Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Refused to Become a WidowWe didn't return to Chicago immediately.
That was my condition.
Alessandro wanted to move us into one of his protected properties.
I refused.
He wanted to assign six armed men to Samuel.
I refused that, too.
Not because I didn't understand the danger.
But because every security decision made inside the Moretti organization had been compromised at least once.
Thomas proposed something different.
Independent protection.
Outside legal counsel.
Federal investigators with no ties to Chicago.
A carefully documented evidence transfer.
Alessandro listened.
Then agreed.
I think everyone in the room was surprised.
I certainly was.
The man I'd married would have issued orders and expected obedience.
The man sitting across from me now asked questions.
"What happens if Vittorio finds out we're cooperating with authorities?"
Thomas answered, "He'll try to discredit the evidence."
"And if he tries to reach Elena or Samuel?"
"Then we need sufficient grounds for protective orders and criminal charges."
Alessandro nodded.
"Do it."
Gabriel was more interested in finding his sister.
Her name was Sofia Shaw.
She'd worked as an accountant for one of the shipping companies before disappearing.
According to Valentina, Sofia had uncovered a network of fraudulent invoices.
When she threatened to report them, Vittorio had her abducted.
A severe injury left her needing long-term medical care.
Her identity was concealed.
Her family was told she had died in a boating accident.
Gabriel had spent six years searching for a body that didn't exist.
Now he stood in Thomas's study, staring at a photograph of his sister.
She looked thin.
Older.
But alive.
"I need to go to Richmond," he said.
Thomas nodded.
"We'll coordinate with investigators."
"I can't wait."
"You won't help her by walking into a trap."
Gabriel clenched his jaw.
I understood his frustration.
When someone you love is in danger, caution feels like cowardice.
But I'd learned that rushing toward powerful enemies often gives them exactly what they want.
Alessandro stood beside the window.
"Vittorio will expect us to move."
Thomas looked at him.
"Then we shouldn't."
Alessandro turned.
"What do you suggest?"
"Let him believe you're still attending the board meeting in Chicago."
Gabriel frowned.
"That meeting was supposed to happen yesterday."
"It was postponed after Alessandro failed to appear," Thomas said.
Alessandro nodded.
"Vittorio rescheduled for Monday."
"Good."
I looked between them.
"What happens Monday?"
Thomas opened a folder.
"We arrange for financial investigators to receive the supporting records before the meeting. If the evidence holds, they can execute lawful search and seizure procedures while the board is assembled."
Alessandro considered it.
"Vittorio will have lawyers."
"He'll need them."
For a moment, I almost smiled.
Then Samuel started crying upstairs.
Alessandro immediately turned toward the sound.
I watched him.
He looked at me.
"May I check on him?"
I hesitated.
Then nodded.
"He's probably hungry."
Alessandro followed me upstairs.
Samuel was standing in his crib, red-faced and furious.
He stopped crying when he saw us.
Then smiled.
Alessandro laughed softly.
"He's going to be trouble."
"He already is."
I picked Samuel up.
Alessandro stood beside me while I prepared his bottle.
He watched every movement.
The way I checked the temperature.
The way Samuel grabbed the bottle.
The way I supported his head.
"Can I feed him?" he asked.
I handed him the bottle.
"Hold it at an angle so he doesn't swallow too much air."
Alessandro nodded seriously.
I nearly laughed.
This was a man who had negotiated multimillion-dollar deals without blinking.
Now he looked terrified of feeding a baby.
Samuel accepted the bottle happily.
Alessandro sat in the rocking chair.
For several minutes, there was only the quiet sound of our son drinking.
Then he whispered, "I used to sit in the nursery after you left."
I stopped folding a blanket.
"I know."
He looked up.
"How?"
"Someone sent me photographs."
His face darkened.
"We need to find out who."
"We do."
He looked back at Samuel.
"I kept thinking if I could understand the exact moment I lost you, maybe I could fix it."
"You didn't lose me in one moment."
He nodded.
"I know that now."
I sat on the edge of the bed.
"You lost me every time you told me to stop asking questions."
His expression tightened.
"Every time you treated my fear like an inconvenience."
"I know."
"Every time you made me feel foolish for suspecting Valentina."
Alessandro closed his eyes.
"Elena—"
"And every time you chose silence over telling me the truth."
A tear slipped down his cheek.
"I don't have an excuse."
I looked away.
Some wounds didn't heal simply because the person who caused them finally understood.
But watching him hold Samuel, I felt a new kind of grief.
Not for the marriage we'd lost.
For the family we might have become.
That evening, Alessandro asked whether I would let him stay at the farmhouse.
"In a separate room," he added quickly.
I looked at Thomas.
He nodded slightly.
I turned back to Alessandro.
"One night. Then we reassess."
"Thank you."
I almost told him he didn't need to thank me for spending time with his son.
But then I realized he did.
He was being given something I could have denied him.
A chance.
Not a guarantee.
Not forgiveness.
A chance to show he understood the difference.
At three in the morning, I woke to a strange sound.
Not a gunshot.
Not breaking glass.
Music.
Someone was humming downstairs.
I slipped from bed.
Walked into the hallway.
And followed the sound.
Alessandro was standing beside the living-room window.
Samuel rested against his shoulder.
My son had woken with a fever and refused to settle.
Alessandro was rocking him gently.
Humming an old Italian lullaby.
The same song his mother used to sing.
I leaned against the doorway.
"How long has he been awake?"
Alessandro turned.
"About twenty minutes."
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"You've barely slept."
I stepped closer.
"Is his fever high?"
"Rebecca checked him. It's mild. She said to monitor it."
I touched Samuel's forehead.
He was warm but peaceful.
Alessandro watched me.
"I was afraid I'd do something wrong."
"You're doing fine."
He looked startled.
It was such a simple compliment.
But I'd rarely offered him one without wondering whether it would make him more arrogant.
Now he looked like a man receiving a gift he didn't deserve.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Samuel shifted.
His tiny hand opened against Alessandro's chest.
And for a moment, the three of us stood together in the dim light.
No reporters.
No bodyguards.
No family empire.
Just a mother, a father, and a sleepy little boy.
I almost let myself imagine we could stay that way.
Then Gabriel's phone rang in the next room.
He answered.
A few seconds later, he appeared in the doorway.
"Thomas. Alessandro. We have a problem."
His expression was grim.
"What happened?" Alessandro asked.
Gabriel swallowed.
"The facility in Richmond was evacuated."
"Sofia?" I whispered.
"We don't know where she is."
Alessandro handed Samuel to me.
Gabriel continued.
"Someone intercepted the investigators before they reached her."
Thomas appeared behind him.
"Who?"
Gabriel looked at Alessandro.
"Vittorio knew they were coming."
The room went silent.
May you like
Then Gabriel added the detail that chilled me most.
"He knew because someone inside our own team told him."
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