Chapter 6 - Healing Old Wounds
By dawn, the safehouse was cleared, and the Moretti strike team was dealt with. I moved Rachel, Leo, and Caleb to my primary fortress—the Vance Mansion. But this time, it was no longer a cold, lonely castle.
I doubled the guards along the perimeter, establishing an airtight security bubble that no one in the city could penetrate.
That night, after both boys had finally fallen asleep in the master wing—Caleb insistently giving Leo the larger bedroom next to his—I found Rachel standing on the balcony overlooking the vast estate gardens. The cool night breeze blew her hair across her face.
I walked up behind her, gently draping my heavy cashmere coat over her shoulders.
"It's cold out here," I said softly.
Rachel wrapped the coat around herself, inhaling my scent embedded in the fabric. "I used to think about this," she murmured, looking out at the stars. "During those long nights in the clinic, working double shifts just to buy Leo's medication when he had the flu... I used to wonder what you were doing. If you ever thought of me."
"Every single day," I confessed, stepping closer until my chest pressed against her back. "Every time I looked at a glass of whiskey. Every time I looked at the rain. I hated you because I loved you so much, Rachel. I thought you abandoned our love for money."
Rachel turned around in my arms, looking up into my face. "I tried to come back once. Two years after I left. I brought Leo to the gates of this estate."
My heart stopped. "What?"
"I saw your mother at the gate," Rachel whispered, tears shimmering in her eyes. "She showed me a newspaper clipping. It was a photo of you at a gala, smiling, holding hands with a prominent senator's daughter. She told me you were engaged, that you had moved on, and that if I stepped foot on the property, she would have Leo taken away by child protective services."
A wave of pure rage washed over me, but looking at Rachel, it dissolved into immense grief.
"She lied about that, too," I said, framing her face with my hands. "There was no engagement. There was no senator's daughter. There was only work, violence, and an empty heart."
"Marcus..."
"I made a lot of mistakes, Rachel," I said, leaning down until our foreheads rested against each other. "I let my anger blind me. I let my mother manipulate me. But I swear on my life, I will spend every remaining day making it up to you and Leo. I will tear this city down brick by brick if that's what it takes to keep you safe."
Rachel looked into my eyes, searching for the boy she had fallen in love with ten years ago. Beneath the tailored suit, the scars, and the terrifying reputation of a mafia boss, she found him.
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"You don't have to tear the city down, Marcus," she whispered, raising her hand to stroke my cheek. "Just build a life with us."
I closed the distance between us, kissing her with a desperate, passionate intensity that had been locked away for a decade. The ghosts of our past finally faded into the night air.
