Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 1046 : A Promise for the Future

*Leo*

The waiting room in the prison wasn’t like the rest of the place. It was quieter, polished, a far cry from the cold steel and concrete that made up the rest of the facility.

This was the kind of space reserved for those with enough power and money to arrange a meeting in comfort. It made sense that the Valentinos had access to it.

I sat in the chair, waiting, hands folded in front of me.

The room smelled of disinfectant and cheap coffee, a combination that did nothing to calm my nerves.

I told myself I wasn’t nervous, but my fingers tapped a slow rhythm against the table anyway.

A lot had happened and I hadn’t had a chance to check in with my sister until now. My sister... that still felt strange even to think it.

The guards brought Maria in a few minutes later.

Her wrists were still bound in cuffs as she stepped inside, but she held herself like she wasn’t restrained at all.

That was Maria, she never let the weight of her situation show.

Her sharp green eyes landed on me, flickering with confusion before something softer settled there.

“Leoncito,” she said, tilting her head as the guard removed her cuffs. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again so soon.”

I gestured for her to sit. “Relax. I just wanted to talk.”

Maria hesitated but eventually lowered herself into the chair across from me. “That’s new,” she said, a wry smirk on her lips. “Didn’t think we were the heart-to-heart type.”

I leaned back. “You might be right.”

Silence settled between us for a moment, but it wasn’t tense.

It was the kind of silence that came from people who had finally reached an understanding, however complicated it might be.

Was I ready to call her family... probably not. But I accepted that we had a connection.

“I asked Alessandro to arrange this,” I finally said. “I wanted to see you before you got swallowed up in the system.”

Maria let out a small, humorless laugh. “You mean before I fade into nothing behind bars?” She shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about me, Leo. I deserve this. I’ve done enough damage for ten lifetimes.”

“Your sentencing,” I asked, ignoring her deflection. “What happened?”

Her expression flickered with something unreadable. “Because of your people cleaning up the mess, and because the cops don’t want to admit a full-blown prison break happened under their noses, they pushed everything through quietly. No public trial, no media attention. Just a quiet little sentence to keep me locked away for the next few years.”

“And because you helped.”

She scoffed. “Yeah. That too. Apparently selling out Andre and every Angel I knew shaved a few years off my time.” She studied me for a long moment. “Why do you care?”

I exhaled through my nose, leaning forward. “Because I wanted to thank you.”

Maria blinked, stunned into silence for the first time since I met her.

“If it weren’t for you, Bianca and my children wouldn’t have made it,” I continued. “You did what no one else could. You stopped Andre. You made sure I got back to them and you helped deliver them.”

Maria’s throat bobbed as she swallowed, her usual mask cracking slightly. “I didn’t do it for thanks,” she muttered.

“I know,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it. I... thank you.”

It was all I could say but somehow, those words didn’t seem adequate.

For a long moment, Maria didn’t say anything. She just stared at me, like she was trying to find some hidden angle, some trick or lie in my words. But there was none.

She finally let out a breath, shaking her head. “How are they?” she asked, voice quiet.

I didn’t answer her. Instead, I turned my head toward the door and beckoned with my hand.

It opened slowly, and for the first time since we sat down, Maria looked completely caught off guard.

Bianca stood there, hesitant but composed, her arms full with two small bundles. She looked unsure at first, but the moment her eyes met mine, she gave me a nod.

Maria stared, her mouth slightly open as she took in the sight. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“Oh my goodness,” she breathed.

Bianca stepped forward, adjusting the twins in her arms. “I wanted to thank you too,” she said softly. “For giving me the chance to be here with them.”

Maria sat frozen, her eyes locked on the babies.

“They are beautiful.” Maria’s voice was no more than a whisper. Her eyes turned glassy.

Bianca shifted, carefully lowering our son first, holding him out toward Maria. “Would you like to hold him?”

Maria hesitated, her hands twitching slightly as if she wasn’t sure she deserved to. Finally, she nodded and raised her cuffed hands.

Even though they were bound, she could still create a small cradle in her arms.

Bianca placed our son into her arms, her hand lingering on the baby’s blanket before she stepped back.

He was barely a few weeks old, but he snuggled into Maria’s warmth like he already knew her. His tiny fingers curled against her shirt, and when she looked down at him, something in her completely broke.

