Chapter 297: Ella Carter

Ella Carter

I never thought that killing someone would bring me peace.

But there I was, with Arnold's blood still fresh in my memory and the weight of his name finally lifted from my husband's shoulders, feeling something shift inside me.

It wasn’t just relief. It was power and a sense of choice. Finally knowing who I was in a world where living had always meant fighting.

For Leon, for Gavin, for Lessie, for all of us.

We left the body there, with my father-in-law telling us someone would take care of it and that I didn’t need to worry. I took a deep breath, and we walked out of the room that belonged to my father-in-law, leaving behind everything I had done at that moment.

I was happy after confirming my loyalty to the family I was joining. It wasn’t just the certainty that I was leaving behind the world I had always belonged to, but the certainty that it was the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. My mother-in-law pulled me aside and quickly bandaged my hand, something discreet that no one else would notice.

I left everything behind with courage, and hand in hand with Leon, we headed straight to the celebration.

The music was loud, the hall bathed in light and laughter. The most dangerous faces in the mafia smiled between champagne glasses and small gestures of respect. This was their language, celebration after blood, peace after war.

My dress was still flawless, now free from the apron and the stains from Arnold’s death. I could still feel the heat of the moment on my body, but I let myself be carried away by the lightness that hovered among us, pushing aside the horror of what I had done. This allowed a calm that wasn’t truly in me at that moment.

I felt Leon’s hand passing me the peace I had gifted him. I had freed him from the nightly terrors that haunted him. Now there was freedom to exist fully beside the man I loved.

Leon walked beside me with a smile only I truly knew. The one he only showed when his soul was quiet.

For the first time in a long time, Leon was at peace.

Training with Helena, Fay, and even my mother-in-law had become part of my routine. They taught me more than just strategies or combat; they were shaping me for what was coming.

Because being Leon Carter’s wife is not just a title, it’s a role and a solid foundation. It’s primarily being the link between war and the stability of a man in power.

I learned to distinguish between protection and control. The difference between respect and fear. And above all, I learned what it means to be the woman of the man who will command an empire.

"Now tell me what happened, you seem different..." I asked Gavin as we stepped away from the music a bit.

He looked at me with a brightness in his eyes I hadn’t seen in a long time. There was a serenity, as if he had found something inside himself during the time between us leaving the church and his arrival at the headquarters of ‘First’.

"She came to me" he said, and his smile widened with sincerity. "She was with Lessie."

My heart skipped a beat.

"You saw her?"

"Only for a moment. But it was enough to know there’s still love between us..."

Tears welled in his eyes, and I moved closer to my husband’s cousin.

"She said she’s coming, that she still needs to sort something out, but that she hasn’t given up. And Lessie..."

"She’s alive?" Leon asked in disbelief.

"More than ever, but there’s something different in her eyes, Ella. Like she’s freed herself from everything that once held her back. She asked me to wait, that she will come back."

A silent tear fell from my eyes before I could stop it. Gavin hugged me tightly.

“Thank you” he whispered. "For believing in her even when I couldn’t."

I slowly pulled back and touched his face.

"Your love is made of scars, but also of roots. She’ll return to where she knows she belongs."

He nodded.

In that hall filled with voices and laughter, each of us carried the silence of a war won, or at least the most important one so far.

I returned to Leon and nestled in his arms. He spun me lightly on the dance floor, as if we were dancing alone in the world.

"You know what you did today, don’t you?" he whispered.

"I gave peace to the man who taught me what love is."

He kissed me gently, and in the background, the music continued, like a hymn of victory.

But deep in my chest, I knew everything was changing, and more changes were coming. Even if Lessie had told Gavin she would come back to us, we don’t know when or how.

Worse, we have no idea why she doesn’t trust the family to solve the problem she’s facing.

I was spun around among the guests, and I felt Leon’s hand come to my waist as he pulled me close again and pressed his lips to the side of my temple.

