughed.
A real laugh.
“Remarkable.”
“Where’s Levi?”
“Alive.”
“Diamond?”
“Furious.”
“That sounds alive.”
Victor studied her.
“You changed him.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Caprice leaned forward as far as the restraints allowed.
“I didn’t change Diamond.”
Victor’s smile faded.
“He changed himself.”
“You softened him.”
“I gave him a reason not to be miserable.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Caprice stared.
“Strength isn’t being alone.”
Victor’s eyes became cold.
“That is what weak people say.”
Caprice smiled.
“And yet you kidnapped me because you can’t control your son anymore.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Interesting.”
He stood.
“You believe you understand power.”
“I understand people.”
“Then understand this.”
Victor moved closer.
“Diamond will come.”
“I know.”
“He will sacrifice men.”
“I know.”
“He will burn his empire to retrieve you.”
Caprice looked at him.
“I know.”
“And that makes you his weakness.”
“No.”
Caprice’s voice became quiet.
“It makes me the reason he’ll win.”
Victor stared.
For the first time, she saw uncertainty.
Small.
But real.
Then the door opened.
Damien entered.
Caprice’s stomach dropped.
Victor smiled.
“My loyal son.”
Damien looked at Caprice.
No expression.
“You.”
Caprice stared.
“You set us up.”
Damien approached.
Victor placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Blood returns to blood.”
Caprice felt something inside her sink.
Diamond had trusted him.
Not fully.
But enough.
Damien crouched.
“I’m sorry.”
Caprice looked into his eyes.
Then noticed.
His left hand.
Two fingers tapping his thigh.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
A signal.
She understood.
Not betrayal.
Plan.
Caprice looked away.
“Go to hell.”
Damien smiled slightly.
Victor looked pleased.
Across the city, Diamond Kelly was becoming something Levi had not seen since the night of the shooting.
Uncontrolled.
He overturned the conference table.
Files scattered.
A glass shattered against the wall.
“Find her.”
Levi stood near the door.
“We are.”
“FIND HER.”
“We have teams on every Victor property.”
“Then add more.”
“Dom.”
Diamond turned.
His face was white with rage.
“He took her.”
“I know.”
“I promised.”
His voice broke.
“I promised she would be safe.”
Levi moved closer.
“You cannot protect someone from everything.”
“Then what good am I?”
The question stopped Levi.
Diamond looked down at his legs.
His hands shook.
“I couldn’t protect my mother.”
“Dom.”
“I couldn’t protect myself.”
He laughed bitterly.
“And now Caprice.”
Levi grabbed the wheelchair armrests.
Diamond looked up.
“Listen to me.”
Levi’s voice hardened.
“Caprice did not choose you because she needed a bodyguard.”
Diamond stared.
“She chose you.”
Levi stepped back.
“So stop sitting here deciding you failed her and do what she would do.”
Diamond’s breathing slowed.
“What?”
“Think.”
Silence.
Then Diamond did.
Victor had taken Caprice from the surveillance vehicle.
But how?
Gas.
Remote locks.
Access.
The vehicle had been prepared before departure.
Arthur was dead.
Marcus?
Diamond looked up.
“Bring me Marcus Vale.”
Ten minutes later, Marcus stood inside the study.
Terrified.
Diamond watched him.
Caprice’s voice existed inside his memory.
People tell you what they hide.
Marcus looked toward the door.
Then window.
Then safe.
Diamond froze.
Bernardi.
Same pattern.
“Empty your pockets.”
Marcus hesitated.
Levi drew his gun.
Marcus complied.
Phone.
Keys.
Wallet.
A small metal token.
Diamond looked at it.
An anchor.
Dock worker symbol.
Samuel Reeves.
“Where?”
Marcus began shaking.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Diamond rolled closer.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t—”
Diamond shot him in the leg.
Marcus screamed.
Levi did not react.
Diamond lowered the gun.
“I have spent two years learning what pain does to a person.”
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
“Do not make me demonstrate.”
Marcus broke.
“Old subway terminal.”
Levi stepped forward.
“Which?”
“Roosevelt freight line.”
