Chapter 3 - The Enemy Who Never Forgot
The hotel was evacuated through a private service corridor.
Storm’s security team moved around us with terrifying precision. Luca carried Leo while Storm kept one hand on my back, guiding me through a maze of locked doors and elevators.
I hated how familiar his touch felt.
Even after six years.
Even after everything.
“Where are you taking us?” I demanded.
“My townhouse.”
“No.”
Storm did not slow down.
“Juliet—”
“I am not going anywhere with you.”
“You are not making decisions based on pride while someone shoots at my son.”
“He is not part of your world.”
“He became part of it the second someone saw him standing beside me.”
The private elevator opened.
Storm moved us inside.
I turned to him, furious.
“You do not get to claim him because you suddenly discovered he exists.”
His eyes met mine.
“I’m not claiming him.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Trying to keep him alive.”
The elevator descended in silence.
Leo had fallen asleep against Luca’s shoulder, exhausted from fear and confusion. His small silver car was still clutched tightly in his hand.
Storm looked at him as if he could not stop.
I saw the grief in his face.
Not grief for himself.
Grief for six years he would never get back.
When we reached the underground garage, three armored vehicles waited.
Storm placed Leo carefully into the middle SUV and buckled him in himself.
Then he looked at me.
“Get in.”
“I need to call my assistant. My studio. My neighbor—”
“They’ve already been contacted.”
“What?”
“I had Matteo send people to secure your home and workplace.”
My anger flared again.
“You sent people to my home?”
“To protect it.”
“You don’t get to make choices for me.”
Storm’s face tightened.
“You’re right.”
I stared at him, surprised.
“I don’t,” he continued. “But I will ask you once. Please get in the car.”
For a moment, I saw the man I once loved beneath the kingpin, beneath the guards, beneath the violence.
Then another gunshot rang through the garage.
Storm shoved me behind the SUV.
His men returned fire toward the far entrance.
The sound was deafening.
Leo woke up screaming.
That ended the argument.
I climbed into the vehicle.
---
Storm’s townhouse was on the Upper East Side, hidden behind tall iron gates and old money. From the street, it looked like every other historic brownstone on the block.
Inside, it was a fortress.
Bulletproof glass.
Security panels.
Armed guards at every entrance.
A private medical room.
A kitchen larger than my entire Boston studio.
Leo sat at the dining table eating grilled cheese cut into triangles while a doctor checked him for injuries.
He kept looking at Storm.
Storm remained across the room, speaking quietly to Matteo.
“Who fired?” Storm asked.
“Not Rusk’s usual men,” Matteo replied. “The vehicle was stolen. Shooter got away before our team reached him.”
“Any message?”
Matteo’s eyes shifted toward me.
“A note was left near the hotel entrance.”
Storm held out his hand.
Matteo gave him a small folded piece of paper.
Storm read it once.
Then his expression became dangerous.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He did not answer.
“Storm.”
He handed it to me.
The message was written in black ink.
A father should never hide his child from the family.
At the bottom was a symbol I recognized from old headlines and whispered conversations.
A black crown.
Antonio Rusk.
Storm’s oldest enemy.
My mouth went dry.
“Rusk is alive?”
Storm looked at me.
“He never left New York.”
“You said he was gone.”
“I said his organization was weakened.”
“Not gone.”
“No.”
Leo’s small voice interrupted us.
“Who is Rusk?”
Everyone in the room froze.
Storm walked over slowly and sat across from him.
“A bad man,” he said.
“Like in my books?”
“Worse.”
Leo looked down at his sandwich.
“Is he mad at me?”
Storm’s face changed.
“No,” he said firmly. “He is mad at me.”
“Why?”
Storm was silent for a moment.
Then he answered honestly.
“Because I made enemies before I knew I had you.”
Leo looked up.
“You didn’t know me?”
“No.”
“Mom knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell you?”
I felt every eye in the room turn toward me.
Storm did not look away from Leo.
“That is something your mother and I should explain together.”
Leo considered that.
Then he placed his silver toy car on the table between us.
“Okay,” he said. “But no lying.”
Storm looked at the car.
Then at me.
“No lying,” he agreed.
That night, after Leo finally fell asleep in a guarded bedroom, Storm and I stood alone in the library.
The storm outside had turned the windows black.
“You should have told me,” he said.
“You were sending men to threaten city council members when I left.”
“I was protecting my business.”
“You were building an empire with bodies underneath it.”
Storm’s jaw tightened.
“And you thought Boston would keep you safe?”
“I thought distance would.”
“It did,” he said. “Until today.”
I crossed my arms.
“What happens now?”
Storm looked toward the hallway where Leo slept.
“Now we find Antonio Rusk before he finds my son.”
A phone rang.
Matteo answered it, listened, then looked directly at Storm.
“Boss,” he said, “we found out who tipped Rusk off about the hotel.”
Storm’s eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Matteo looked at me.
May you like
“Juliet’s business partner.”
---
