Chapter 6 - The Sanctuary in the Clouds
The interior of the helicopter was loud and smelled of fuel,
but it felt like the safest place on earth.
Hunter was huddled in the corner,
checking Leo over for any signs of injury.
"He's okay,"
she shouted over the roar of the engines.
"He's still sleeping!"
I nodded,
my eyes fixed on the horizon as the lights of Manhattan faded into the distance.
"Where are we going?"
she asked.
"To a safe house in upstate New York,"
I replied.
"A place they'll never look."
The flight took less than an hour,
but it felt like an eternity.
Every flash of lightning made me think of the explosion that took Sophia.
Every dip in the wind felt like a sabotaged engine.
We landed in a clearing surrounded by dense forest,
the rain turning the ground into a sea of mud.
The safe house was a modest cabin,
unassuming and hidden from satellite view.
I led Hunter inside,
the warmth of the wood-burning stove a welcome relief from the cold.
"There are supplies in the kitchen and clean clothes in the bedroom,"
I said,
my voice sounding gravelly from exhaustion.
"I need to make some calls."
Hunter nodded,
immediately moving to make a bed for Leo in a soft basket.
I stepped onto the porch,
the cold air helping me clear my head.
I dialed a number I hadn't called in years.
"Don Moretti,"
I said when the line connected.
"You missed."
There was a long silence on the other end.
"Lorenzo,"
the old man’s voice came through,
raspy and full of malice.
"I heard your house had a bit of a pest problem."
"The pests are dead,"
I said,
my voice like ice.
"And Halloran is next."
"You're a dead man walking,
Rossi,"
Moretti sneered.
"You have no guards,
no doctor,
and your son is a weakling who can't even eat."
"Actually,"
I said,
looking through the window at Hunter nursing Leo by the fire,
"my son is thriving."
"And he has a new mother."
"So you might want to start picking out your coffin,
Don."
I hung up before he could respond,
smashing the burner phone under my boot.
I walked back inside,
the sight of the cabin making me feel a strange sense of peace.
For the first time in my life,
I wasn't Lorenzo Rossi,
the billionaire mobster.
I was just a man trying to protect his family.
Hunter looked up at me,
her face glowing in the firelight.
"Is it over?"
she asked.
"No,"
I said,
sitting down on the rug beside her.
"But for tonight,
we're safe."
"Tell me about your daughter,
Hunter."
She looked surprised,
then a soft sadness filled her eyes.
"Her name was Rose,"
she said quietly.
"She would have been three weeks old today."
I reached out and took her hand,
our shared grief a bridge between our very different worlds.
"Leo will know about her,"
I promised.
"He'll know he had a sister who watched over him."
We sat there for hours,
the storm raging outside,
May you like
while inside,
a new kind of life was beginning to take root.
