CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 8
A Father Learns to Hold His Son
The first thing Lorenzo Rossi did after watching Sophia's final message was nothing.
No orders.
No threats.
No revenge.
Nothing.
For a man who had built his entire life on immediate action, silence felt unbearable.
The video continued playing on the screen.
Sophia's face.
Sophia's voice.
Sophia's last hope.
A woman who knew she was in danger.
A woman who knew someone close to Lorenzo was betraying them.
And somehow...
she had trusted Hunter Higgins.
A woman she had never met.
A woman who would later save their son.
Lorenzo watched the video again.
Then again.
Each time, the same words destroyed him.
Find Hunter.
Not find me.
Not punish them.
Not avenge my death.
Find Hunter.
Sophia had known something Lorenzo didn't.
She had believed Hunter was important.
She had believed this broken young woman would somehow become the person who saved Leo.
And Lorenzo hated that he understood why.
Because Sophia had always seen things he missed.
She saw people.
Lorenzo saw threats.
She saw hearts.
Lorenzo saw weaknesses.
She had spent their marriage trying to teach him something he never wanted to learn.
That not every problem could be solved with power.
The nursery was quiet.
Lorenzo stood outside the door.
Again.
But this time, something was different.
Before, he stood there because he was afraid.
Afraid of losing Leo.
Afraid of failing.
Afraid of being reminded that his son needed something Lorenzo couldn't provide.
Now he stood there because he wanted to enter.
Because his son was inside.
His son.
Not an heir.
Not a responsibility.
Not the future of the Rossi empire.
Just Leo.
A baby who needed his father.
He opened the door.
Hunter looked up.
She was sitting beside the crib, reading one of the children's books from the shelf.
She looked tired.
She always looked tired.
But she smiled when she saw him.
Not warmly.
Not yet.
But enough.
"You're awake."
Lorenzo glanced at the clock.
"It is three in the morning."
Hunter looked at Leo.
"He woke up twice."
"And you stayed?"
She gave him a strange look.
"Of course."
The answer was simple.
Automatic.
And somehow, that hurt.
Because Lorenzo realized Hunter had spent more time caring for his son than he had.
Not because she had been assigned.
Because she loved him.
Lorenzo moved closer.
"Teach me."
Hunter blinked.
"What?"
He looked embarrassed.
A feeling Lorenzo Rossi almost never experienced.
"Teach me."
A pause.
"How to hold him."
For several seconds, Hunter said nothing.
Because she had expected many things from Lorenzo.
Anger.
Suspicion.
Commands.
Never this.
She stood slowly.
"Okay."
She walked toward him.
"First, support his head."
Lorenzo nodded.
"I know."
"No."
Hunter almost smiled.
"You know how to hold a weapon."
The comment surprised him.
"You don't know how to hold a baby."
For the first time in months...
Lorenzo almost laughed.
Almost.
She guided his arms.
"Like this."
Slowly.
Carefully.
Leo was placed into his father's arms.
And everything stopped.
The most feared man in New York froze.
Because Leo was so small.
So fragile.
Lorenzo had held people before.
People dying.
People begging.
People he had defeated.
But this was different.
This was the first time he held someone who trusted him completely.
Leo opened his eyes.
Looked at him.
And then...
grabbed his finger.
Again.
Lorenzo looked down.
His expression changed.
Hunter watched quietly.
Because she knew what was happening.
The mafia king was meeting his son.
Not as a Rossi.
As a father.
"Why didn't I do this sooner?"
The question came unexpectedly.
Hunter looked at him.
"What?"
Lorenzo stared at Leo.
"I spent months paying doctors."
A pause.
"I bought the best equipment."
Another.
"I hired people to watch him."
His voice lowered.
"But I never just..."
He swallowed.
"Held him."
Hunter didn't answer immediately.
Because the truth was painful.
But it was necessary.
"Because you were scared."
Lorenzo looked at her.
"I am not afraid."
Hunter raised an eyebrow.
"You're terrified."
The words should have angered him.
Instead, they felt accurate.
"You lost Sophia."
