Chapter 7
The house was a mess.
Bullet holes everywhere.
Blood on the walls.
Broken glass.
Damian sent us to the penthouse downtown.
Said the compound needed to be cleaned.
Repaired.
Sanitized.
The penthouse was on the top floor of the tallest building in the city.
Sixty floors up.
You could see everything.
It was beautiful.
Cold.
Empty.
Just like the big house.
Milo slept for almost twenty-four hours.
The doctor said it was shock.
That he’d be okay.
That kids were resilient.
I didn’t believe him.
I sat by Milo’s bed the whole time.
Watched him breathe.
Watched him toss and turn.
Watched him cry out in his sleep.
Damian sat next to me.
He didn’t sleep either.
He didn’t talk.
He just held my hand.
And watched our son.
When Milo finally woke up, he didn’t speak for two days.
He just sat.
Stared at nothing.
Ate when we told him to.
Slept when we told him to.
It was like the light had gone out of him.
The happy, laughing little boy was gone.
Replaced by a ghost.
Damian blamed himself.
I could see it in his eyes.
Every time Milo flinched at a loud noise.
Every time he clung to me when Damian tried to touch him.
It was killing him.
One night, after Milo finally fell asleep, I found Damian on the balcony.
Drinking straight from a bottle of whiskey.
The city lights sparkled below us.
He looked so small up there.
So alone.
I walked out.
Stood next to him.
“He’ll be okay,” I said.
Damian shook his head.
“Look at him, Elena.
He’s broken.
Because of me.
Because of my family.
Because of my stupid fucking life.”
He took another drink.
“I should send you away.
Far away.
Somewhere no one knows who I am.
Somewhere you can both be normal.”
“Normal is overrated,” I said.
He looked at me.
“I’m serious, Elena.
Every time someone wants to get to me… they go through the people I love.
My mother.
My father.
Now you.
Now Milo.
I’m a curse.
Anyone who gets close to me gets hurt.”
I took the bottle from him.
Set it on the rail.
“Then stop pushing us away,” I said.
“Because we’re not going anywhere.
Not this time.”
“Elena—”
“I spent five years running,” I said, cutting him off.
“Five years being scared.
Five years looking over my shoulder.
And you know what I learned?
The world is dangerous.
Everywhere.
There’s no such thing as a safe place.
Not really.
But there is such a thing as safe people.”
I touched his face.
“You’re my safe person, Damian.
And you’re Milo’s.
And if you think sending us away is going to make either of us happy… you don’t know us at all.”
Tears ran down his face.
I’d never seen him cry before.
Not once.
Not even when his parents died.
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered.
“Probably not,” I said.
“But you’ve got us anyway.”
He pulled me into his arms.
Held me like I was the only thing keeping him from falling off the balcony.
“I’m going to make this right,” he said into my hair.
“I swear to you.
I’m going to fix everything.
For Milo.
For you.
For us.”
The next morning, Damian called a meeting.
All the capos.
All the soldiers.
Everyone who worked for him.
They filled the penthouse.
Dozens of dangerous men.
All of them quiet.
All of them waiting.
Damian stood in front of them.
Milo was in my arms in the back of the room.
Damian looked at each man.
One by one.
“Marcus is dead,” he said.
No reaction.
They already knew.
“Some of you helped him,” he said.
“Some of you looked the other way.
Some of you opened the gates and let him in.”
The room got very still.
“I know who you are,” Damian said.
“I’ve known for three days.”
Two men tried to run for the door.
Guards stepped in front of them.
Blocked their path.
Damian held up a hand.
“Let them speak.”
The two men fell to their knees.
Begging.
Crying.
Said Marcus had threatened their families.
Said they had no choice.
Damian listened.
Then he spoke.
“I understand fear,” he said.
“I understand doing bad things to protect the people you love.
But here’s the thing.
You work for me.
And when you work for me… I protect your families.
Not Marcus.
Not anyone else.
Me.”
He walked toward them.
“So if someone ever threatens your wife.
Your kids.
Your mother.
You come to me.
First.
Last.
Always.
Because I will burn the world down before I let anyone hurt a child of any man who works for me.”
He stopped in front of them.
“You betrayed me,” he said.
“For that… you’re out.
No money.
No power.
No protection.
But you get to live.
And you get to keep your families.
Now get out of my house.”
They ran.
Damian looked at the rest of the room.
“Anyone else have a problem with how I run things?”
Silence.
“Good.
Because things are changing.
From now on… no drugs.
No human trafficking.
No hurting kids.
Ever.
Anyone who breaks those rules… answers to me.
Personally.”
He looked back at me.
At Milo.
“I have a family now,” he said, his voice softer.
“And everything I do from this day forward… is for them.
So if you’re not with me… leave now.
Because I’m not the same man I was three weeks ago.
And I’m never going back.”
No one left.
Not one man.
Damian nodded.
“Good.
Meeting adjourned.”
The men filed out.
Quietly.
Respectfully.
When the last one was gone, Damian walked back to us.
Milo reached for him.
For the first time since the attack.
Damian’s face lit up.
He took him.
Held him tight.
“Hey, buddy,” he whispered.
Milo put his head on Damian’s shoulder.
“Love you, Daddy,” he mumbled.
Damian closed his eyes.
Tears ran down his face.
“I love you too, Milo,” he said.
“More than anything in the whole world.”
I stood there.
Watching my boys.
And for the first time since the attack… I felt hope.
Maybe Damian was right.
Maybe things really could change.
May you like
Maybe we could have a future.
All three of us.
