Chapter 5 - The Vow
Before Gabriel left the cabin, he pulled me into the small, heavily fortified panic room in the basement.
Dante stood guard at the top of the stairs, armed to the teeth and ready to die for the Falcone heir.
Gabriel handed me a small, silver handgun, pressing it firmly into my trembling palm.
"I don't know how to use this," I whispered, staring at the lethal weapon.
"You turn off the safety here, you point it at the door, and you pull the trigger until it stops clicking," he instructed patiently.
He placed his large, warm hands over my shaking ones, forcing me to look up into his dark, intense eyes.
"You are the strongest woman I have ever met," Gabriel said, his voice thick with raw emotion.
"You survived the unimaginable, and you brought my son back from the brink of death."
I swallowed hard, feeling a strange, powerful warmth spreading through my chest.
"I won't let them take him, Gabriel," I vowed, the truth ringing clear in the quiet room.
"I know you won't," he replied softly.
Then, to my absolute shock, Gabriel leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against my forehead.
It was not a gesture of a mafia boss to his maid.
It was the tender, desperate kiss of a man who had suddenly found something worth living for.
"I will be back before dawn," he promised.
May you like
He turned and walked up the stairs, leaving me alone with Mateo in the protective silence of the bunker.
I sat on the cot, holding the gun in one hand and cradling the baby in my other arm, praying for the monster to die.