"What do you think about starting to work on our heirs?" he asked, and I could sense a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"I stopped taking birth control two months ago!" He stopped our movement and looked at me with all the love we had always felt for each other.

"Are you ready?" I was confused.

"To be a mother?"

"That too, but I meant leaving now and enjoying our honeymoon."

I let out a loud laugh and hugged him tightly as we danced a little longer.

"Yes, my love!"

"Then let’s say our goodbyes, my queen."

Leon led me by the hand with that way of his, like he held the world in his fingers. As we moved away from the party, the guests were still toasting, and the golden lights of the ballroom began to fade behind us.

We walked through the hotel corridors toward the room where we knew part of the family was gathering. It was tradition, before the bride and groom left, we always received one final blessing. But what we found there was more than that.

The half-open door revealed low voices. I recognized Carolina’s voice and my mother-in-law Laís’s. But what surprised me was the presence of Bishop Scott.

He was seated in a leather armchair, his cassock slightly unkempt, his eyes tired but alert. In his hand, he held a glass of red wine like any other man, not the sacred representative who had just celebrated our union a few hours earlier.

"And do you have any news?" It was Carolina’s firm voice.

"Nothing concrete yet," the bishop replied seriously. "But I’m using all my resources. I promise you this: I’ll do everything possible, and impossible, to find her."

My hand involuntarily tightened around Leon’s.

"He’s involved in this?" I murmured. "The bishop?"

"Wait..." he whispered back, his eyes fixed on the faces in front of us.

Carolina let out a heavy sigh and took a sip of her own wine.

"If she truly carries the blood we suspect, we need to be sure before the enemy finds out..."

"We must find this young woman. The life of someone we love depends on her being found..." we heard Helena’s voice.

"Do you plan to return home, Scott?" my mother-in-law asked.

"I have no intention of returning to the Mafia. I’m fine serving where I am!" there was determination in his voice...

I turned to Leon, surprised to learn there were Mafia members even within the church. Honestly, that stunned me.

"I didn’t know!" Leon whispered.

He gently pulled me out of sight so we wouldn’t be noticed.

"Yes. He tried to force her into a marriage. He believed that, with my grandparents’ separation, he could gain even more power through a marriage to my grandmother. What he didn’t know was that my grandfather Hassan was already involved with her."

I knew some stories, but not all, especially not the ones involving the Mafia.

"And they still respected her?" I asked, amazed at the elderly woman speaking behind those doors.

"No. They began to fear her. Which, in our world, is far more useful."

I swallowed hard, my eyes fixed on Carolina’s figure. The woman who smiled sweetly at family dinners was also the one who had shaped the power of the Carter bloodline.

The family’s blood flowed with poison, strength, and sacrifice.

When the conversation ended, we entered the room, still processing the information echoing in my mind. We walked in as if nothing had happened and said our goodbyes discreetly. I kissed Helena and Laís’s hands, hugged my mother tightly, and left Lola and Perninha with Fay, who promised to send me videos every day.

In the car, Leon held my hand as if we were already mid-flight.

"So, where are you taking me, Mr. Carter?"

"The most unlikely place in the world to hide, and the most beautiful one to love."

He looked at me with a mischievous smile.

"Plitvice Lakes, Croatia."

"You’re kidding?"

"Waterfalls, forests, translucent lakes, little connection to the world, and a stone house in the middle of the national park. Just us."

I closed my eyes, smiling.

"Sounds like paradise."

"It’s not. But if you’re with me, it will be."

Hours later, after landing, the crisp air and dense silence of nature enveloped us. Within minutes, we were stepping into the stone house where we’d spend the next few days, just the two of us.

"Ahhh..." I let out a squeal as, in a swift move, Leon lifted me off the ground and carried me across the threshold in his arms.

I smiled joyfully, as if every step my husband took into what would become our refuge was erasing the pain of where we’d come from and writing, firmly, our next chapter.