Hunter continued.
"You almost lost Leo."
A pause.
"So you convinced yourself that if you controlled everything, nothing else could hurt you."
Lorenzo looked away.
Because she was right.
And he hated that.
"You know what the worst part is?"
Hunter asked.
"What?"
"You think being strong means never breaking."
She looked at Leo.
"But sometimes being strong means letting someone help you."
Silence.
Lorenzo looked at her.
Not as an employee.
Not as a stranger.
As someone who understood him.
Over the next few weeks, the Rossi mansion changed.
Slowly.
Almost invisibly.
The guards noticed first.
Lorenzo stopped eating alone.
He started joining Leo during breakfast.
He learned how to prepare bottles.
He learned which cry meant hunger and which meant discomfort.
He learned that Leo hated being wrapped too tightly.
He learned that his son liked music before sleeping.
And he learned something else.
He liked it.
The first time Marcus walked into the nursery and saw Lorenzo sitting on the floor changing Leo's clothes, he froze.
The most feared man in the city was struggling with tiny buttons.
"Don't say anything."
Marcus immediately looked away.
"Wasn't going to."
"You were."
"Yes."
Lorenzo looked at him.
Marcus smiled slightly.
"Boss."
"What?"
"I haven't seen you this happy in years."
Lorenzo became quiet.
Because he realized Marcus was right.
The last time he had been happy...
was before the explosion.
Before Sophia.
Before revenge.
Hunter noticed the changes too.
But unlike everyone else, she was afraid.
Because happiness was dangerous.
She knew that better than anyone.
The moment you allowed yourself to love something...
the world had a way of taking it away.
One night, Lorenzo found her sitting alone outside.
"You avoid me."
Hunter looked up.
"I don't."
"You do."
She sighed.
"You are my employer."
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Hunter stared.
"No?"
Lorenzo shook his head.
"Not anymore."
The words surprised both of them.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I don't want you here because you are useful."
A pause.
"I want you here because Leo needs you."
Hunter looked away.
"And what about what you need?"
Lorenzo didn't answer.
Because he knew.
He needed something he had not allowed himself to want.
A family.
The peace lasted exactly twelve days.
Then the first threat arrived.
Not a gun.
Not an attack.
A message.
Left inside Leo's nursery.
No one knew how it entered.
No alarm.
No camera caught anything.
Just a white envelope on the table.
Inside was a photograph.
Sophia.
Holding newborn Leo.
And written on the back:
SHE DIED BECAUSE SHE KNEW TOO MUCH.
Below that:
YOU WILL LOSE HIM THE SAME WAY.
Hunter found Lorenzo standing there.
The look on his face scared her.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Something worse.
Fear.
Pure fear.
Because this time, the threat wasn't against his empire.
It wasn't against his money.
It wasn't against his name.
It was against his son.
Lorenzo slowly folded the photograph.
Then he looked at Hunter.
For the first time since she met him, his voice broke.
"Take Leo."
She froze.
"What?"
"Take him and leave."
"No."
"Hunter."
"No."
His eyes darkened.
"This isn't a request."
She stepped closer.
"You promised me."
Silence.
Lorenzo remembered.
The promise.
No one will hurt you.
Hunter looked directly at him.
"You promised you would protect us."
A pause.
"Not send us away."
The words stopped him.
Because she was right.
The old Lorenzo protected people by pushing them away.
The new Lorenzo had to learn something harder.
Standing beside them.
He looked at Leo.
Then at Hunter.
And made a decision.
A decision that would change everything.
"No one takes my family from me."
Hunter's heart skipped.
Family.
He had said family.
Not heir.
Not responsibility.
Family.
But before either of them could say anything...
every security alarm in the mansion exploded.
Marcus's voice came through the intercom.
"Boss!"
Lorenzo grabbed his weapon.
"What happened?"
A pause.
Then Marcus said the words that changed the night.
"Someone inside the house opened the gates."
Lorenzo looked toward Hunter.
The enemy was not coming.
May you like
The enemy was already there.
TO BE CONTINUED...
