Page 159 of The Serpent's Bride

I nodded once. Years ago, that boy barely looked anyone in the eye. Now he stood beside me like family. Like a Moretti. Chiara noticed too. Emotion softened her face as she watched Matteo settle beside Luca protectively when the twins started arguing again.

“They adore him,” she whispered.

“They should,” I said quietly. “He’d kill for them.”

Her eyes flicked toward me slowly. “You would too.”

Without hesitation. Without question. “Yes.”

The answer settled between us heavily. Certain. Because that was the truth of it now. Not obsession. Not ownership. Love.

Violent and consuming and dangerous enough to ruin me permanently. But love all the same. Music swelled through the ballroom while fireworks burst brighter outside, turning the glass walls gold and crimson.

Aurora finally crossed the room toward us with Sergio at her side. Interesting. Very interesting.

“You,” Aurora informed me, “are no longer allowed to arrange marriages.”

“I arranged one successfully already.” I laughed. “My own. Remember?”

Chiara nearly inhaled champagne wrong. Aurora rolled her eyes violently. Beside her, Sergio looked like a man realizing his future might become catastrophic. I almost respected it. Almost.

Then Aurora looked toward my wife, toward the twins climbing all over me, toward Sienna hanging off my arm while Matteo quietly fixed Luca’s crooked tie.

And something softened in her expression. Tiny. But real. This. This was what Lorenzo Ventura tried to destroy. And failed. Family. Not the kind built through fear. The kind people chose willingly.

Chiara slipped her hand into mine beneath the table. Small fingers. Warm skin. Still the only thing capable of bringing me to my knees. I looked down at her quietly. My wife. The girl who once trembled at the altar. The girl who thought I ruined her. Maybe I had. Because she ruined me too.

She turned me into something worse than a monster. A man with something to lose.

“You’re staring again,” she murmured softly.

“Still at you.”

Her cheeks pinked slightly. After all these years. After everything. Still mine.

Sienna gasped dramatically. “WAIT.”

Everyone looked at her. Her eyes widened slowly as she stared between Chiara and me.

“Oh my God,” she whispered loudly. “You’re gonna make another baby tonight, aren’t you?”

Dead silence. Absolute dead silence. Then Matteo burst out laughing. Aurora choked. Sergio covered his face. The twins started yelling:

“BABY SISTER. BABY SISTER. BABY SISTER.”

Chiara turned scarlet beside me. And for the first time in years… I laughed. Not the cold version. Not the cruel one. Real laughter ripped out of my chest while my entire family dissolved into chaos around me.

Fireworks exploded brighter beyond the windows. Gold light flooded the ballroom. And standing there in the middle of all that noise and warmth and life… I realized something terrifying.

For years, men feared me because I was The Serpent. But this? This family? They were the most dangerous thing that had ever happened to me. Because now there was something in this world I would burn kingdoms to protect.

Chiara leaned against my side while our sons argued loudly with Sienna about baby names. Aurora threatened violence. Sergio looked exhausted already. Matteo laughed quietly under his breath.

And somewhere between the fireworks, the laughter, and my wife’s fingers tangled with mine… the emptiness inside me finally disappeared.

My father built an empire out of fear. I built this. And when Chiara looked up at me beneath the falling gold light, smilinglike she already knew every dark thing inside me and loved me anyway— I understood.

This was the real happy ending. Not survival. Not power. Not the empire. Her.Always her.