Chapter 4 - The Unforgivable Truth"Maya, move," I said, my voice dangerously low as my eyes locked onto the children before returning to her fierce, tear-stained face.
"Never!" she screamed, her voice cracking with the agony of four years of solitary survival. "You threw me out like trash! You told me I was a burden, a weak link that would get you killed! You handed me a bag of blood money and told me to get out of your life forever! I spent months crying myself to sleep on a Greyhound bus, pregnant, terrified, and completely alone in a strange city! Where was your empire then, Adrian? Where was your protection?!"
Every word she spoke was a physical blow, sharper than any knife blade I had ever faced in the underworld.
"I did it to keep you safe!" I roared back, losing my grip on my composure. I grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her just close enough to see the raw anguish in my own eyes. "Do you have any idea what my grandfather was planning? The Moretti hit squad was tracking our every move! If they knew I loved you—if they knew you carried my heart—they would have skinned you alive to break me! I pushed you away so you could live!"
Maya let out a harsh, broken laugh that had no humor in it.
"Save your noble martyr routine for someone who doesn't know you, Adrian," she spat, wrenching herself free from my grip. She stumbled back, falling to her knees right beside the children, pulling all three of them into her protective embrace. The little girl whimpered, burying her face in Maya's neck, while the two boys stared up at me with a cold, unsettling vigilance.
"Look at them," Maya whispered, her voice dropping to a fierce, trembling hum. "Look at what your 'protection' gave them. No father. No security. Living in a two-room box while you roll around in blood money and parade high-society brides through Grant Park with five-carat diamonds on their fingers."
My breath caught.
"You saw that," I said quietly.
"Of course I saw it!" she shouted. "I watch the news, Adrian! I see the headlines about the ruthless young billionaire Salvatore Vale grooming his successor and marrying into political royalty. I thought... God, I was so stupid, I spent two years hoping you were looking for me. Then I realized you had already moved on, building your kingdom while I was changing diapers in a laundromat!"
"I was never looking for you because I thought you were safe in California!" I yelled, slamming my fist against the cheap wooden bookshelf, sending a stack of children's picture books crashing to the floor.
The silence that followed was deafening.
The smallest boy didn't even flinch at the crash. He just looked at me, picked up his plastic spoon, and tapped it against the floor twice.
The absolute stillness in the room forced my rage to curdle into a cold, heavy dread.
"They're mine," I said, my voice barely a whisper as I looked down at the three children.
"They have nothing to do with you," Maya said, her voice shaking violently as she stood back up, shielding them with her body. "You are not their father. You are just a dangerous stranger who walked into our home uninvited. Get out, Adrian. Or I swear to God, I'll call the police, even if it means bringing your entire criminal world down on my head."
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed in my pocket. A flashing alert from Dominic lit up the screen.
May you like
I glanced down. The text made my blood run instantly cold.
Boss. We have a serious problem. Moretti hit squad units have just been spotted mobilizing near 18th Street. They know you're in Pilsen.
