Chapter 9 - Healing and Truth
"Mr. Rossi... Sir," Tommy stammered, offering his hand awkwardly. "I... I don't know how to thank you. You saved my life. You saved my sister's job. I swear on my life I'll never touch a gambling table again."
"Save your oaths, Tommy," Leo replied, shaking his hand firmly. "Use that money I wired your account to pack your bags. Move out West. Start a legitimate business. Your debt to this family is paid in full, and your slate is completely clean."
Tommy nodded vigorously, tears of relief in his eyes, before stepping out of the room to give Clare and Leo privacy.
Clare looked up at the mafia boss who had turned her entire world upside down in less than twenty-four hours. She was still wearing her plain housemaid's uniform, her hair tied back in its usual simple knot.
"And you, Clare," Leo said softly, stepping closer. "You risked your life coming with me into that sanatorium. You gave me back my mother. How can I possibly repay that?"
"You already did," Clare whispered. "You saved Tommy. And... you brought your mother home."
From her chair by the fire, Elena Rossi smiled warmly, watching the two of them with a knowing, maternal glint in her amber eyes.
"Clare," Elena called out gently. "Come here, child."
Clare walked over, kneeling beside the elderly woman's chair.
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"You sat with a lonely old woman in a hospice when nobody else cared," Elena said, her voice filled with deep emotion. "You hummed my song when I had forgotten my own name. You are more family to this house than any of those capos who just walked out that door."
Leo looked down at Clare, realizing with sudden, staggering clarity that the quiet girl who had hummed a Calabrian lullaby in his library had brought more light into his dark world than a thousand soldiers ever could.
