Chapter 10 - The Sun Rises Over New York
Lorenzo didn't flinch. He didn't raise his voice. He simply stared at Elena with a look so utterly devoid of mercy that the woman instinctively took half a step backward.
"You think you hold leverage over me?" Lorenzo asked softly, his voice cutting through the quiet room like a razor blade.
Before Elena could answer, the side door of the study clicked open. Mia wandered in, clutching her gray stuffed rabbit by the ear, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She had woken up from her nap and was looking for her mother.
"Mister?" Mia mumbled softly, blinking at the strange, elegant woman standing near the desk.
Elena’s eyes widened. A wicked smile crossed her face as she lunged forward, snatching Mia up by the arm before anyone could react. "Well, look who it is! Aren't you a sweet little—"
Bang.
The heavy mahogany doors slammed open completely. Clara rushed into the room, screaming in sheer terror, while three armed security guards flooded the space with their weapons drawn, lasers locked dead center on Elena’s chest.
At the same time, a cold, metallic click echoed through the room. Lorenzo had pulled a suppressed pistol from his desk drawer, leveling the barrel straight between Elena’s eyes with absolute, terrifying calm.
"Let her go, Elena," Lorenzo whispered, his voice dropping to a deadly purr. "If her skin is scratched—even by a millimeter—you won't make it off this island alive."
Elena froze. The absolute bloodlust radiating from Lorenzo wasn't a bluff; it was a certainty. Trembling with sudden, overwhelming terror, she released Mia’s arm and stumbled back, her hands raised in surrender.
"Get her out of my sight," Lorenzo commanded without breaking eye contact. "Take her to the lowest holding cell. We'll deal with her permanent absence tomorrow."
Guards swarmed Elena, dragging her screaming and kicking out of the study as Clara rushed forward, scooping Mia into her arms and sobbing into the toddler's hair.
Lorenzo slowly lowered his weapon, setting it back inside the desk drawer. He walked around the mahogany desk, stopping right in front of Clara and the little girl.
Mia blinked up at him, completely unfazed by the chaos. She reached out a small hand and patted Lorenzo’s sleeve. "Mister, why is everybody yelling?"
Lorenzo let out a long breath—the last heavy ghost of his past finally leaving his lungs. He reached down, gently taking Mia’s small hand in his, and offered a soft, genuine smile that the old Lorenzo Moretti would never have shown anyone.
May you like
"Nobody's yelling anymore, sunshine," Lorenzo said quietly. "Nobody's yelling anymore."
Outside the grand windows of the Moretti estate, the heavy winter clouds finally parted over the New York skyline, and the first warm rays of morning sunlight broke across the horizon, illuminating a future built not on fear, but on an unbreakable bond that had brought a king back from the dark.
