Chapter 13 - THE WEDDING BEFORE MIDNIGHT
Samuel wanted the marriage stopped.
Daniel wanted it completed under his control.
Apparently no one respected boundaries.
We had six hours before the pre-merger expired.
Samuel sent one demand.
Destroy the Bell server copy.
Impossible.
Federal agents had it.
So his real goal was chaos.
My mother was held inside an old church in Evanston.
I looked at Vincent.
“We’re going.”
“Yes.”
No argument.
Progress.
The church was surrounded quietly.
Samuel stood at the altar with my mother.
He had a gun.
Again.
My mother looked furious more than frightened.
Very on brand.
Samuel shouted,
“Stop the marriage!”
I almost laughed.
“Uncle Samuel, this is an intervention.”
His face twisted.
“That money is ours.”
“No.”
“It belongs to the Bell family.”
“I am Bell family.”
“You’re throwing it away.”
“Yes.”
He looked genuinely horrified.
“You’d give away two hundred million?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my grandmother died trying to stop people like you from using it.”
His face hardened.
“You’re weak.”
Vincent stepped beside me.
“No.”
Samuel looked at him.
“She’s giving away power.”
Vincent’s voice stayed calm.
“She’s choosing what power means.”
My heart tightened.
Samuel raised the gun.
Police moved.
My mother did something insane.
She stepped on his foot and elbowed him.
He fired.
The bullet hit the ceiling.
Vincent tackled him.
Police swarmed.
My mother fixed her hair.
“I had it handled.”
I stared.
“You were kidnapped.”
“Technicality.”
I laughed until I cried.
Samuel was arrested.
Again.
This time, with approximately forty officers watching.
We had forty-seven minutes left.
Anna found a judge.
Mrs. Marino found flowers.
My mother found champagne.
Marco found a sandwich for Vincent.
Naturally.
We married in the church Samuel had chosen for kidnapping.
Because apparently irony mattered.
No guests except family, security, and law enforcement.
I stood facing Vincent.
He held my hands.
“Still sure?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
“What?”
“I’d worry if you were calm.”
The judge began.
When he asked whether I entered the marriage voluntarily, I looked at Vincent.
Not the mafia boss.
Not the heir.
Not the man my mother secretly hoped I would marry.
The stranger under a table who gave me half his sandwich.
The man who stopped when I said stop.
The man who offered me an exit before asking me to stay.
“Yes.”
Vincent answered yes too.
The judge pronounced us married.
The system confirmation came seven minutes later.
Bell-Marino merger complete.
Daniel’s claim terminated.
Project Sovereign dissolved.
All illicit control structures transferred to federal oversight.
Rose’s fortune legally moved into a new trust.
I named it the Rose Foundation.
Victims’ compensation.
Anti-trafficking support.
Legal aid.
Community housing.
My grandmother’s money would finally do what she wanted.
Something good.
Vincent kissed me after the ceremony.
At first, gently.
Then not gently.
My mother coughed.
We separated.
Vincent whispered,
“Six months.”
I smiled.
“Don’t get confident.”
Then Anna’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Everyone turned.
She looked at me.
“The merger uncovered one final account.”
I sighed.
“Please tell me it’s boring.”
“No.”
“Of course.”
She swallowed.
“The account is in your name.”
“How much?”
“Thirty million.”
I stared.
“Why separate?”
“Because Rose designated it personally.”
“For what?”
Anna read the attached instruction.
Her face changed.
“What?”
She looked toward Vincent.
“Rose wrote that the money should be used only if Evelyn married a Marino.”
I closed my eyes.
“And?”
Anna continued.
“For the child.”
Silence.
I stared.
“What child?”
Vincent went still.
Anna looked confused.
“The document says…”
She read.
“For the child Rose knew would someday unite both families.”
My stomach dropped.
Vincent looked at me.
“No.”
I stared back.
“We are absolutely not letting dead people plan our children.”
“Agreed.”
Then my mother whispered,
“That account wasn’t written by Rose.”
Everyone turned.
She looked pale.
“It was written by Raffaele.”
Vincent’s face changed.
“Why?”
May you like
My mother swallowed.
“Because he knew something about your family no one else did.”
