Chapter 48

Keres, embraced by Ace and Romeo, agrees to be with them both at once. With careful consent and tenderness, Ace and Romeo guide her through a first-time experience that empowers Keres to let go and feel safe. The encounter cements their mutual trust and desire, and she falls asleep imagining a life shaped by love rather than vengeance.

In the morning, Keres wakes between them, savoring warmth and safety yet feeling the pull to leave. Despite a fleeting urge to stay, she takes Romeo’s bike and rides off, determined to make amends for the danger she brought to them and to complete one last responsibility.

Keres arrives at the Moretti mansion, where Maximo notes Lorenzo expected her return. In the library, Lorenzo confirms Theo Wynn is dead and asks after Ace and Romeo. Keres admits she left them at the motel and then pleads for their safety, offering herself in their place and accepting blame for Mia’s kidnapping.

Lorenzo, influenced by his pacifist wife Mia and Joey’s attachment to the men, refuses to punish Ace and Romeo. Acknowledging Keres’s courage, he presents paperwork: the deed to a decommissioned convent. He explains Mia knew Keres’s dream of a refuge and wants to donate the building for Keres to run, with optional Moretti support but full responsibility on Keres.

Keres challenges the gesture, wary of debts and the shadow of their father. Lorenzo counters that accepting the chance to help others is a way to move forward, not erase the past. He offers her a choice between a jet to her long-dreamed Greek island or the building to found her safe haven. Keres weighs both futures and realizes there is only one right choice for her and Phoenix’s memory.