“A real date?”
“One date.”
“And after that?”
“I decide freely.”
A slow smile touched his face.
“As you should.”
Mara walked with him through the empty dining room.
A year earlier, she had climbed the staircase believing she was approaching a monster because the people who called themselves family had fed her to cruelty.
Now she understood that appearances had never been the true dividing line.
Grant wore a tailored suit and spoke about family while trying to steal her life.
Evelyn cried while protecting the people who harmed her.
Lauren smiled behind a phone because humiliation felt safer when it belonged to someone else.
Vincent, feared by an entire city, had placed a pen in front of her and made sure she knew she could refuse.
The contract had saved the bakery.
The evidence had exposed the betrayal.
But Mara’s final victory was simpler than money, punishment, or the Bellini name.
When she stepped through the restaurant doors, no one dragged her, summoned her, or decided where she belonged.
She walked out by choice.
