Chapter 10 - HERE YOU GO, HONEY
Kevin had not been kidnapped.
He had escaped.
That was the first surprise.
The second arrived twelve hours later when he walked voluntarily into a federal building in Washington, D.C.
He carried documents.
Not Moretti documents.
Government documents.
Kevin had discovered something while working for Matteo.
Enzo had not operated alone.
Several corrupt officials had protected the network for years.
Kevin feared that entering ordinary protective custody would get him killed.
So he ran long enough to deliver the evidence directly to federal investigators outside the compromised chain.
It was reckless.
Illegal.
And, for once, brave.
His evidence led to six arrests.
Two customs officials resigned.
A federal contractor was indicted.
The final remnants of Enzo’s network collapsed.
Kevin pleaded guilty to fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
Before sentencing, he asked to see Paige.
She agreed.
They met inside a courthouse interview room.
Kevin looked healthier.
Still tired.
But no longer running.
“I loved you,” he said.
Paige looked at him.
“I know.”
“I was just terrible at it.”
“Yes.”
He laughed quietly.
“I deserved that.”
He apologized without excuses.
Not for disappearing.
For turning her trust into collateral.
For allowing his fear to become her punishment.
Paige listened.
Then she forgave him.
Not because he deserved absolution.
Because she no longer wanted to carry him.
When she walked outside, Gabriel waited beside a black car.
No guards visible.
Nico sat behind the wheel.
Gabriel looked at her.
“How was it?”
“Finished.”
One word.
That was enough.
He opened the car door.
Paige stopped.
“Actually, I want to walk.”
“It’s raining.”
“I know.”
Gabriel looked toward the gray Manhattan sky.
Then removed his coat and placed it around her shoulders.
They walked.
Six months later, Moretti Logistics announced its largest legitimate shipping contract in company history.
One year later, the final illegal subsidiary was dissolved.
The newspapers called Gabriel’s transformation mysterious.
Business magazines called it strategic.
Federal prosecutors called it useful cooperation.
Paige called it exhausting.
Her design division grew from three employees to twenty-two.
She reopened her old portfolio.
Then stopped needing it because she was building a better one.
Buster moved to Manhattan.
He immediately decided Gabriel belonged to him.
The supposedly terrifying Gabriel Moretti became the kind of man who attended international conference calls with a golden retriever asleep on his Italian shoes.
Paige photographed it every time.
Rosa collected the pictures.
Nico denied enjoying any of this.
Nobody believed him.
Two years after the afternoon Paige accidentally called her boss honey, the fifth-floor bullpen looked almost the same.
Same desks.
Same windows.
Different people.
And considerably fewer terrified whispers.
Paige stepped from the elevator carrying a stack of revised campaign materials.
A young assistant hurried beside her.
“Ms. Winslow, Mr. Moretti said he needs the final presentation before three.”
“I know.”
“He sounded serious.”
“He always sounds serious.”
The assistant lowered her voice.
“Is he actually as scary as everyone says?”
Paige considered it.
“Yes.”
The girl went pale.
Paige smiled.
“But mostly before breakfast.”
She entered Gabriel’s office without knocking.
He stood by the windows.
Dark suit.
White shirt.
No tie.
The city stretched behind him.
For a second, Paige remembered the first time she had entered this room.
Terrified.
Exhausted.
Thirty thousand dollars in debt.
Believing her life was about to end.
Instead, it had begun again.
Gabriel turned.
“You’re late.”
Paige checked the clock.
“I’m four minutes early.”
“You’re late by my clock.”
She stared.
He stared back.
Then Paige laughed.
“You stole that from my first interview story.”
“I improved it.”
“No, you didn’t.”
She placed the presentation on his desk.
Gabriel did not look at it.
That was when Paige noticed something unusual.
He seemed nervous.
Gabriel Moretti did not get nervous.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I need something.”
“Dangerous sentence.”
He opened his desk drawer.
Paige froze.
Inside was a small black box.
Her heartbeat stopped.
Gabriel removed it.
