Chapter Five: The Choice

Lauren called Jessica the moment the door closed.

“He wants me to move to New York.”

“Absolutely not.” Her response was immediate and fierce. “Lauren, you left for a reason. Don’t let one emergency erase fifteen months of healing.”

“What if he’s right? What if Luca is safer with Giovanni protecting him?”

“Safer from what? Giovanni is the danger. You know what he is. What he does.”

“I know he loves Luca.”

Saying it out loud made it real. Undeniable.

She saw it every time he looked at him. He wasn’t faking that.

Jessica sighed. The sound of someone who’d watched her best friend make this mistake before.

“Love doesn’t cancel out danger. It just makes the danger harder to see.”

But Lauren was already seeing beyond the danger to the possibilities.

Luca with the best medical care. The best schools. Never worrying about rent or food or whether she could afford new clothes when he outgrew the old ones.

And yes. There was another thought she wouldn’t admit to Jessica.

Giovanni and her together again. But different this time.

Partners instead of strangers wearing wedding rings.

She spent two days researching.

Not just Giovanni’s legitimate businesses, but everything else. The cartel from Sinaloa he’d mentioned casually one afternoon, describing a territorial dispute that had been simmering for two years. The Russian organizations he’d negotiated truces with. The network of families and alliances that made up his world.

That’s when she found the FBI field office number listed publicly for tips and information.

She dialed it from a burner phone she’d bought with cash. Keeping her voice steady as she reported unusual activity she’d witnessed near the Boston docks.

Men speaking Spanish. Watching shipping containers.

She gave dates and times. Descriptions generic enough to be useful without revealing how she knew.

Three days later, Special Agent Thomas Reed called her actual cell phone.

“Ms. Grant. This is Agent Reed with the FBI. I understand you’ve been providing information about suspected cartel activity in the Boston area.”

Her blood went cold.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The prepaid you used pinged a tower near your block. We also ran a voice print on the tipline call. It matched a public recording of you from a bar admissions panel.”

She said nothing.

“You’re not in trouble.”

They met in a coffee shop in Cambridge. Far enough from her neighborhood that she felt relatively safe.

Reed was younger than she expected. Maybe forty. With the kind of forgettable face that probably helped in his line of work.

“You’re in a relationship with Giovanni Moretti.”

“Ex-husband. And it’s complicated.”

“Complicated because of your son.”

She didn’t confirm or deny.

Reed pulled out a folder. Flipped it open to surveillance photos of Giovanni entering her building. Carrying Luca. Looking every inch the devoted father.

“We’ve been building a case against the cartel from Sinaloa for three years. They’re expanding into New England, pushing out established operations. Moretti is one of their primary obstacles.”

He leaned forward.

“If we can get intel on their movements through your observations, we can apply pressure from both sides.”

“You want me to spy on my son’s father.”

“I want you to help us prevent a war that could turn Boston’s streets into a battlefield.” Reed’s expression hardened. “The cartel doesn’t care about collateral damage. If they decide Moretti needs to go, they’ll take out everyone around him.”

He let that sink in.

“Including you and your child.”

“Why should I trust the FBI more than Giovanni?”

“Because we’re bound by laws. Rules. Oversight. Moretti answers to no one.”

Reed closed the folder.

“Think about it. If you decide to help, call this number. If not, watch your back. Because whether you choose to see it or not, you’re already in the middle of this.”

He left her sitting there with a business card burning a hole in her pocket.

And choices that felt more like traps closing from every side.

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