Diamond knew it.
Abandoned twenty years.
Underground.
Multiple tunnels.
Perfect.
“Move.”
Levi nodded.
Diamond turned toward the door.
“Dom.”
He stopped.
Levi looked at the chair.
“The tunnels aren’t accessible.”
Diamond’s expression became ice.
“Then carry me.”
Thirty minutes later, the Kelly organization entered the abandoned Roosevelt freight terminal.
Diamond hated being carried.
Four men lifted him and the chair down the broken stairs.
Humiliation burned.
He accepted it.
Caprice mattered more than pride.
At the bottom, he loaded his pistol.
“Anyone between me and her dies.”
Levi nodded.
They moved.
Gunfire began three minutes later.
Victor’s men defended the tunnels.
Diamond advanced behind ballistic shields.
His chair struggled over cracked concrete.
Twice, Levi physically dragged it.
Diamond fired.
Precise.
Controlled.
Relentless.
Then Damien’s voice came through a stolen radio.
“East tunnel.”
Diamond froze.
“Damien?”
“Victor thinks I’m with him.”
“Caprice?”
“Alive.”
Diamond closed his eyes.
“Bring her.”
“Can’t.”
“Why?”
“Victor wired the room.”
Diamond’s blood chilled.
“What?”
“Pressure trigger beneath her chair.”
Damien’s voice lowered.
“If she stands, the room goes.”
Levi swore.
Diamond looked at the tunnel.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Damien.”
“Listen.”
Static.
“Victor wants you.”
“I know.”
“He has one final test.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
Damien paused.
“He wants you to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Caprice or your mother.”
Diamond stopped.
Evelyn.
His stomach dropped.
“She’s here?”
“Yes.”
Victor had taken her again.
Or perhaps she had been part of the plan all along.
Two rooms.
Two bombs.
Two people.
One choice.
Victor’s voice replaced Damien’s.
“Welcome, son.”
Diamond raised his gun.
“Show yourself.”
Victor stepped from the darkness.
Unarmed.
Diamond aimed at his chest.
“Where are they?”
Victor smiled.
“Your mother is west.”
“Caprice?”
“East.”
“Release them.”
“No.”
Diamond’s finger tightened.
Victor spread his arms.
“Kill me.”
Diamond almost did.
Then Victor said:
“And both bombs detonate.”
Diamond froze.
Victor smiled.
“Dead-man switch.”
He held up his wrist.
A biometric monitor.
“If my heart stops, so do theirs.”
Diamond’s gun lowered slightly.
Victor stepped closer.
“You have five minutes.”
“For what?”
“To choose.”
Victor’s eyes gleamed.
“Blood or love.”
Diamond stared.
“You’re insane.”
“I am teaching you.”
“No.”
“I am freeing you.”
Victor pointed east.
“The woman made you weak.”
Then west.
“Your mother made me weak.”
His face hardened.
“I learned.”
Diamond looked at him.
“By becoming empty.”
Victor smiled.
“By surviving.”
Diamond laughed.
Victor frowned.
Diamond laughed harder.
“You really believe this.”
“Choose.”
“No.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“You must.”
“No.”
“Five minutes.”
Diamond looked at Levi.
Then toward the ceiling.
Old freight station.
Electrical wiring.
Ventilation.
Tracks.
Pressure triggers.
Caprice.
Think like Caprice.
Stop reacting.
Diamond smiled.
Victor’s face tightened.
“What?”
“You made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“You assumed I came alone.”
Above them, the lights died.
Victor turned.
Diamond fired.
Not at Victor.
At the biometric monitor.
The device shattered.
Victor stared.
Nothing exploded.
Diamond smiled.
“Dead-man switches need a signal.”
Levi grinned.
“We jammed the entire station thirty seconds ago.”
Victor’s face changed.
For the first time:
Fear.
Diamond raised his gun.
“You taught me one useful thing.”
Victor stepped backward.
“What?”
“Never let the enemy decide the rules.”
Teams moved simultaneously.
East.
West.
Damien reached Caprice.
Levi’s bomb specialist crawled beneath her chair.
“Do not move.”
