Nine years later.

Twenty-five years had passed since that fateful night when a brilliant, broke law student had stepped into the Starlight Diner and caught the eye of New York’s most feared man.

The Vance-Moretti family had become a living legend across North America and Europe.

To celebrate their twenty-fifth silver wedding anniversary, Roman closed down the entire block around the Starlight Diner in Queens for a massive community festival.

Hundreds of white tables were set up along the street, decorated with white roses, twinkling string lights, and fine china. Over five hundred guests—former clients, foundation workers, Supreme Court justices, neighborhood families, and international friends—gathered under the autumn stars.

Stella, now twenty-one and entering her final year at Yale Law School as editor-in-chief of the Law Review, stood at the head table to give the anniversary toast. Beside her stood nineteen-year-old Leo, who was studying structural engineering at Columbia University.

Stella raised her crystal glass, looking out over the crowd at her parents, who sat together at booth 4 inside the open diner doors.

"Twenty-five years ago," Stella spoke into the wireless microphone, her voice carrying her mother's crystal clarity and her father's quiet authority, "a girl with forty-three dollars in her checking account walked into this diner. She didn't have a wealthy family or powerful connections. But she had something far greater: an unbreakable spirit."

The crowd cheered warmly.

"And a man who commanded an entire city looked at her," Stella continued, smiling tearfully at Roman, "and realized that real power wasn't about fear... it was about protecting the woman who held his heart."

Roman reached across the booth, wrapping his large, warm hand over Sadi’s.

"To my mother and father," Stella raised her glass high. "The King and Queen of New York!"

The crowd burst into a thunderous standing ovation that echoed across the entire borough of Queens.