Chapter 6 - The Cabin in the Pines
There was a mole inside the Moretti security team. Gabriel didn't trust anyone except Marcus "Tiny" Reed.
Within an hour, Gabriel bundled Hannah and Noah into an armored SUV, leaving the city under cover of the raging blizzard. By morning, they had crossed the state line into the dense, snow-covered pine forests of northern Wisconsin, arriving at an isolated, off-the-grid timber lodge surrounded by perimeter sensors.
Tiny stood watch on the wrap-around porch with a thermal rifle, while inside, a massive stone fireplace filled the great room with golden heat.
For two days, they lived in forced isolation. The high-stakes syndicate war was temporarily kept outside the walls. For the first time, Hannah saw Gabriel not as the ruthless kingpin of Chicago, but as a man who chopped wood until his shirt clung to his back, who sat on the floor helping Noah assemble wooden train tracks, and who watched Hannah with an intense hunger that made the air between them electric.
On the third evening, after Noah had fallen fast asleep in the upstairs loft, Hannah found Gabriel sitting by the fire, studying architectural schematics of a shipping yard on his phone.
Hannah walked over and took the phone from his hands, setting it on the coffee table.
"You haven't slept in forty-eight hours, Gabriel," she said softly.
Gabriel looked up at her, the shadows beneath his eyes deep and haunted. "If I close my eyes, I see that man touching your throat. I see the car on the bridge. I cannot lose another person I love, Hannah."
Hannah froze. Her breath caught in her throat. "What did you say?"
Gabriel stood up slowly, towering over her. He reached out, his calloused hands cradling her face with infinite tenderness.
"I was dead for fourteen months, Hannah. I was a ghost walking through an empire of glass and blood. Then a stubborn, beautiful elf in a torn costume sat on the floor with my son and taught him that love didn't have to hurt." He leaned down, his lips brushing hers, whisper-soft. "I am in love with you. And it terrifies me."
May you like
Hannah didn't pull away. She twined her fingers into the dark hair at the nape of his neck and kissed him back—deeply, passionately, pouring every ounce of her longing into him. Gabriel groaned, lifting her effortlessly into his arms as the fire crackled against the winter night.
***