Caprice rolled her eyes.
“I had planned to dance.”
The technician almost smiled.
Wires.
Pressure plate.
Timer.
2:14.
2:13.
2:12.
Damien crouched beside her.
“If this goes badly—”
“Don’t.”
“I was going to apologize.”
“Do it after.”
“Fair.”
West tunnel.
Evelyn was found unconscious.
Bomb beneath the bed.
Another team worked.
Central tunnel.
Victor ran.
Diamond followed.
His wheelchair slammed over broken concrete.
“Victor!”
The old man turned.
Gun appeared.
He fired.
The bullet struck Diamond’s chair.
Metal sparked.
Diamond fired back.
Victor disappeared around a pillar.
Diamond accelerated.
Then one wheel hit a broken rail.
The chair tipped.
Diamond fell.
Hard.
His pistol slid away.
Victor emerged.
He walked slowly toward him.
Diamond dragged himself backward.
Victor looked down.
Disappointment filled his face.
“Look at you.”
Diamond breathed hard.
Victor kicked the pistol away.
“All that power.”
He crouched.
“And you end on the floor.”
Diamond looked up.
Two years earlier, those words would have destroyed him.
Now?
He smiled.
Victor frowned.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because I’ve been on the floor before.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Diamond grabbed his ankle.
Pulled.
Victor fell.
Diamond surged forward using his upper body.
His fist struck Victor’s face.
Again.
Again.
Victor fought back.
Two men on concrete.
One could not use his legs.
It did not matter.
Diamond had spent two years building his upper body to compensate.
He dragged Victor closer.
Victor reached for a knife.
Diamond caught his wrist.
The blade hovered inches above his throat.
Victor strained.
“You are weak.”
Diamond’s arms shook.
“No.”
Victor pushed harder.
“You chose her.”
“Yes.”
“You need her.”
Diamond smiled through clenched teeth.
“Yes.”
Victor stared.
Diamond twisted.
The knife fell.
“You still don’t understand.”
He punched Victor.
“Needing someone isn’t weakness.”
Another punch.
“Being loved isn’t weakness.”
Another.
“And this chair?”
Diamond grabbed Victor’s collar.
“This is not weakness.”
Victor’s eyes widened.
Diamond slammed him against the concrete.
“This is just a chair.”
Footsteps approached.
Levi.
Gun raised.
“Dom.”
Diamond looked up.
“Caprice?”
A pause.
Levi smiled.
“Safe.”
Diamond’s eyes closed.
Everything left him.
Rage.
Fear.
Adrenaline.
“Mother?”
“Safe.”
Diamond released Victor.
The old man lay bleeding.
Defeated.
Alive.
Diamond looked at Levi.
“Take him.”
Victor laughed weakly.
“You won’t kill me?”
Diamond looked at his biological father.
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Mercy.”
“No.”
Diamond’s expression became cold.
“You wanted to prove love made me weak.”
He looked toward the tunnel where Caprice waited.
“You’re going to live long enough to watch it make me stronger.”
Two weeks later, morning sunlight entered the Kelly estate.
No alarms.
No gunfire.
No blood.
Caprice stood beside the bedroom window.
Diamond woke behind her.
“You’re staring.”
She turned.
“You were asleep.”
“I could feel judgment.”
“I was thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
Caprice smiled.
Diamond transferred himself into the wheelchair.
He had started physical therapy again.
Voluntarily.
The doctors did not promise miracles.
Neither did Caprice.
That was why he trusted her.
He rolled toward her.
“What were you thinking?”
Caprice looked outside.
Spring had begun.
Snow disappeared from the grounds.
“I was thinking about the first night I came here.”
Diamond groaned.
“You ignored me.”
“You were cleaning a baseboard.”
“You yelled at me.”
“You were disrespectful.”
“You asked who the hell I was.”
“Reasonable question.”
“I told you my name and kept cleaning.”
Diamond smiled.
“And I hated you immediately.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“No.”
He reached for her waist.
“I was fascinated.”
Caprice stepped between his knees.
“You were awful.”
“I remain awful.”
“Less.”
“Insulting.”
