Chapter 7 - The Choice
Lorenzo did not hesitate.
“Take me.”
Bell laughed.
“That wasn't an option.”
“Make it one.”
Evelyn could feel the blade against her skin.
Matteo was crying.
Lorenzo lowered his weapon.
“Let them both walk out. You get me.”
Bell studied him.
“You'd die for a homeless woman?”
Lorenzo looked directly at Evelyn.
“No.”
Her heart sank for half a second.
Then he continued.
“I'd die for the woman who saved my son when every sensible instinct told her to run.”
Bell's attention shifted.
That was his mistake.
Evelyn drove her heel backward into his knee.
The scalpel slipped.
Lorenzo moved.
Three seconds later Bell was on the floor.
Police sirens approached outside.
Not Moretti men.
Actual police.
Evelyn had insisted Vincent contact federal investigators before entering.
She was finished living inside other people's secrets.
Bell and Sebastian survived.
Both were arrested.
The evidence Claire had collected led investigators through shell companies, bribery networks, and multiple violent crimes.
Marco was arrested two days later attempting to cross into Canada.
For the first time in months, Evelyn slept without wondering where she would wake.
But safety created a different problem.
Now she had time to remember everything she had lost.
Claire.
Her career.
Her apartment.
Herself.
Lorenzo offered her a room indefinitely.
She refused.
He offered money.
She refused again.
Finally, he asked, “What will you accept?”
“A job.”
He blinked.
“A job?”
“The foundation funds medical programs, doesn't it?”
“Yes.”
“Then let me work.”
So Evelyn joined the Moretti Foundation's community health initiative.
Not because Lorenzo rescued her.
Because she wanted to rescue herself.
Weeks became months.
She found an apartment.
She replaced her nursing license documents.
She returned to therapy.
She began working toward reinstatement.
And every Saturday, Matteo appeared at the clinic carrying breakfast.
Usually with Lorenzo.
The first few times, Lorenzo stayed outside.
Eventually Evelyn invited him in.
Their relationship grew in quiet increments.
Coffee.
Arguments.
Long walks.
Matteo's school plays.
One evening Lorenzo drove Evelyn home.
Neither moved when the car stopped.
“You're staring,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I'm trying not to make a mistake.”
“That would be new.”
He smiled.
Then grew serious.
“I don't know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Want someone without trying to control the outcome.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Start by asking.”
His eyes dropped briefly toward her mouth.
“May I kiss you?”
She waited just long enough to make him nervous.
“Yes.”
The kiss was gentle.
Nothing like the dangerous man Boston whispered about.
When they separated, Lorenzo rested his forehead against hers.
Then Evelyn's phone rang.
Federal investigators.
Bell had agreed to talk.
He claimed Claire's murder had not been his order.
There was still another person involved.
May you like
Someone whose name had never appeared in Claire's files.
Someone closer to Lorenzo than anyone suspected.
