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16 **I SHOWED UP 27 MINUTES LATE TO A BLIND DATE BAREFOOT WITH MY SLEEPING NEPHEW—THE MAN WAITING WAS CHICAGO’S MOST FEARED BOSS. I EXPECTED HIM TO WALK OUT. INSTEAD, HE FELL FOR BOTH OF US—THEN HID THE ONE DECISION THAT COULD BREAK US.** / Chapter 6 / 10

Chapter 6 - THE CHOICE

I didn't sleep a single second.

When Adrien arrived at Crown & Curl the next evening, looking impossibly broad and striking in his charcoal suit, I was waiting. The salon was empty. I locked the front door behind him, flipped the sign to CLOSED, and walked over to the reception desk.

I spun my laptop around, revealing an archived newspaper article featuring his picture under a headline about a federal racketeering raid.

Adrien didn't flinch. He glanced at the glowing screen, then looked back up at me, his hazel eyes entirely unreadable.

"You're a mob boss," I said. My voice was dangerously quiet, cutting through the scent of coconut shampoo and hairspray.

"I am a businessman," Adrien replied smoothly, stepping forward to close the laptop lid. "My family has a complicated history, Maya."

"Complicated is forgetting to pay a utility bill!" I snapped, my composure breaking. "Complicated is having bad credit! This is organized crime, Adrien! You run a syndicate! And you sat in my apartment with my orphaned five-year-old nephew while Marco wore a salon cape!"

"Marco is highly trained," Adrien said softly, a muscle twitching in his jaw. "And I have kept you safe. I have never brought my world to your doorstep, Maya. I never would."

"You are your world!" I yelled, tears burning behind my eyes. "Do you have any idea what my life is? I am all Leo has! If his parents died in a crash, and then something happens to me—or worse, if someone trying to hurt you hurts him—what happens to that boy?!"

Adrien stopped. The authority that usually radiated from him seemed to vanish, replaced by a sudden, hollow stillness.

"I can't do this," I whispered, wiping a tear from my cheek. "I loved the man who helped me search for a stuffed lion. But I cannot bring a mob boss into Leo's life. I won't risk him."

Silence stretched between us, heavy enough to crush bone. I waited for him to argue. I waited for him to use his wealth, his influence, or his commanding presence to persuade me.

Instead, Adrien just looked at me with an expression of devastating sorrow.

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"You're right," he said quietly.

He didn't fight. He didn't make empty promises. He simply turned around, unlocked the door, nodded to Marco waiting outside in the dark SUV, and walked out into the cold night air.

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