He Married His Enemy’s Daughter, So I Left the Mafia Family Chapter 10
Once we had enough evidence to tie everything back to Selena, she had almost no room left to deny
any of it.
She had controlled offshore accounts, rallied the surviving Rossi loyalists, financed cross-border trade routes, and planned the attack on the Lake Forest compound.
I returned to Chicago with the joint operations team,
On the day we arrested Selena, she was still living at the same compound.
The people who had once crowded around her calling her “Miss Rossi” and “Mrs. Moretti” now kept their distance.
Not one of them dared speak up for her.
But when they saw me, they didn’t seem to know what to make of me either.
Six months ago, I had still been the Carter who wasn’t even allowed a seat in the Family’s inner
circle.
Now I had returned with authorization from the Commission.
One of the older capos tried to approach me.
“Natalie, about what happened back then…”
I didn’t even look at him.
“On the job, it’s Carter.”
His expression stiffened.
Selena was crying when they brought her out.
The moment she saw me, the fear in her eyes quickly turned into hatred.
“Who the hell are you to arrest me? You think Commission authorisation gives you the right to touch me? I’m a Rossi. My father was a Don.”
I walked up to her.
“Your father’s dead. Your Family’s gone. All you’ve got left is enough evidence for federal
prosecutors to charge you.”
Her hand immediately moved over her stomach.
“I’m pregnant. They can’t touch me.”
“Being pregnant doesn’t make RICO, interstate drug trafficking, money laundering or murder charges disappear.”
I looked straight at her.
“Once the baby’s born, social services will deal with the arrangements. As for you, your name won’t buy you any special treatment anymore.”
Selena’s face turned deathly pale.
After they took her away, I didn’t return to Lake Forest.
Adrian didn’t come after me either.
Victor later told me that Adrian voluntarily gave up most of his control over Moretti Security and stepped away from the Family’s succession race.
But none of that had anything to do with me anymore.
Three months later, the Commission enforcement unit launched its final assault on the last cross-border stronghold.
The operation was more dangerous than we’d expected.
The other side knew there was no way out, so they concentrated their fire on the narrow desert
passage.
I took two teammates around the flank.
Just as we were preparing to move into cover, a burst of gunfire ripped in from the side.
“Natalie!”
Someone charged into me from behind.
I was knocked hard to the ground.
When I rolled over, I finally saw the man lying beside me.
Adrian.
I had no idea how he’d slipped through the outer perimeter.
Blood covered his chest and shoulder.
“Are you out of your mind?”
I pressed my hands against his wounds.
“You can’t be here.”
Adrian coughed.
Then he looked at me and actually smiled.
“I know. So this time… I’m not here to protect you. I’m here to pay back what I owe.”
His voice grew weaker.
“Daniel saved my life. You’ve saved me more times than I can count. I wouldn’t even be alive if Daniel hadn’t saved me back then… so now I’m giving that life back to him.”
I said nothing.
In the distance, the gunfire slowly died away.
My team had secured the final stronghold.
Adrian struggled to raise one hand.
He looked like he wanted to touch my face, the way he had countless times before.
But in the end, his hand stopped in midair.
“Natalie, if I could do it all again…”
He never finished the sentence.
His hand fell.
I sat there for several seconds without crying or calling his name, until my team leader came over
and told me the operation was over.
Dawn was already beginning to break.
I stood up and straightened my black tactical jacket.
Then I reached into my pocket and took out the old commemorative coin my father had left me.
I closed my fingers around it.
Years ago, I thought I needed a last name, a man, and the approval of the Family’s inner circle to prove that I belonged somewhere.
Eventually, understood.
I didn’t need the Morettis to accept me.
I didn’t need any Family to give me a place.
I lifted my head and looked across the desert stretching beyond El Paso.
The sun was rising in the distance.
From that moment on, I was Natalie Carter.
Just Natalie Carter.
And the rest of my life belonged to no Family.
It belonged only to me.