She touched his face.
“What happens now?”
Diamond looked toward the estate.
Victor was alive.
Imprisoned somewhere only Levi and Diamond knew.
His organization was being dismantled.
Damien had refused any territory.
Instead, he planned to disappear for a while.
Evelyn remained at the estate.
Healing.
Slowly.
The city still contained enemies.
Always would.
But the immediate war was over.
Diamond looked at Caprice.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
He reached into his jacket.
Caprice froze.
“No.”
Diamond stopped.
“What?”
“If that’s what I think it is—”
He pulled out a small velvet box.
Caprice stared.
“You are unbelievable.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You bought a ring.”
“I own several rings.”
“That is a woman’s engagement ring.”
“You are making assumptions.”
“Diamond.”
He opened it.
A diamond.
Of course.
Large enough to pay for the old version of Caprice’s life several times over.
She stared.
Then looked at him.
“You’re serious.”
“Unfortunately.”
Caprice laughed.
Diamond’s expression softened.
“I spent most of my life believing possession was the same as love.”
He looked down at the ring.
“My father taught me that.”
“Patrick?”
Diamond nodded.
“Victor taught me something worse.”
“What?”
“That love is a weakness.”
He looked at Caprice.
“They were both wrong.”
Her eyes filled.
Diamond continued.
“You came into my house carrying a bucket.”
Caprice laughed through the tears.
“You were exhausted.”
“You were horrible.”
“You fell asleep on my sofa.”
“You watched me sleep like a creep.”
“I paid your debts.”
“You got me fired.”
“I tripled your salary.”
“You were still controlling.”
“I improved.”
“Debatable.”
Diamond smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“I cannot promise you normal.”
“I know.”
“I cannot promise safety.”
“I know.”
“I cannot promise that I will wake tomorrow and suddenly become easy to live with.”
“That would actually concern me.”
Diamond took her hand.
“But I can promise something else.”
Caprice waited.
“I will never again decide your life for you.”
Her breath caught.
“I will never push you away and call it protection.”
His thumb moved over her fingers.
“And every day you choose me, I will choose you back.”
Caprice was crying now.
Diamond looked irritated.
“Stop.”
“What?”
“The crying.”
“You’re proposing.”
“I haven’t technically asked.”
“Then ask.”
Diamond looked into her eyes.
“Caprice Thompson.”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
She stared at him.
Then shook her head.
Diamond’s face went blank.
“No?”
“No.”
His hand dropped.
Caprice started laughing.
Diamond stared.
“You find this amusing?”
She took the ring.
“Yes.”
“You said no.”
“I said no to that proposal.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What is wrong with it?”
“You sounded like you were negotiating a shipping contract.”
“I was sincere.”
“You looked constipated.”
“I am going to take the ring back.”
Caprice closed her fist around it.
“No.”
Diamond stared.
She knelt.
Now they were eye level.
Caprice held his face.
“Try again.”
His expression softened.
“Caprice.”
“No speech.”
He exhaled.
“No empire.”
He nodded.
“No promises about forever.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Those are traditionally involved.”
“Just you.”
Caprice touched her forehead to his.
“And me.”
Diamond closed his eyes.
When he spoke again, the king was gone.
No mafia boss.
No wounded heir.
No man trying to prove strength.
Only Diamond.
“I love you.”
Caprice smiled.
“I know.”
His eyes opened.
“That was not the expected response.”
She kissed him.
Then whispered against his mouth.
“I love you too.”
Diamond swallowed.
“Marry me.”
“Yes.”
This time, there was no laughter.
He put the ring onto her finger.
Caprice looked at it.
Then at him.
“Too big.”
“The ring?”
“The diamond.”
“My name is Diamond.”
“That doesn’t mean everything needs diamonds.”
“It does now.”
Caprice rolled her eyes.
Diamond pulled her closer.
Outside the bedroom, someone cleared his throat.
Levi.
Caprice turned.
He stood in the doorway.
Evelyn beside him.
Damien behind them with a travel bag over his shoulder.
All three were smiling.
Caprice looked at Diamond.
“You told them?”
