Chapter 21
"You really have become magnificent, Claire," he murmured softly. "I was so blind... so terribly blind."
He folded the file carefully and tucked it inside his jacket. Then, he reached into his inner pocket and pulled out an old, velvet-lined jeweler's box.
He held it out to me with trembling hands.
"What is this?" I asked, frowning.
"Open it," he said softly.
I picked up the box and popped open the spring latch. Inside lay a simple, unadorned gold band—my original wedding ring that I had stripped off my finger and left on the hospital bed seven years ago.
**“I carried it in my pocket every single day for seven years,”** Vincent said, his voice cracking with unbearable pain. **“Hoping that one day, I would find you and ask for forgiveness.”**
I looked down at the gold band shining beneath the church candlelight. A wave of intense, suffocating emotion washed over me, threatening to drown my hard-earned composure. For a second, a tiny, buried part of me remembered the young man who had promised to love and protect me forever.
Then, I closed the velvet box with a sharp *snap* and thrust it back into his hand.
"Some things cannot be fixed with gold, Vincent," I said, my voice unwavering. "Finish what you need to do on Friday. And then let us go."
Before Vincent could reply, the sudden sound of heavy boots echoed from the back of the empty church.
The heavy wooden entrance doors slammed shut with a deafening bang.
Three men in dark tactical jackets stepped out from the shadows of the foyer, holding silenced submachine guns aimed directly at our chests.
Walking behind them, a cold, triumphant smile plastered across his face, was Julian Rossi.
"Well, well, well," Julian sneered, his voice echoing loudly off the sacred stone walls. "What a beautiful family reunion. I was wondering where you snuck off to without your bodyguards, Vincent."
Vincent immediately moved his large body in front of me, shielding me completely from the armed men, his hand dropping to the concealed firearm at his waist.
"Julian," Vincent growled, his voice laced with pure venom. "You're a dead man walking."
"Am I?" Julian laughed, motioning to his armed men who slowly stepped forward, surrounding the altar. **“You left yourself completely unprotected for a woman who hates you, Don Moretti.** And thanks to Sophia's tracker on your car, I get to clean up all the loose ends in one single afternoon.”