Chapter Six: The Fortress

Giovanni showed up that evening as usual.

But this time he had papers.

A lease agreement for an apartment in Manhattan. Upper East Side near Central Park. Three bedrooms. Security. Parking. Already furnished.

“You can move in whenever you’re ready.”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Then decide now. I’ve enrolled Luca with a pediatric practice affiliated with Columbia Presbyterian. Best doctors in the country. His first appointment is next week.”

“You can’t just make decisions without consulting me.”

“I’m making decisions that protect our son. You can either be part of that or fight me and lose.”

Giovanni set the papers on her table. Then placed another envelope beside them.

A contract for legal consultation services. Salary. Benefits. Everything they’d discussed.

“All you have to do is sign.”

She looked at him.

Really looked.

At thirty-five, Giovanni Moretti was a man who’d built an empire through calculated risk and ruthless execution. But right now, holding their son while offering her a way forward, he looked almost vulnerable.

Almost like the man she’d married before everything went wrong.

“I need guarantees.”

“Name them.”

“I maintain custody. Joint legal custody, with equal say in all major decisions about Luca’s life.”

“Agreed.”

“The work I do stays legal. I won’t be part of anything questionable.”

“Agreed.”

“And if I ever want to leave, you won’t stop me.”

Giovanni’s expression hardened.

“I can’t promise that. Not if it means taking Luca somewhere I can’t protect him.”

At least he was honest. More honest than he’d been during their entire marriage.

“Fine. Then I get to establish my own contacts. My own network. I’m not just your employee or Luca’s mother. I’m still my own person.”

“As long as those contacts don’t compromise our son’s safety.”

“They won’t.”

She signed the papers. Watching her signature transform everything she’d built into something new and uncertain.

In two weeks, she’d be back in New York. Living in Giovanni’s world again.

But this time, she had Agent Reed’s card hidden in her wallet and a plan forming that Giovanni would never see coming.

She was going to protect Luca from every angle. Even the ones his father couldn’t anticipate.

Even if it meant playing a game more dangerous than anything she’d faced before.

The apartment Giovanni provided wasn’t what she expected.

Upper East Side. Fourteenth floor. Views of Central Park through floor-to-ceiling windows that probably cost more than her entire year’s salary in Boston.

Three bedrooms. Marble countertops. Furniture so pristine she was afraid Luca would destroy it within a week.

But it was the men she noticed first.

Standing on the corner when she left for Luca’s pediatric appointment. Sitting in parked cars outside the building entrance. Following three steps behind when she walked to the small playground two blocks away.

Giovanni’s security. He’d explained when she’d asked.

Discreet but constant. For their protection.

Except after a month of living in New York, she’d learned to recognize Giovanni’s men. They wore dark suits, but moved with a particular efficiency. Communicated through earpieces. Positioned themselves at strategic points.

Professional. Controlled.

These other men were different.

Rougher.

They watched instead of protected. Studied instead of guarded.

She mentioned it to Giovanni during one of his daily visits. He’d taken to arriving around 6:00 each evening, spending two hours with Luca before disappearing back into whatever business occupied his nights.

Tonight, he was on the floor of the living room. Helping Luca practice pulling himself up on the coffee table.

Their son was nine months now. Determined to walk. Frustrated by legs that wouldn’t quite cooperate yet.

“There were men at the park today. Not yours.”

Giovanni’s hand stilled on Luca’s waist. Though his expression remained neutral.

“Describe them.”

“Hispanic, maybe. Leather jackets. One had a tattoo on his neck. Some kind of symbol I didn’t recognize. They stayed across the street, but they were watching us.”

“How many?”

“Three that I saw.”

He lifted Luca. Settled him on his hip. Pulled out his phone with the other hand. Typed something quickly, one-handed. The way she’d seen him do a hundred times during their marriage. Always working. Always managing something she wasn’t allowed to understand.

“Starting tomorrow, you don’t go to that park anymore. There’s a private garden on the roof of this building. Luca can play there.”

“Giovanni. What’s happening?”

He looked at her then. She saw calculation behind his eyes. Weighing how much to tell her. How much truth she could handle.

The same look that had driven her away the first time.

“Remember I told you about the territorial dispute with the cartel from Sinaloa?”

“You said it was under control. An impasse.”

“It was. Until I broke protocol by appearing publicly at that hospital in Boston. I should have sent representatives. Stayed hidden. Maintained the separation between my public life and private operations.”

His jaw tightened.

“But my son was dying and I didn’t think. I just acted.”

Luca grabbed Giovanni’s nose. Giggling at the game he’d invented of trying to pull his father’s face apart.

Giovanni managed a smile. But it didn’t reach his eyes.

“The cartel maintains surveillance on me just as I do on them. When I mobilized a medical team, chartered a helicopter, made myself visible in a way I haven’t in years—they investigated.”

He met her gaze.

“It didn’t take them long to discover you. To discover Luca.”

Cold spread through her chest.

“They know about him.”

“They know I have a son. That changes everything.”

He set Luca down gently in the playpen. Then crossed to the window, staring out at the city below.

“Before, I was just another obstacle to their expansion. Now I’m a man with leverage they can exploit. A weakness they can target.”

“So what do we do? We can’t just stay trapped in this apartment.”

“We don’t. Tomorrow you both move to my primary residence in Westchester. Forty acres. Complete security system. Guards I’ve personally vetted. It’s the safest location I have.”

“You want me to live with you?”

“I want my son protected. You’re part of that equation whether you like it or not.”

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