Diamond shrugged.
“I had contingency plans.”
“You were confident.”
“I am always confident.”
“She almost rejected you,” Levi said.
Diamond glared.
Damien laughed.
Evelyn entered.
Tears filled her eyes when she saw the ring.
“My son.”
Diamond looked at her.
The words no longer hurt.
Not like before.
Evelyn hugged him.
Then Caprice.
Levi shook Diamond’s hand.
Damien remained near the door.
Diamond looked at him.
“You leaving?”
“For a while.”
“Where?”
“If I tell you, it defeats the purpose.”
Diamond nodded.
Damien approached.
The brothers looked at each other.
No rivalry.
Not yet friendship either.
Something unfinished.
Damien extended his hand.
Diamond took it.
“Take care of her,” Damien said.
Diamond looked at Caprice.
“She takes care of me.”
Caprice smiled.
Damien nodded.
“Better answer.”
Then he left.
Months later, the wedding was small.
Not because Diamond lacked money.
Because Caprice refused to spend the equivalent of a hospital wing on flowers.
The ceremony took place at the estate.
Evelyn sat in the front row beside Margaret Thompson.
Margaret had a good day.
A very good day.
When Caprice approached, her mother recognized her immediately.
“My baby.”
Caprice nearly lost control.
Diamond waited at the end of the aisle.
In his wheelchair.
No attempt to hide it.
No decorations disguising it.
No embarrassment.
He wore black.
Of course.
Levi stood beside him.
Caprice reached Diamond.
He looked up at her.
“You came.”
She smiled.
“I said I would.”
“You also threatened to run away when you saw the flower invoice.”
“That was different.”
The officiant began.
Diamond barely heard him.
He watched Caprice.
Years earlier, power had meant territory.
Money.
Fear.
Men obeying before he finished speaking.
Then a bullet had taken his legs.
Diamond believed it had taken his power too.
He had been wrong.
Power was not standing.
Power was not walking.
Power was not making everyone afraid enough to stay away.
Power was surviving the moment the world split your life into before and after.
Caprice had taught him that without ever trying.
When the vows came, Diamond did not use the speech he had prepared.
He looked at her.
“I spent two years thinking my life ended on a floor.”
Caprice’s eyes filled.
Diamond continued.
“Then you walked into my house exhausted, angry, and completely unimpressed by me.”
Laughter moved through the guests.
“You treated me like a man when everyone else treated me like either a monster or a patient.”
His voice became rough.
“You refused to save me.”
Caprice smiled through tears.
“You simply stayed long enough for me to realize I could save myself.”
Diamond took her hand.
“I don’t know what happens next.”
He looked toward Levi.
“The city will probably remain irritating.”
Levi smiled.
“My enemies will continue being stupid.”
More laughter.
“My family will apparently continue returning from the dead.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“But whatever comes next, I want you there.”
Diamond looked into Caprice’s eyes.
“Not behind me.”
A pause.
“Beside me.”
Caprice squeezed his hand.
“That’s where I intended to be.”
They exchanged rings.
Then kissed.
Margaret clapped.
Levi looked away suspiciously quickly.
Evelyn cried openly.
And somewhere beyond the estate walls, the city continued.
Cars moved.
Deals were made.
Enemies whispered.
The Kelly organization survived.
But it changed.
Caprice never became a criminal mastermind.
She did not suddenly carry guns or order executions.
That was never who she was.
Her power came from something Diamond’s world underestimated.
Observation.
Patience.
Understanding.
She sat in meetings.
Asked uncomfortable questions.
Noticed frightened men.
Found inconsistencies.
Reminded Diamond when anger was making decisions for him.
And sometimes, when he became unbearable, she simply walked out.
That worked better than threats.
Diamond changed too.
Not completely.
He remained dangerous.
He remained difficult.
He remained capable of terrifying violence when the people under his protection were threatened.
But he stopped confusing cruelty with strength.
Physical therapy became part of his mornings.
Some days he hated it.
Some days phantom pain left him sweating and furious.
Some nights Caprice still found him awake at three in the morning, gripping legs he could not feel.
She never told him everything would be okay.
