Chapter Ten: The Reckoning

Giovanni left before dawn.

Lauren woke to an empty bed, his side still warm. Found a note on the nightstand written in his precise handwriting.

“Taking care of business. Be home for dinner. I promise.”

The promise felt fragile. Like glass she was terrified to touch.

She spent the morning trying to maintain normalcy for Luca’s sake. Breakfast. Playtime. Morning nap.

But her hands shook when she lifted him. Her attention fractured between his babbling and the clock ticking toward whatever was happening in that warehouse across the river.

Giovanni had told her the location last night. Whispering it against her hair in the dark.

An abandoned industrial complex in Newark. Neutral ground where neither side held advantage.

Or so they claimed.

He’d kissed her one more time before leaving. Lingering at the doorway like he was memorizing her face.

By noon, she couldn’t take the waiting anymore.

She pulled out the encrypted phone. Texted Agent Reed with trembling fingers.

“Meeting happening now. Newark Industrial District. Warehouse complex off Route 1. Cartel and Moretti. This is it.”

His response came immediately.

“FBI already positioned. We’ve had surveillance on that location for weeks. Stay put. That’s not a suggestion. It’s procedure. The kind that keeps civilians breathing. Whatever happens. Stay where you are. Let us handle this.”

But she couldn’t just sit there while Giovanni walked into an ambush.

Because that’s what this was. She could feel it in her bones.

The cartel had been too quiet. Too accommodating about meeting terms. They wanted him vulnerable. Wanted him away from his fortress where they could strike.

The call came at 1:15.

Not Giovanni.

One of his men. Voice tight with controlled panic.

“Mrs. Moretti, there’s been an incident. The boss is hurt. We’re bringing him back now. You need to prepare.”

Her vision tunneled.

“How bad?”

“Gunshot wound. Shoulder. He’s conscious, stable, but he needs medical attention we can’t provide in transit. We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

She moved on autopilot after that.

Called the private doctor Giovanni kept on retainer. Told him to get to Westchester immediately.

Cleared the dining room table. Laid out clean towels and medical supplies she’d learned to keep stocked.

Asked one of the security guards to take Luca to the nursery. Away from whatever was about to walk through that door.

Then she called Agent Reed back.

“Giovanni’s hurt. The meeting was an ambush. Your people need to move now before the cartel disappears.”

“We’re already moving. Multiple arrests in progress. Lauren, you did the right thing. This information—”

“I don’t care about that right now. Just make sure they can’t hurt him again.”

She hung up. Stood at the window. Watched the driveway.

Every second felt like an hour.

Until finally, black SUVs appeared. Moving fast but controlled. They pulled up to the entrance and men poured out. Surrounding a figure being half-carried between two others.

Giovanni.

Blood soaking through his shirt. Face pale but set in determined lines.

When he saw her standing in the doorway, something in his expression cracked.

“I kept my promise.” His voice was rough. “I came home.”

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