The morning after the revelation, Allie wakes up to find Dom already awake, sitting by the window, staring at his phone. His face is grim.
"What is it?" she asks, sitting up.
"The Kovacs. They have made a move." Dom turns to her. "They know about the wedding. They know about Sergei's deadline. They are planning something, Allie. Something big."
Allie gets up, dresses quickly. "What kind of something?"
"An attack. On the wedding itself. They want to strike when we are vulnerable, when the whole syndicate is watching, when killing us would send the strongest message."
Allie's blood runs cold. "The twins. They will target the twins."
"Or you. Or me. Or all of us." Dom stands up, pulls her close. "We could postpone. Hide. Run, until we are stronger, safer, more prepared."
Allie considers this. Running. Again. The thing she has always done, the thing she promised to stop doing.
"No," she says. "No, we do not run. We fight. We protect what is ours. We show them that we are not afraid, that love does not make us weak, that we are strong enough to stand together in the face of anything."
Dom studies her. This woman who was a stranger, then a ghost, then a dream. This woman who challenges him, surprises him, makes him better.
"You are sure?"
"I am sure. We marry in thirty days, as planned. But we prepare. We secure the venue, the guests, every moment of that day. And we invite Marko Kovac to witness."
"Invite him? Allie, he wants to kill us."
"He wants to destroy us," Allie corrects. "And the best way to stop him is to show him that he cannot. That we are united, that we are protected, that striking at us would be suicide. We make the wedding our fortress, our statement, our victory."
Dom is silent for a long time. Then he smiles, that real smile that transforms his face. "You are brilliant. Terrifying and brilliant."
"I know," Allie says. "Now help me plan the safest wedding in the history of organized crime."
They spend the day in strategy. Security protocols, guest lists, contingency plans. They bring in experts, loyal soldiers, technology that can detect threats before they materialize.
And they talk to the twins. Really talk, for the first time, about who Dom is, what he does, why the world is dangerous and why they are safe anyway.
Leo listens, serious, asking questions that show he understands more than they wanted him to. Luna draws pictures, declares herself a "security pirate," and demands a sword for the wedding.
"They are remarkable," Dom says that night, watching them sleep. "You raised them alone, Allie. Made them strong, kind, brave. I do not know how to thank you."
"Love them," Allie says. "That is thanks enough. Love them, and be their father, and never leave."
"I will never leave," Dom promises. "I will love them, and you, until my last breath and beyond."
They make love that night. Finally, fully, the waiting over, the promises made. It is slow and tender and desperate, a claiming and a surrender, a beginning and a homecoming.
After, they lie tangled together, whispering plans, dreams, fears.
"Thirty days," Allie murmurs against his chest.
"Thirty days," Dom agrees. "And then forever."
They sleep, and they dream of the future, and they do not know that tomorrow everything will change again.
The next morning, the message arrives. Not from the Kovacs. From Viktor.
He is back. He has allies, resources, a plan. And he has something Dom wants. Something he will trade for Allie and the twins.
Proof. Proof of who really killed Dom's mother. Not cancer. Never cancer. Murder, ordered by Sergei himself, carried out by the family doctor, covered up for twenty years.
Viktor has the doctor. He has testimony, evidence, the truth that would destroy everything Dom believes about his father, his family, himself.
He wants a trade. The truth for Allie. Come alone, unarmed, or the doctor dies and the truth dies with him.
Dom reads the message three times. His hands shake. His world tilts.
Allie finds him in his study, the message on his desk, his face grey with shock.
"What is it?" she asks.
He tells her. The words come out flat, terrible, ripping open wounds he did not know he had.
Allie listens. She reads the message. She thinks, fast and desperate, of solutions.
"You cannot go," she says. "It is a trap. Viktor wants to kill you, take your place, destroy everything."
"I have to go," Dom says. "If my father killed her... if he took her from me... I have to know. I have to hear it from the doctor himself."
"Then we go together. Armed, protected, with backup ready."
"He said alone. Unarmed. He will kill the doctor if I bring anyone."
"And he will kill you if you go alone." Allie takes his face in her hands, forces him to look at her. "Dom. Listen to me. Your mother is gone. Nothing changes that. Knowing how, knowing who... it will not bring her back. It will only destroy what is left of your family. Your father is dying. Let him die in peace. Let the past stay buried."
"I cannot," Dom whispers. "I cannot live with not knowing. With suspecting. With wondering if every moment with him was a lie."
"Then live with knowing. Live with the truth, however terrible. But do not die for it. Do not leave me, leave the twins, leave everything we are building, for revenge on a dead man."
Dom stares at her. Tears stream down his face, the first she has seen since the night they found each other again.
"What do I do?" he asks, broken. "Tell me what to do, Allie. I cannot think. I cannot choose."
Allie holds him. She rocks him, this strong man who is suddenly a boy again, grieving his mother, betrayed by his father, torn between truth and survival.
"You choose us," she whispers. "You choose the living over the dead. You choose the future over the past. You let Viktor have his victory, his moment of power, and you trust that we will find another way to the truth. Together. Later. When you are strong enough to bear it."
"But the doctor. The proof. If Viktor kills him"
"We find another way," Allie insists. "There are always other ways. But there is no other you. No other us. I will not let you throw yourself away for this."
Dom holds her tight. He sobs, finally, for his mother, for his father, for the boy he was and the man he is becoming.
And slowly, slowly, he makes his choice.
"Okay," he whispers. "Okay. We find another way. Together."
They burn the message. They tell no one. They hold the secret between them, heavy and terrible, and they focus on the wedding, the future, the life they are building.
But the shadow remains. The truth, waiting. And Viktor, patient and cruel, watching for his next chance.
Thirty days. The wedding approaches. The danger grows. And Allie and Dom hold each other through the nights, promising, always promising, that they will face whatever comes.
Together.