Chapter 19 - What Elias Asked of Me
Six months passed.
Vincent Mercer went to trial.
Daniel accepted a plea agreement and testified against him.
Marco did the same.
Caleb regained custody of Lucy and moved away from New York.
My mother began therapy for the years stolen from her.
Some mornings were difficult.
Some nights were worse.
But she was free.
So was I.
Catherine House opened all thirty apartments.
Within weeks, every room was occupied.
Women arrived with bruises hidden beneath sleeves.
Babies wrapped in thin blankets.
Children carrying everything they owned inside grocery bags.
Each time I saw them, I remembered the overpass.
But I no longer saw that night only as the place where I nearly died.
It was also where someone finally stopped.
Elias visited Catherine House almost every evening.
The staff pretended not to notice that New York’s most feared crime boss could be found sitting on the nursery floor holding two babies.
Emma loved pulling his tie.
Grace preferred sleeping against his chest.
He claimed neither behavior affected him.
Nobody believed him.
One evening, I found him standing beneath the overpass.
The same one.
Snow had melted months earlier.
Cars moved above us.
I approached slowly.
“What are you doing here?”
“Thinking.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
He looked at me.
“I brought something.”
My heart accelerated.
He reached inside his coat.
Not a ring.
A folded document.
I laughed.
“Very romantic.”
“I’m working on that.”
I opened it.
It was a legal restructuring of several Vance-owned companies.
Legitimate companies.
Shipping.
Security.
Construction.
Elias had begun separating them completely from his criminal organization.
I looked up.
“What is this?”
“A way out.”
My chest tightened.
“Out of what?”
“The life everyone expects me to keep living.”
I studied him.
“You’re leaving?”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the river.
“My father built certain things because he thought power would protect family.”
“It didn’t.”
“Your grandfather thought money would protect family.”
“It didn’t.”
He turned toward me.
“I think maybe people protect family.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment.
Then Elias reached into his coat again.
This time there was a ring.
Simple.
Beautiful.
My eyes widened.
He looked almost irritated by his own nervousness.
“Ava Bennett.”
I covered my mouth.
“I am very bad at speeches.”
“You threatened a city councilman for twenty minutes last week.”
“That was easier.”
I laughed through tears.
He continued.
“I cannot promise you a quiet life.”
“I cannot promise you that everyone will suddenly forget my name.”
“But I can promise that nobody will ever make your daughters feel unwanted beneath my roof.”
My tears fell freely.
“And you?”
He swallowed.
“I would like to spend whatever life I have left making sure you never feel unwanted either.”
I stared at him.
“Is that your proposal?”
“Yes.”
“It needs work.”
His face fell.
I smiled.
“But my answer is yes.”
For the first time, I saw Elias Vance completely lose his composure.
May you like
Then he kissed me beneath the place where he had once found me dying.
And above us, New York kept moving.
