CHAPTER 4: THIRTY YEARS RETURNED
Six months later.
The harbor breeze drifted across a quiet stretch of coastline in Maine.
There were no bodyguards.
No politicians.
No criminal meetings.
No violence.
Only the sound of waves.
A small white house overlooked the ocean.
The house Dominic had once promised Rose.
The house he never thought he would see.
Until now.
Rose stood in the garden planting flowers.
Real flowers.
Not memorial flowers.
Not funeral flowers.
Flowers for a future.
Lily chased a golden retriever across the yard, laughing so loudly that seagulls scattered overhead.
Dominic watched from the porch.
For most of his life he had believed power meant fear.
Control.
Respect.
Money.
He finally understood how wrong he had been.
Power was this.
A family eating dinner together.
A child laughing.
A woman smiling.
A peaceful home.
Rose walked over and sat beside him.
Neither spoke for a while.
They simply watched Lily play.
Finally Rose slipped her hand into his.
"You know," she said softly, "you still owe me a Christmas present."
Dominic laughed.
A real laugh.
One Rose had not heard in thirty years.
"I think I owe you about thirty of them."
She leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Then we'd better get started."
The setting sun painted the ocean gold.
Lily ran toward them carrying the repaired silver locket.
The tiny engraved star gleamed in the evening light.
"Look!" she shouted.
"I fixed it!"
Dominic took the locket and opened it.
Inside remained the old photograph.
The young couple who had once lost everything.
But now there was something new.
A second photograph.
Rose.
Dominic.
And Lily.
A family.
At last.
Dominic closed the locket and wrapped an arm around both of them.
For years he had searched for revenge.
What he found instead was something far more valuable.
The life that had been stolen from him.
And this time, he intended to keep it.
May you like
Forever.
THE END
