Chapter 10 - The Empire We Built
Three years later, the Belmont Hotel ballroom was once again host to a grand society gala, but this time, the air was entirely different. The room buzzed with nervous, genuine respect rather than hollow, plastic pretense as the doors opened and the doors parted effortlessly for the city's true power couple. Sloan walked down the center aisle in a custom midnight-blue silk gown that commanded every eye in the room, her head held high, radiating absolute confidence and unshakeable grace. Dante walked beside her, his hand resting securely at her waist, no longer just a feared syndicate boss, but a man completely anchored by a partner who matched his fire step for step. They didn't hide in the shadows or play the games of the city's corrupt elite anymore; they owned the room because they had built something real out of the ashes of their pasts. Richard Hayes was long forgotten in a federal penitentiary, and Paige was a distant memory of a life left behind in a seafoam-green dress. Sloan stopped near the center of the ballroom, accepting a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, her gaze meeting Dante's across the glittering crowd. He raised his glass to hers in a silent, eternal toast, his gray eyes reflecting absolute devotion. She smiled back, knowing she was no longer a shadow, no longer a piece of collateral, and no longer anyone's prisoner. She was a queen ruling her own empire, standing right where she belonged.
