Chapter 17 - “He’ll Come”
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Victor returned to Elena’s hospital video.
He watched everything again.
Then Jonathan noticed something at the very end.
The camera continued recording after Elena seemed finished.
A nurse entered.
Elena thought the video had stopped.
Her voice came faintly from off-screen.
“If anything happens to me, don’t let Marina decide where they go.”
The nurse answered.
“Who should?”
A pause.
Then Elena said—
“Victor.”
The nurse hesitated.
“What if he doesn’t know?”
Elena’s answer was immediate.
“He’ll come.”
Victor stopped the recording.
Those two words broke something open inside him.
Not because Elena believed he was powerful.
Not because she believed he could find anyone.
Because she trusted him.
Even while frightened.
Even while Marina lied.
Even while Victor failed to reach the hospital in time.
Elena believed that if he knew his children needed him—
He would come.
And eventually, he had.
Nine months late.
But he came.
Victor took a copy of the recording to the cemetery where Elena was buried.
Snow covered the ground.
He stood before her stone alone.
“I found him.”
His voice sounded strange in the cold.
“Gabriel.”
He looked down.
“He looks like Rose.”
A faint smile.
“They’re both loud.”
Victor had never spoken to a grave before.
It felt ridiculous.
He did it anyway.
“I’m sorry.”
Wind moved through bare trees.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know.”
He swallowed.
“And I’m sorry you were afraid alone.”
No answer came.
He didn’t need one.
Back at the estate, Rose and Gabriel were asleep beside the Christmas tree.
Victor had refused to remove it.
Christmas had been ruined once.
He wanted another.
So the Bellinis celebrated again on January 14.
A fake Christmas.
No press.
No board members.
No wealthy guests.
Just Victor.
Rose.
Gabriel.
Rebecca.
Rose’s nanny.
Jonathan.
A few trusted friends.
Victor called it “Christmas corrected.”
Jonathan called it “deeply irrational.”
The babies liked wrapping paper more than presents.
Rebecca gave Victor a framed photograph.
Elena holding both newborns.
The original had been recovered from a hospital nurse’s private archive.
Victor stared at it.
Elena looked exhausted.
Happy.
Gabriel on one side.
Rose on the other.
On the back, Elena had written:
Our whole world.
Victor placed the photograph beside the tree.
Then Rose crawled into his lap.
Gabriel followed.
Victor looked down at them.
Two children Marina had reduced to legal positions.
Firstborn.
Secondborn.
Real heir.
Lesser heir.
Victor finally understood how obscene the entire idea was.
They were not heirs tonight.
They were babies fighting over his watch.
And that was enough.
May you like
👉 Victor had finally reclaimed the Christmas Marina destroyed—but one final courtroom decision would determine whether she ever had the power to enter Rose and Gabriel’s lives again.
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