Quit the Mafia Crown, Took the Healer Scalpel Chapter 18

Quit the Mafia Crown, Took the Healer Scalpel Chapter 18

When the plane landed in New York, Lina held the urn, her fingertips frozen stiff.

Liam and Matteo walked on either side of her, neither speaking.

The arrivals hall was packed with reporters, camera flashes hammering down.

Someone yelled “Lina, look here!” Someone yelled “Is Don Conti really dead?” A hand reached for the urn.

Matteo blocked the cameras, his face iron-dark. “Get lost!”

Liam made a call, and security pushed through to clear a path.

Lina kept her head down, holding the urn tighter.

Mrs. Conti was waiting at the airport.

Three days. The old lady had stood there for three days.

Seeing Lina get out, she stumbled over, took her hand, tears streaming down her aged face.

“Lina, in the end… did he say anything?”

Lina looked at her. The face was unmistakably Dante’s.

“He said he had many regrets in this life, but he hoped to meet again in the next.”

Mrs. Conti covered her mouth, crying so hard she couldn’t stand straight.

Lina supported the always graceful old lady, saying nothing.

On the day of the funeral, it rained in New York.

A fine rain, drifting like mist, wetting the headstone and the shoulders of everyone who came to mourn.

Lina stood at the front in a black dress, two rings clutched in her hand.

They were hers and Dante’s wedding rings.

Before the divorce, she had left hers at Rose Manor.

But Dante had never taken his off, and had made hers into a necklace and worn it against his chest.

They met in college and married, and he cheated in the second year and again in the third; then Lina stopped loving him.

But she never knew how long Dante had truly loved her.

She placed the rings in front of the headstone and stood up.

“Dante, I loved you, I hated you. I had let it all go, and then you made me owe you.”

“If there is a next life and we meet again, I hope you can keep your word.”

The rain fell on her face, cold.

Matteo offered an umbrella. She didn’t take it.

Liam opened the car door. She didn’t get in.

Lina just stood there, looking at the photo on the headstone.

Dante’s photo. Young, refined, with a trace of invincible arrogance in his brow.

It was how she had seen him the first time.

And the last time.

No one knew how long she stood there. Matteo walked over and gently took her hand.

“Lina, it’s time to go.”

Lina looked down at the hand holding hers.

Young, warm, careful.

She didn’t pull away.

She turned and left.

When they walked out of the cemetery, the rain stopped.

In the distance, fireworks over Manhattan were being tested, probably for some upcoming holiday.

Colorful lights burst on the horizon, one after another, like that night so many years ago.

Back then Dante stood beside her, pointing at the fireworks and saying, “Lina, I’ll love only you in this life.”

Lina stood at the cemetery gate, watching the fireworks for a long time.

Matteo didn’t rush her, and Liam didn’t speak.

They just stayed with her, on either side, like two silent shadows.

When the fireworks faded, she turned and got into the car.

On the flight back to Zurich, Lina sat by the window, clouds surging outside, sunlight blinding.

Matteo gently took her hand.

She didn’t pull away.

Liam sat across the aisle, eyes closed, but she knew he wasn’t asleep; he gripped the emergency response card, knuckles white.

The plane broke through the clouds, and sunlight filled the cabin.

Lina looked down at Matteo’s hand.

Young, warm, holding a little unease and hope.

She didn’t pull away.

At the edge of the clouds in the distance, something was shining.

A new story was just beginning.