Chapter 12 - The Seat at the Right Hand
The smoke had cleared from the hallway by dawn, replaced by the crisp morning air pouring through the shattered windows as municipal repair crews and state investigators worked quietly across the estate grounds. Malcolm Veseri and his entire inner circle were already in federal custody, facing decades of federal indictments for municipal fraud, document forgery, and armed assault.
Inside the grand dining room, the crystal chandelier caught the golden morning light, casting dancing patterns across the long walnut table.
There were no guests this morning. No rival bosses, no nervous politicians, and no corrupt attorneys trying to steal what belonged to the Rinaldi family.
Sebastian pulled out the chair immediately to his right—the chair that had remained empty for seven months of their marriage, the chair that had sparked a war and ended an empire.
Maggie walked into the dining room, dressed simply in a cream-colored sweater and dark trousers, her round glasses catching the morning light as she looked at him.
“Are you going to sit down?” Sebastian asked, a soft, genuine smile touching his lips for the second time in their lives.
Maggie walked over, trailing her hand lightly along the polished edge of the walnut table before sitting down in the seat beside him. Sebastian pushed her chair in gently, taking the seat at the head of the table right beside her.
May you like
“It's a very comfortable chair,” Maggie noted, adjusting her glasses.
“It's yours,” Sebastian said, reaching across the space between them to interlace his fingers with hers, the war behind them and a quiet, unbreakable future stretching out before them. “And it's never going to be empty again.”
