Chapter 18 - ADRIAN’S CHOICE
Adrian did not become a Salazar.
He did not stop being a Romano either.
He became Adrian.
For the first few months after learning the truth, that seemed to be the hardest identity of all.
Mateo tried too hard.
Invitations.
Calls.
Old family photographs.
Stories about Marisol.
Adrian rejected almost everything.
Then one afternoon, Mateo appeared at the house without bodyguards.
He carried a cardboard box.
Adrian opened it.
Inside were letters my mother had written but never mailed.
Dozens.
Every year.
To my son.
Adrian sat at the kitchen table reading for three hours.
Nobody disturbed him.
When he finally emerged, his eyes were red.
He found me outside with Leo.
“She wanted me.”
I hugged him.
“Yes.”
“She never came.”
“She tried.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“Does knowing help?”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes it makes it worse.”
“Yes.”
That was grief.
Two truths living side by side.
Adrian eventually accepted coffee with Mateo.
Then dinner.
Then an awkward baseball game.
They did not suddenly become father and son.
Real life was not that neat.
But they began.
Caleb’s treatment improved too.
Victor funded it openly now.
Caleb complained constantly.
Victor ignored him.
The two developed an irritating friendship built mostly around insulting each other.
“You know he’s technically my brother-in-law if you marry Elise,” Caleb told Victor one evening.
Victor looked at me.
“If.”
I smiled.
Victor had not proposed again.
Not once.
The ring remained locked in his safe.
I knew because Leo told me.
“He looks at it.”
“What?”
“Daddy.”
Leo whispered dramatically.
“He opens the box when he thinks nobody sees.”
I tried not to smile.
“Maybe he misses your mom.”
Leo shook his head.
“He talks to her picture after.”
My heart tightened.
“What does he say?”
Leo shrugged.
“I don’t listen.”
Good boy.
Then, after a pause:
“Mostly.”
I laughed.
Months passed.
I returned to school.
Victor drove me on the first day.
Not a chauffeur.
Victor.
In a black SUV that attracted far too much attention.
“You can drop me around the corner.”
“No.”
“People are staring.”
“They should mind their business.”
“You have three security vehicles behind us.”
“Two.”
I looked in the mirror.
“Three.”
He sighed.
“Dominic added one.”
I kissed his cheek.
“Go home.”
Victor looked offended.
“This is my car.”
“Then drive away.”
I entered the university under the curious gaze of half the campus.
For the first time in years, I was not cleaning someone else’s house.
I was building my own future again.
That mattered.
One evening after class, I returned to the estate.
The sunroom had been rebuilt.
I had avoided it for months.
Victor found me standing outside.
“Want it removed?”
“No.”
“You don’t have to go in.”
“I know.”
I opened the door.
The new windows were stronger.
The floor different.
But the memory remained.
I walked to the spot where Leo had been playing.
Victor stood beside me.
“This is where everything changed.”
“Yes.”
“I hated you that day.”
He looked startled.
“What?”
“When you told me I belonged to you.”
Victor winced.
“I said that?”
“You had my blood all over you.”
“I was emotionally compromised.”
“You were a caveman.”
“That too.”
I smiled.
Then became serious.
“I understand now.”
“What?”
“You were terrified.”
“Yes.”
“And you thought possession was protection.”
He looked down.
“My father taught me that anything you loved had to be controlled.”
“My mother taught me that if you loved someone, you helped them run.”
Victor looked at me.
“Maybe both were wrong.”
“Maybe.”
We stood there quietly.
Then Leo ran in holding a drawing.
“Elise!”
It showed three people.
Victor.
Leo.
Me.
And a woman above us with wings.
My throat tightened.
“Who is that?”
“Mama.”
Victor went still.
Leo pointed.
“She’s happy because Daddy doesn’t yell all the time.”
“I still yell.”
“Not good.”
I laughed.
Victor stared at the drawing.
Then at me.
“Leo.”
“Yes?”
“Go find Mrs. Bellini.”
We both froze.
Mrs. Bellini.
The name still slipped out.
Evelyn had not returned to work.
She lived quietly under protection after testifying against Gabriel.
Leo corrected him.
“Mrs. Torres.”
“Yes.”
Leo ran away.
Victor waited until we were alone.
“Elise.”
My heartbeat changed.
He reached into his pocket.
“No.”
He froze.
“No?”
“Not here.”
His eyebrows lifted.
I touched the scars beneath my shoulder.
“I don’t want our engagement memory to begin where I almost died.”
Victor slowly lowered his hand.
“Fair.”
“And not Sofia’s ring.”
His face softened.
“You don’t want it?”
“I want Sofia to stay Sofia.”
Victor understood.
“What do you want?”
“Something ours.”
He nodded.
Then put the box away.
No disappointment.
No demand.
May you like
That was how I knew I would eventually say yes.
Because this time, Victor Romano could hear no without treating it as a challenge.
