Chapter 5 - The Safehouse in the StormBy dawn, the mansion was secure.
But I knew it was compromised.
We relocated to a fortified Manhattan penthouse.
The rain outside turned the city into a blur of silver and black.
Hannah sat beside the nursery window while Leo slept.
“You should rest,” I told her.
“So should you.”
“I don't sleep much.”
“Neither do I.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then Hannah looked at me.
“Was Sophia afraid?”
The question caught me off guard.
“My wife?”
She nodded.
“Before she died.”
I stared through the glass.
“She was brave.”
“Were you with her?”
“No.”
The word tasted like poison.
“I was supposed to be.”
Hannah said nothing.
That silence hurt more than sympathy.
“I always believed money could solve everything,” I admitted.
She looked at Leo.
“Money can buy doctors.”
“Yes.”
“But it can't make you forgive yourself.”
I looked at her.
She understood grief in a way no one else did.
“You're right.”
She smiled sadly.
“So are you.”
“What?”
“About me being brave.”
A tiny smile touched her lips.
“I was terrified.”
“So was I.”
For the first time, we laughed.
Quietly.
Almost painfully.
May you like
And neither of us realized that something had begun.
Something neither money nor violence could control.
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