Chapter 6: The Choice Lorenzo Made
Vittorio fell against the altar.
The gun slipped from his hand.
Lorenzo walked toward him.
Blood spread across Vittorio’s jacket, but he was still breathing.
“You always were sentimental,” Vittorio rasped.
Lorenzo aimed at his head.
Federal agents shouted for him to lower the weapon.
He did not move.
Vittorio smiled through the pain.
“Do it. Show the maid what you are.”
Hunter rose from behind the pew.
“Lorenzo.”
His finger remained on the trigger.
Vittorio had murdered Sophia.
He had poisoned Leo.
He had tried to burn Hunter alive.
Every law in Lorenzo’s world demanded death.
Hunter approached slowly.
“Lorenzo, look at me.”
He did.
She saw the man from the nursery—the father standing ten feet from his son, afraid to cross the distance.
“Leo needs you to come home,” she said.
Vittorio laughed weakly.
“He will never escape our blood.”
Lorenzo’s eyes hardened.
Then he lowered the gun.
Federal agents seized Vittorio.
For the first time in Lorenzo Rossi’s life, he allowed the law to take an enemy from his hands.
Evelyn Shaw recovered the recording of Tommy’s confession, financial records linking Vittorio to Halloran, and communications proving the bombing had been arranged through shell companies.
The evidence also implicated several members of Lorenzo’s organization.
Evelyn met him outside the church while paramedics treated Hunter.
“You kept your word,” she said.
“So did you.”
“You know what comes next.”
Lorenzo looked at the flashing lights.
“Yes.”
“Your uncle’s files contain enough evidence to indict half your family.”
“Then indict them.”
Evelyn studied him.
“Including you?”
Lorenzo’s face did not change.
Hunter looked up from the ambulance.
“No.”
Both turned toward her.
Hunter stepped down despite the paramedic’s protest.
“He helped save us.”
Evelyn’s expression remained firm.
“That does not erase other crimes.”
“I know.”
Lorenzo walked toward Hunter.
“You should return to the estate.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What I should have done after Sophia died.”
Fear moved through her.
“Run?”
“No.”
He looked toward Evelyn.
“End it.”
Over the next month, Lorenzo dismantled the empire his family had spent generations building.
He surrendered records, accounts, names, and properties. Warehouses were raided. Judges resigned. Police officers were arrested. Politicians suddenly discovered urgent reasons to leave the country.
Lorenzo negotiated protection for lower-level employees who had committed no violent crimes. He created a trust for families harmed by Rossi operations. Legitimate companies were separated from criminal ones and placed under independent control.
In exchange for his cooperation, prosecutors agreed to consider a reduced sentence.
But no promise was made.
Hunter remained at the estate with Leo.
The baby continued to recover.
Without the poisoned medicine, his vomiting stopped. He gained weight steadily. His cry became strong enough to wake the entire third floor.
Hunter loved the sound.
Yet every feeding carried a silent deadline.
Her milk began to decrease.
Doctors introduced safe formula gradually, mixing it with her milk. Leo resisted at first, but Hunter held him close during every bottle.
“You can do this,” she whispered. “Food is food. Love doesn’t disappear because it comes from somewhere else.”
She was not only teaching Leo.
She was teaching herself.
One evening, Lorenzo came home from another meeting with federal prosecutors and found Hunter in the nursery.
Leo was asleep in the crib.
Hunter stood beside the open window, holding a small pink sock.
Lorenzo recognized it as something that did not belong to his son.
“Lily’s?”
Hunter nodded.
“I brought it from my apartment.”
He stood beside her.
“I thought feeding Leo meant I was replacing her,” she said.
“You did not.”
“I know that now.”
Lorenzo looked into the crib.
“Leo survived because Lily’s mother had love with nowhere to go.”
Hunter pressed the sock to her lips.
“She should be here.”
“So should Sophia.”
For a while, they stood together in the shared silence.
Then Lorenzo spoke.
“I may go to prison.”
Hunter looked at him.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Leo?”
“I named you as his temporary guardian.”
She stared at him.
“You did what?”
“The legal documents were completed this morning.”
“You never asked me.”
“I am asking now.”
“That is not how asking works.”
A faint trace of amusement touched his eyes.
It disappeared quickly.
“You are the only person he trusts completely.”
“He trusts you.”
“He needs someone if I am taken into custody.”
Hunter looked at the sleeping child.
“What about your relatives?”
“My relatives tried to kill him.”
“Lorenzo—”
“I am not asking you to belong to me. I am asking you to protect my son.”
Hunter’s eyes filled.
“I’m a maid with overdue rent.”
“You are the woman who climbed into a burning wall for him.”
She looked down at Lily’s sock.
“What happens when you come home?”
“If I come home, you may leave.”
The answer hurt more than she expected.
Lorenzo saw it.
He stepped closer but did not touch her.
“I would not want you to,” he said quietly.
Before Hunter could answer, Leo woke and began to cry.
Both moved toward him at the same time.
May you like
Their hands met above the crib.
Neither pulled away.