Then, astonishingly, the most feared man Paige had ever known went down on one knee.
She covered her mouth.
“No.”
His expression changed.
Paige immediately shook her head.
“No—I mean, no, you are not doing this to me at work.”
A laugh escaped him.
Outside the glass office walls, employees had begun noticing.
One person stood.
Then another.
Soon half the bullpen was staring.
Paige pointed toward them.
“You planned an audience?”
“Nico did.”
From somewhere outside, Nico lifted one hand.
Traitor.
Gabriel opened the box.
The ring was elegant and simple.
Exactly what Paige would have chosen.
“Paige Winslow.”
Her eyes filled.
Gabriel’s voice became quieter.
“Before you walked into my life, I thought protecting people meant keeping them far enough away that losing them couldn’t destroy me.”
Paige stopped smiling.
“I was wrong.”
He looked at her with the same gray eyes that had once terrified her across a cheap cubicle.
“You challenged me when everyone else obeyed me. You made me laugh when I had forgotten I could. You trusted me when you had every reason not to.”
Paige wiped a tear.
“And you called me honey in front of thirty employees.”
She laughed through the tears.
“I knew you’d bring that up.”
“I intend to bring it up for the rest of our lives.”
Gabriel held the ring.
“If you’ll let me.”
Paige looked through the glass.
Thirty employees immediately pretended not to be watching.
She looked back at him.
“Yes.”
Gabriel did not move.
Paige laughed.
“Yes, Gabriel.”
Still he stared.
“Oh my God. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The office erupted.
Applause.
Whistles.
Someone shouted something that sounded suspiciously like, “Finally!”
Gabriel slipped the ring onto her finger.
Then stood.
Paige wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You realize your terrifying reputation is dead.”
“I’ll rebuild it.”
“Impossible.”
He kissed her.
Months later, they married at a small estate outside the city.
No reporters.
No politicians.
No criminal associates.
Only people they trusted.
Rosa cried through the entire ceremony.
Nico insisted he had dust in his eye.
Paige’s mother brought Buster, who wore a black bow tie and attempted to steal food from the catering table.
Kevin sent a letter from prison.
Paige read it privately.
He wished her happiness.
She believed he meant it.
Then she closed that chapter of her life permanently.
At sunset, Paige stood beneath strings of warm lights while Gabriel approached carrying two glasses of champagne.
He handed one to her.
She looked at the man before her.
Not the mafia boss people whispered about.
Not the CEO who could silence thirty employees by entering a room.
Her husband.
The man who had once discovered her worst problem and, instead of exploiting it, helped her find the strength to solve it.
Gabriel lifted his glass.
“To accidents.”
Paige smiled.
“To very embarrassing accidents.”
He kissed her forehead.
Music drifted across the lawn.
Her mother danced with Rosa.
Nico was losing an argument with Buster over a steak.
Paige laughed.
Gabriel watched her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I can.”
She shook her head.
Then handed him her empty champagne glass.
“Here you go, honey.”
Gabriel froze.
Paige waited.
Two years disappeared.
The bullpen.
The folder.
Thirty silent keyboards.
Her trembling hand.
His impossible gray eyes.
Then Gabriel laughed.
A real laugh.
Warm and unguarded.
He pulled her against him.
“You did that deliberately.”
“Prove it.”
“I have witnesses.”
“Your witnesses are scared of me now.”
“That is unfortunately true.”
Paige rested her head against his chest.
Beyond them, Manhattan glowed in the distance.
There were no collectors calling.
No forged debts.
No burner phones.
No apartment waiting to burn.
Her mother was safe.
Buster was home.
Her work belonged to her.
Her life belonged to her.
And the man holding her had finally learned that love did not make him weaker.
It gave him something worth becoming better for.
Gabriel kissed the top of her head.
“Ready to go home?”
Paige looked toward the people laughing beneath the lights.
Then at her husband.
She smiled.
May you like
“Yeah, honey.”
And this time, when the word left her mouth, nobody was afraid.