She sat beside him.
Breathed.
Waited.
Exactly as before.
A year after their wedding, Diamond sat beside the same floor-to-ceiling windows where Caprice had first seen him.
Rain covered the estate.
Thunder rolled.
Caprice entered carrying two cups of coffee.
She placed one beside him.
Diamond looked at it.
“Sugar?”
“None.”
“Good.”
She sat on the sofa.
Diamond looked at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He smiled.
Caprice narrowed her eyes.
“What?”
Diamond looked toward the sofa.
Memory returned.
Cheap apron.
Exhausted face.
A woman who had worked until her body simply shut down.
“You fell asleep there.”
Caprice groaned.
“Are you ever going to stop mentioning that?”
“No.”
“I was working three jobs.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
“You quit the diner.”
“You quit it for me.”
“Technicality.”
Caprice threw a cushion.
Diamond caught it.
He laughed.
The sound filled the study.
Not rusty anymore.
Not unfamiliar.
Easy.
Caprice stopped.
She watched him.
Diamond noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No.”
He rolled closer.
“What?”
Caprice smiled.
“I just remembered something.”
“What?”
“The first time I heard you laugh.”
Diamond frowned.
“When?”
“After you paid my debts and ruined my life.”
“I improved your life.”
“You got me fired.”
“You married me.”
“Eventually.”
Diamond caught her hand.
Caprice sat on the edge of the sofa.
Rain continued outside.
The estate was quiet.
Diamond looked at her wedding ring.
Then at his own.
“Regret it?”
She pretended to think.
“Occasionally.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Caprice.”
“Mostly when you talk.”
He pulled her toward him.
She laughed.
Then kissed him.
Outside, lightning crossed the sky.
Once, storms had made the estate feel like a tomb.
Now the windows reflected two people.
A man in a wheelchair.
A woman beside him.
Neither rescued the other.
Neither completed the other.
They had simply looked at the cages life had built around them and decided they did not have to live inside those cages alone.
Diamond had once believed power disappeared when his legs stopped working.
He had been wrong.
Power had changed shape.
It became the hand Caprice placed over his during pain.
The trust required to let another person see him helpless.
The courage to love something he might lose.
The ability to choose mercy when violence was easier.
The willingness to accept help without surrendering dignity.
And Caprice?
She had spent years believing survival was the highest thing she could hope for.
Pay the bill.
Make the shift.
Catch the bus.
Keep her mother safe.
Get through another night.
Diamond had not rescued her from that life.
Money solved the debt.
But money was not what changed her.
Choice did.
For the first time, Caprice belonged somewhere because she had chosen it.
Not because poverty trapped her there.
Not because fear forced her.
Not because anyone bought her loyalty.
She stayed because she wanted to.
Diamond looked through the bulletproof glass.
“What are you thinking about?” Caprice asked.
He considered the question.
Then smiled.
“The baseboards.”
She stared.
“You need therapy.”
“I have therapy.”
“Psychological therapy.”
“I have you.”
“That is absolutely not the same thing.”
Diamond laughed again.
Caprice shook her head.
Then rested her forehead against his.
The rain continued.
The city continued.
Their enemies continued.
Life continued.
And that was enough.
Because the paralyzed king no longer needed to stand to know who he was.
And the exhausted maid no longer needed to run herself into the ground to prove she deserved to exist.
They had survived fathers.
Bullets.
Debt.
Betrayal.
Pain.
War.
And themselves.
The world outside would always be dangerous.
But inside the fortress, there was warmth.
There was laughter.
There was a woman who refused to leave.
And there was a man who had finally learned that holding on to someone did not require imprisoning them.
Diamond Kelly had once ruled through fear.
Now he understood something fear could never purchase.
Loyalty freely given.
Love freely chosen.
A life worth waking up for.
Caprice kissed him once more.
Diamond smiled against her lips.
And somewhere beneath the thunder, the devil laughed.
Not because someone else was suffering.
Not because an enemy had fallen.
May you like
But because, against every expectation he had ever carried, he was happy.
And for Diamond Kelly, that was the most impossible victory of all.
