Page 97 of Forbidden Sins

“I can honor Luis’ memory this way, too.” She swallows hard. “Maybe there’s a place in our lives for both duty and love.”

I nod, my arm around her as we follow Antony out to the elevator, and down to where a car is waiting. I keep Estella close, still not entirely convinced this isn't some elaborate trap. He might have agreed to let me live, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still wary.

A driver opens the door for us as soon as we step out to the curb, and Antony gestures for us to get in. I hesitate, my instincts screaming caution.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Sinclair," Antony says, a hint of impatience in his voice. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be lying back there with Vito."

All I can do is trust that he’s telling the truth. I help Estella into the SUV, then slide in beside her. Antony joins us, sitting across from us, as the driver starts the engine. For several minutes, no one speaks. The tension in the vehicle is thick enough to cut with a knife. Finally, Antony breaks the silence.

“I meant what I said back there, Sinclair. I won’t spend my life watching my back. If you put a foot wrong, I won’t hesitate to end you. Even if you are my son-in-law.”

“Dad!” Estella gasps, but I shake my head.

“I understand,” I say calmly. “I can put the past behind me if you can, Antony.” I keep my gaze level with his, the deferencesirof before gone. “We can move forward.”

A small smirk touches the corner of Antony’s lips. “As a family.”

I nod. “Indeed.”

The rest of the drive passes in relative silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Estella leans against me, her head on my shoulder, her hand still clasped in mine. My heartbeat steadiesand slows, and I can feel her breathing doing the same. I don't know what the future holds for us. The path ahead is fraught with dangers and difficulties I can clearly imagine. The life I’m stepping into is familiar and not, all at the same time, but none of that matters to me right now.

I look down at Estella, at the woman who stepped out in front of Vito to defend me in that forest, who stood tall before her father and demanded her right to choose her own path, whether it meant her life or her death. I look at the woman I love, and I know one thing with absolute certainty.

Whatever comes, we'll face it together.

And God help anyone who tries to stand in our way.

32

ESTELLA

I’m not sure that I believe it’s all really happening until we’re back at the mansion, back to a life I was so desperate to escape just days ago. Sebastian's hand is warm in mine, his presence solid and reassuring beside me. Across from us, my father stares out the window, his profile sharp and hard, his thoughts hidden behind that impenetrable mask he's perfected over decades.

I know he’s not pleased with me, with the demands I placed on him. But I can’t bring myself to care. Having tasted freedom and love with Sebastian, there was no other way I could have lived going forward.

“What happens now?” I ask curiously.

A faint smile touches my father’s lips, and he adjusts his cuffs, looking at me calmly. “We’ll have to spread a different story about what happened. The former don in Boston will want to know what happened to Vito. We’ll need to make arrangements and perfect our story.”

“The truth won’t work?” I ask, a touch sarcastically, and my father chuckles darkly.

“That Vito tried to assault my daughter, so she ran away with her bodyguard, was captured, threatened by Vito, and then rescued by that same bodyguard and myself, ending in Vito’s death? No, not unless we want war with Boston and their allies. These are the kinds of things you’ll learn over time, daughter.” He pauses. “The right lie, told convincingly, can prevent bloodshed.”

"What will you tell them?" Sebastian asks.

“We’ll consider different options. We’ll choose one, create evidence, a paper trail, witnesses. We’ll make sure that the truth doesn’t come out. And then eventually, it will all be behind us.”

“This could all have been avoided if you listened to your daughter from the start,” Sebastian says coldly. I place my hand over his, my heartbeat quickening slightly. But my father doesn’t retort right away.

“I’m listening now,” is all he says. “And you would do well to listen, too, Sinclair. The road you’ve both chosen isn’t easy. You’ll need to walk it with care.”

As we pull through the gates, I feel a strange mixture of fear and relief. This place has been both my home and my prison, and it feels like almost too much to hope that I could finally, really be happy here.

But we have the chance to try.

The next hours are a flurry. A doctor arrives to check both Sebastian and me, tending to us without questions, confirming that my wound was infected. I’m told it will scar, although I can’t bring myself to care. After everything we’ve survived, a scar feels like the least of my worries.

After a hot shower, I feel more like myself again. I was instructed to go back to my own room, and Sebastian was told to stay the night in his. But I can’t quite feel safe that something won’t happen to him in the night, that I won’t wake and find that this hasn’t all been a trap set up by my father, to bring me homeand still take Sebastian away. As soon as I’m out of the shower and dressed, I sneak downstairs and into his room, where I find him propped up in bed, his hair wet from his own shower and his shoulder freshly bandaged, wearing only a pair of dark pajama pants.

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