Chapter 4 – THE ROSARY ON THE PLATFORM

Daniel froze.

He was twenty feet away from the woman he had loved and the son he had never met.

The wind howled across the empty train platform, biting through our clothes.

“Marcus, put the gun down,” Daniel said. His voice didn’t shake. He stood perfectly still, his hands raised in surrender.

Elena was sobbing, shielding the little boy behind her. She looked exhausted, her clothes worn, her face pale.

“Daniel,” Elena cried, her voice cracking. “He said you sent him. He said you wanted to take Leo away from me.”

Daniel’s heart shattered.

“I didn’t even know he existed, El,” Daniel said softly. “I would never take him from you. I’ve been sober for two years. I’m here to bring you both home.”

Marcus laughed—a high, desperate sound.

“Nobody is going home! Victoria is meeting me in Chicago. She promised me two million for the brat!”

Behind us, the slow, heavy footsteps of Gabriel Romano echoed on the asphalt.

Gabriel stepped out from the shadows of the SUV. He didn’t have his gun drawn. He walked with the terrifying, absolute confidence of a man who owned the world.

“You’re not going to Chicago, Marcus,” Gabriel said, his voice carrying clearly over the wind.

Marcus’s eyes widened in sheer terror when he saw Gabriel.

“Stay back, Romano! I’ll shoot her!”

“No, you won’t,” Gabriel said smoothly, taking another step. “You’re a bankrupt real estate agent, Marcus. You’re a coward who kidnaps women and children. You don’t have the nerve to pull a trigger while looking a man in the eye.”

Gabriel kept walking. Slow. Deliberate.

“Gabe, stop,” Daniel pleaded, terrified for his family.

But Gabriel didn’t stop.

“If you pull that trigger, Marcus, my men will make sure you don’t die quickly. But if you drop the gun, I will let you walk away into the woods. You have five seconds.”

Marcus’s hand trembled violently. The gun wavered against Elena’s temple.

“Five,” Gabriel counted.

“I’ll do it!” Marcus screamed.

“Four.”

Elena squeezed her eyes shut.

“Three.”

Suddenly, the little boy peeked out from behind his mother’s legs.

He looked at Daniel.

Then he looked at the ground near Marcus’s feet.

“Mommy, you dropped your beads,” the little boy said, his voice high and innocent.

Marcus instinctively glanced down.

Lying on the concrete platform was a wooden rosary. It had slipped from Elena’s pocket.

It was a split-second distraction. But for Daniel, it was enough.

Daniel surged forward, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

He didn’t throw a punch. He didn’t tackle Marcus.

Daniel grabbed the barrel of the gun with his bare hand, forcing it upward just as Marcus pulled the trigger.

BANG.

The gunshot shattered the glass of the station timetable above them.

Daniel twisted his wrist brutally. Marcus shrieked in pain, dropping the weapon.

Before Marcus could recover, Gabriel was there.

Gabriel grabbed Marcus by the collar of his coat, lifted him effortlessly, and slammed him against the brick wall of the station house.

Marcus crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.

Daniel didn’t look at Marcus.

He dropped the gun and fell to his knees in front of Elena.

Elena collapsed in front of him, sobbing uncontrollably. Daniel wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” Daniel wept. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

Elena clung to him, feeling the steady, sober strength of the man she had always loved.

Then, Daniel pulled back slightly.

He looked down.

Standing right beside them was a five-year-old boy with messy brown hair and big, curious eyes.

Daniel’s breath caught in his throat. He reached out with a trembling hand, too afraid to touch him.

“Hi, Leo,” Daniel whispered.

Leo clutched his stuffed bear. He looked at Daniel’s face.

“Are you my daddy?” Leo asked.

Daniel let out a broken sob and nodded. “Yes. I’m your daddy.”

Leo didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward and wrapped his small arms around Daniel’s neck.

Daniel buried his face in his son’s hair, holding him as if he would never let go.

I stood near the car, wiping tears from my own eyes.

Gabriel watched his brother hold his family for the first time. The fierce, protective Mafia boss finally let a quiet smile touch his lips.

Gabriel looked down at Marcus, who was groaning on the pavement.

“Get up,” Gabriel ordered coldly.

Marcus struggled to his feet, holding his bruised ribs. “You said you’d let me walk away.”

“I lied,” Gabriel said.

Gabriel signaled to the shadows. Two of his massive security men stepped out from the darkness of the trees. They had been there the entire time.

“Take him to the warehouse,” Gabriel instructed. “Have a long conversation with him about why we don’t threaten children.”

As the men dragged a screaming Marcus away, Gabriel turned to Daniel.

“Take them to the car, Danny. It’s freezing.”

Daniel lifted Leo into his arms. Elena picked up the wooden rosary from the ground and walked beside him, holding his hand.

But as I opened the car door for them, a bright pair of headlights suddenly swung into the parking lot.

A sleek, black town car slammed to a halt.

The back door opened.

Victoria Langford stepped out into the freezing wind, wearing her red silk gown and a luxurious fur coat.

She looked at the empty platform. She looked at Marcus’s abandoned silver sedan.

Then she saw Gabriel standing by our SUV.

And she realized she had lost everything.

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