Chapter 5 - THE SINS OF THE FATHER
The helicopter carried us north, away from the burning wreckage of my old life, setting down on the manicured lawn of a sprawling, heavily fortified estate in the Adirondacks. It was a fortress of glass and stone, surrounded by miles of dense, impenetrable forest.
For the next three days, time blurred. We were given a suite that was larger than any apartment I had ever lived in. The beds were massive, the food was hot and abundant, and for the first time in two years, I didn't have to worry about how I would feed my child. But the golden cage was still a cage.
Alessandro spent most of his time in a heavily guarded study, orchestrating a brutal counter-offensive against the Moretti family and desperately hunting for David. I saw a different side of the ruthless crime boss during those quiet evenings. When the sun dipped below the mountains, Alessandro would emerge, still moving stiffly from his wounds, and sit by the massive stone fireplace.
Logan, completely unbothered by the heavily armed men patrolling the halls, had taken a strange liking to Alessandro. My son, who had never known a father, gravitated toward the quiet, powerful man. One evening, I walked into the living room to find the terrifying head of the Romano syndicate sitting on the floor, patiently helping Logan build a lopsided tower out of wooden blocks.
“He has your eyes,” Alessandro said without looking up, carefully placing a block on the precarious structure.
“Thank God he doesn’t have his father’s,” I replied, my voice dripping with venom. I sat on the edge of the sofa, watching them. “Why are you being so kind to us? We are a liability. I’m a janitor. He’s the son of the man who tried to kill you.”
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Alessandro stopped. He looked at Logan, then up at me. “When I was ten years old, a rival family placed a car bomb under my father’s Cadillac. My mother and my six-year-old sister were in the backseat. I watched them burn from the porch.” His voice was devoid of emotion, a flat recitation of a nightmare he had lived a thousand times. “In this life, children pay for the sins of their fathers. It is the cruelest rule we live by. I will not let your son pay for David’s greed. I swear it on my mother’s grave.”
The sincerity in his vow took my breath away. Here was a man who traded in violence and extortion, offering me more loyalty and protection in three days than my husband had in three years. The realization sparked a terrifying, confusing warmth in my chest. I was falling under the spell of a monster, but right now, he was the only thing standing between my child and the abyss.
