Chapter 2 - The Bullets Through the Glass
Grace had just placed Noah’s hot chocolate on the table when the first bullet tore through the diner window.
Glass exploded across the red vinyl booths.
The old jukebox skipped, let out one warped note, then went silent.
Everyone screamed.
Everyone except Noah.
He saw the reaction before he understood the danger. His eyes widened as people dropped beneath tables, hands over their heads. Dominic Vale moved faster than Grace thought any man his size could move. He seized Noah’s chair and dragged it sideways just as another bullet shattered the glass behind them.
“Down!” Dominic shouted.
Noah could not hear him.
Grace did.
She threw herself over the boy before she had time to think. Her body covered his small frame as shattered glass rained across her back and shoulders. Noah trembled beneath her, his hands gripping the fabric of her uniform.
He was terrified.
But he was silent.
That silence broke something inside Grace.
She lifted her head enough to see Dominic on the other side of the booth, gun drawn, his face turned toward the windows. His men had already returned fire, moving with brutal precision through the diner.
“Get them out the back!” Dominic ordered.
One of the bodyguards reached for Noah.
The boy panicked immediately.
He clung to Grace.
“Noah,” Grace signed, even as her hands shook. “Look at me.”
His eyes found hers.
She signed slowly.
You are safe. Stay with me.
He stared at her fingers, struggling to breathe.
Then he nodded.
Dominic saw the exchange.
For the first time, he did not try to pull his son away.
Another bullet struck the counter, knocking over coffee mugs. The cook crawled behind the grill. Customers scrambled through the kitchen door. Rain and cold air flooded in through the broken windows.
Grace grabbed Noah’s hand.
“Come on.”
She led him toward the kitchen.
Dominic followed behind them, covering the doorway. His men formed a barrier between the gunfire and the terrified customers.
The rear exit opened onto a narrow alley behind the diner.
A black SUV waited there.
“Inside,” Dominic ordered.
Grace hesitated.
“I’m not going with you.”
A bullet struck the brick wall inches above her head.
Dominic grabbed her arm—not roughly, but firmly.
“You are bleeding.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are not.”
Noah looked between them, confused and shaking.
Then he signed toward Grace.
Please.
Grace looked at the boy.
His face was pale. His hot chocolate was still sitting untouched in the diner, whipped cream slowly melting into the dark drink.
She nodded.
“Okay.”
The SUV sped through the rain-soaked streets of Chicago.
Grace sat in the backseat with Noah beside her. Dominic sat across from them, one hand pressed against a cut near his temple. Blood ran along his cheek, but he did not seem to notice.
Noah held Grace’s hand.
Not tightly.
Just enough to make sure she was there.
Grace looked at Dominic.
“Who was shooting at you?”
His eyes stayed on the darkened window.
“Someone who wants to send a message.”
“At a diner?”
“They were not aiming for me.”
Grace went cold.
Dominic finally looked at her.
“They were aiming for Noah.”
The SUV fell silent.
Noah watched their faces, sensing the shift in the air. His shoulders rose.
Grace immediately signed.
Nothing is your fault.
Noah’s eyes filled.
Dominic looked away.
The SUV entered a gated property on the north side of the city. Iron gates closed behind them. Security lights reflected against wet stone walls.
Grace had seen expensive homes before.
This was not merely expensive.
It was protected.
A fortress disguised as a mansion.
Inside, doctors rushed toward Grace and Noah. A nurse led Noah to a private room, but he refused to let go of Grace’s hand.
“Grace can stay,” Dominic said.
The nurse looked surprised.
So did Grace.
As the doctor cleaned glass from Grace’s shoulder, Dominic stood in the doorway.
“You knew sign language,” he said.
“My sister was deaf.”
“Was?”
Grace looked down.
“Lily died when she was nineteen.”
Dominic’s face changed slightly.
“How?”
“An infection. Doctors missed it because she could not understand what they were telling her. She was scared all the time.” Grace swallowed. “I learned sign language because I hated watching her feel alone in rooms full of people.”
Noah had been listening.
He signed a question.
Grace looked at him.
“He wants to know if Lily liked hot chocolate.”
Grace smiled through the ache in her chest.
“She loved it,” she signed. “With too much whipped cream.”
Noah smiled.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
Marco, one of his men, spoke fast on the other end.
Dominic’s expression darkened.
“What did you find?”
A pause.
Then Dominic said, “Bring him here.”
Grace watched him.
“What happened?”
Dominic looked at Noah.
Then at her.
“The shooter was not from a rival family.”
“Then who was he?”
Dominic’s voice turned cold.
“Someone from inside my own organization.”
And suddenly, Grace understood that the bullets at the diner had not been a warning.
May you like
They had been the beginning of a betrayal.
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