Chapter 14 - THE HOUSE WITHOUT GUNS
Lorenzo received a ten-month federal sentence after cooperation and the restructuring of his businesses.
It was not freedom.
It was not destruction.
It was consequence.
Hunter visited twice a month with Leo when permitted.
The first visit nearly broke Lorenzo.
Leo was seven months old.
He sat on Hunter's lap wearing a navy sweater and tried to eat the visitation badge.
Lorenzo laughed.
“That's my son.”
Hunter pulled it away.
“Your son thinks plastic is a food group.”
Leo saw Lorenzo.
For one terrible second, Hunter worried he would not recognize him.
Then Leo smiled.
His whole face changed.
Lorenzo's eyes filled instantly.
Hunter pretended not to notice.
Leo reached both arms toward the glass divider.
Lorenzo placed his palm against it.
Leo slapped his tiny hand against the other side.
Lorenzo lowered his head.
Hunter's throat tightened.
Afterward, Lorenzo called her.
“I missed six weeks.”
“You missed six weeks of him trying to put his feet in his mouth.”
“That sounds important.”
“It was historic.”
“Send video.”
“I have forty-three.”
“Send all of them.”
Hunter smiled.
“Yes, boss.”
There was a pause.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m trying to stop being one.”
The old Rossi organization fractured while Lorenzo served his sentence.
Nico helped lawful authorities dismantle what remained of Dante’s network.
Rossi Maritime became a legitimate shipping company under independent management.
Several properties were sold.
The Manhattan club closed.
The warehouse where Lorenzo had ordered violent meetings was converted into storage for a charitable medical program.
Hunter laughed when she heard.
“What?”
Lorenzo asked over the phone.
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me.”
“You turned a mafia warehouse into a diaper distribution center.”
Silence.
Then Lorenzo laughed too.
“I deserve that.”
Hunter became director of the Sophia and Lily Maternal Care Foundation.
The name had been Lorenzo's idea.
Hunter cried when she first saw the paperwork.
The foundation supported mothers after pregnancy loss, premature infants, emergency neonatal care, and women leaving unsafe homes.
Hunter insisted Lily's name be smaller on the logo.
Lorenzo refused.
“Why?”
“Because she was here.”
Hunter stared at him.
“She lived.”
“Twenty-seven minutes.”
“Then twenty-seven minutes counts.”
Hunter never forgot that.
When Lorenzo returned home, the Rossi estate had changed.
Half the guards were gone.
The third-floor cameras remained for safety, but the nursery door stayed open.
The iron gates still stood.
Yet flowers grew around them now.
Elena had planted them.
Lorenzo walked into the mansion carrying one small bag.
Nico waited in the foyer.
“Welcome home.”
Lorenzo looked around.
“No guns?”
“Three.”
Lorenzo gave him a look.
Nico shrugged.
“I compromised.”
Leo's laugh came from the library.
Lorenzo stopped.
Hunter appeared.
Leo was in her arms.
He was almost one year old now.
Healthy.
Heavy.
Alive.
Lorenzo dropped the bag.
Leo stared at him.
Then shouted the only word he knew reliably.
“Da!”
Lorenzo covered his mouth.
Hunter smiled through tears.
“Yes.”
She whispered.
“That's your dad.”
Leo leaned toward him.
Lorenzo took his son.
For several seconds, he could not speak.
Then he kissed Leo's hair.
“I’m home.”
Hunter began stepping away.
Lorenzo reached for her wrist.
“Where are you going?”
“To give you two a minute.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
Lorenzo shifted Leo onto one arm.
“You’re part of the minute.”
May you like
Hunter's eyes filled.
She stayed.