Tears slipped down her face silently as he blinked up at her, his tiny hand reaching up to grasp at a strand of her dark hair.

“He has Bianca’s eyes,” I said, watching Maria as she took him in.

Maria swallowed hard, her fingers tightening around the baby. “He’s perfect,” she whispered.

Bianca smiled, shifting slightly to reveal our daughter still in her arms. “And this little one fought just like her father to be here.”

Maria’s lips trembled as she looked at both of them, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

“They are the luckiest of all of us,” she said placing a soft kiss on my son’s head.

“What do you mean?” I furrowed my brow.

“They will be the first generation of our family to grow up away from all this.” She cast her eyes around the jail cell. “They’ll actually have a chance at a normal life. And you two will be amazing parents. Something else not a lot of us had...”

She cooed at the baby and nuzzled her nose against his forehead.

Maria sighed and hugged the baby a little closer.

“I can’t believe how amazing they are.”

“Heh. Believe it,” I chuckled and grinned. “I made those.”

Bianca rolled her eyes at me as she bounced our daughter in her arms.

“I ruined a lot of lives,” Maria admitted, voice barely audible. “I hurt people, Leo. I hurt you.”

“You saved me,” I corrected. “You saved my family. And now you have a chance to do more.”

“You gave me my life back,” she added, rocking the baby back and forth. “You reminded me who I am and what it’s like to have family.”

My mouth dried out. There it was, that word. I couldn’t deny that Maria was my family.

Did I imagine her coming over for Sunday dinners and playing with the kids as they grew up? No, I wasn’t sure we’d ever have that kind of relationship.

But she was family. As weird as that was to me.

“It’s your time to make changes for yourself Maria, and go after what you want.”

Maria closed her eyes for a moment before nodding. “I will,” she whispered. “When I get out of here, I’ll be a real doctor. I’ll save as many lives as I’ve ruined.”

I reached out then, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Then start now. Make this count.”

Maria looked up at me, blinking rapidly to push away the tears.

“With good behavior, I could get out in half the time. I’m going to devote all my time here to studying and helping other people turn their lives around.” She assured me with a firm nod.

“And when you get out, look us up. We are family, after all,” I said, smiling.

I knew this wasn’t the end for her. She would carry her past like a weight on her back, just like I carried mine. But we were survivors. And survivors found a way to move forward.

I let out a slow breath and finally did what I never thought I’d do.

I pulled Maria into a hug.

She stiffened at first, caught off guard, but then she melted into it.

“Thank you, Ria,” I murmured, calling her by the name I barely remembered from childhood. “For everything.”

Maria let out a choked laugh against my shoulder. “Don’t make me cry in prison, Leo,” she mumbled. “I have a reputation to maintain.”

I pulled back with a smirk. “I think you’ll live.”

Maria turned her face into her shoulder to wipe her tears away before turning back to Bianca. She gently handed our son back, her hands shaking slightly as she pulled away. “Take care of them,” she said softly.

Bianca nodded. “Always.”

Maria looked at me one last time, her expression unreadable. Then, with a deep breath, she turned toward the door. The guard waiting outside nodded at me before leading her out.

Bianca and I watched her go. She came to my side and leaned against my shoulder.

I took Valerio into my arm and wrapped my other around Bianca’s shoulders, pulling her close. I kissed her on the forehead.

“She’ll be okay,” Bianca murmured.

I exhaled, my shoulders finally relaxing. “I hope so.”

“You did everything you could for her, Leo, and I think she’s set herself on the right path. She seems determined to make up for her mistakes.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Prison is a hard place but I have a feeling Maria’s the type of person who can handle it without losing herself again.”

“You’re worried about her,” Bianca teased me with a shoulder nudge.

“Like you said, I did everything I could for her. Now, the rest is up to her. I have to believe she’ll make it.” I nodded.

“Then I think she stands a chance,” Bianca said, resting her head on my shoulder.

Sometimes, I felt like Maria never had a chance. The way she was raised, our parents, losing me... she was doomed from an early age.

But I’d seen her change and grow. The important part was that she wanted to be different and she had all the determination she needed to make those changes.

We stood there for a moment, just breathing, just taking in the weight of everything.

Bianca shifted our daughter slightly in her arms, and I turned to her.

“Let’s go home,” she whispered.

I nodded, wrapping my arm around her waist. “Yeah,” I said, leading her out of the prison. “Let’s go home.”