Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN HE REFUSED TO LOSE
Cold erased everything.
There was no Seattle.
No money.
No inheritance.
No Luca.
Only black water.
I tried to swim.
My injured ankle refused to cooperate.
My coat dragged me deeper.
Then an arm wrapped around my waist.
Luca.
He pulled me upward.
We broke the surface.
I gasped.
“Hold on to me!”
I did.
He dragged me toward the dock while federal agents reached down.
When they finally pulled us out, Luca was shaking harder than I was.
Not from cold.
From rage.
“What were you thinking?”
“The certificate—”
“I don’t care about the certificate!”
“It’s worth millions.”
“I don’t care!”
Everyone went silent.
Luca grabbed my face between his hands.
“You could have died.”
“So could you.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because—”
He stopped.
I stared at him.
“Because what?”
Rain ran down his face.
His voice dropped.
“Because I love you.”
There it was.
No orchestra.
No perfect sunset.
Just police lights, freezing rain, handcuffed criminals, and both of us soaked to the skin.
I started laughing.
Luca stared at me like I had lost my mind.
“You choose now?”
“I’ve had a difficult week.”
“Ava.”
“I love you too.”
He kissed me.
Somewhere behind us Matteo muttered, “Finally.”
Luca raised one hand without breaking the kiss and gave his brother a gesture Emma was absolutely never allowed to see.
For several seconds, happiness existed.
Then an agent approached.
“Ms. Carter?”
I pulled away.
“Yes?”
“We need to speak privately.”
His name was Special Agent Daniel Harper.
He had spent six years building a federal case against Caleb Sloane and Antonio Castellano.
Jake’s evidence completed it.
But there was a problem.
“Mr. Castellano’s organization is implicated in several financial transactions.”
I looked at Luca.
He had expected this.
“You could be arrested.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Money laundering. Tax violations. Conspiracy.”
My happiness disappeared.
“Did you do those things?”
Luca did not lie.
“Some.”
I stared at him.
He continued.
“I took over an organization built by my father. I changed parts of it. Not all of it.”
“You told me you weren’t a hero.”
“I meant it.”
Agent Harper offered Luca a deal.
Full cooperation.
Financial records.
Names.
Routes.
In exchange, prosecutors would consider reduced charges.
Luca refused immediately.
“Why?”
“Because cooperation puts people at risk.”
“What people?”
“Employees. Families. People who had no choice about the world they were born into.”
I understood.
I also hated it.
Later, at the hospital, Emma climbed carefully onto Luca’s bed.
“You got shot.”
“Yes.”
“Mama fell in the ocean.”
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“You guys are bad at being safe.”
Luca looked at me.
“She’s not wrong.”
Emma placed a sticker on his bandage.
A glittery unicorn.
Luca Castellano, feared across Seattle, stared down at it.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She leaned toward him.
“Are you my friend now?”
His expression softened.
“If you’ll have me.”
Emma considered him.
“You can be my friend if you make pancakes.”
“I can arrange pancakes.”
“No. You make them.”
Luca looked genuinely alarmed.
I laughed.
For two weeks, life almost became normal.
My mother recovered.
Mrs. Chen came to stay with us temporarily and spent most of her time ordering Luca’s armed security guards to eat more vegetables.
Jake accepted a federal plea agreement.
He asked to see Emma.
I refused.
Not forever.
Just for now.
He needed to become someone worth meeting again.
Then Luca made his decision.
He would cooperate with federal investigators.
But on his terms.
He would dismantle the illegal portions of the Castellano organization himself, protect legitimate employees, and surrender records involving violent crimes.
“You could go to prison,” I told him.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
I hated the uncertainty.
“But if I don’t do this, Emma grows up surrounded by the same thing Matteo and I did.”
He touched my hand.
“I won’t give her that inheritance.”
Not money.
Violence.
Fear.
Silence.
That night, I signed documents restructuring North Sound.
Not transferring it.
Rebuilding it.
Forty percent of the waterfront would become mixed-income housing.
A public park would run along the shoreline.
Small commercial spaces would be leased below market rate to local businesses.
And one building would become a pediatric community health clinic.
Emma’s prescription had cost $237.
I would never forget that number.
Three months passed.
Luca’s businesses were audited.
Several were closed.
Others became fully legitimate.
He sold two nightclubs.
Matteo took control of Castellano Shipping under independent oversight.
Then came the federal hearing.
I sat behind Luca.
Emma stayed home.
The prosecutor described his cooperation.
His crimes.
His assistance.
The judge announced that sentencing would occur later.
Outside the courthouse, reporters surrounded us.
“Mr. Castellano, are you leaving organized crime?”
“Ava, are you marrying him?”
“Ms. Carter, did Castellano pressure you over North Sound?”
Luca ignored them.
Then someone shouted:
“Luca!”
He turned.
A man pushed through the crowd.
Jake.
I froze.
He was supposed to be in federal custody.
“Get down!” Luca shouted.
Jake reached inside his coat.
Security tackled him.
Something fell from his hand.
Not a gun.
An envelope.
“For Ava!”
I stared.
“Let him speak.”
Luca hesitated.
Then nodded.
Jake was hauled upright.
“They’re going to kill your mother.”
My blood froze.
“Who?”
“Antonio had one last insurance policy.”
“Antonio is dead.”
Jake shook his head.
“Not him.”
He looked directly at Luca.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Luca’s face changed.
“My mother is dead.”
Jake swallowed.
“No.”
And suddenly I understood why he had come.
There was one final secret.
One Luca had never imagined.
May you like
“Your mother is alive.”
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