Chapter 6 - The Safehouse
Gabriel relocated them to a fortified cabin in the Vermont woods, leaving his loyal men to purge the Boston estate.
For a week, they lived entirely cut off from the criminal empire. It was an illusion of a normal life. They chopped wood, Clara cooked massive breakfasts, and they spent hours teaching Leo how to skip rocks on the frozen lake.
One evening, after Leo was asleep, Gabriel sat by the roaring fireplace, cleaning his sidearm. Clara sat beside him on the rug, resting her head on his knee.
“When this is over,” Clara asked quietly, “what happens to us?”
Gabriel stopped cleaning the gun. He looked down at her, his dark eyes filled with absolute certainty.
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“There is no ‘us’ going anywhere, Clara. I am never letting you go. If I have to burn the entire Boston underworld to the ground to keep you and Leo safe, I will strike the match tonight.”
He pulled her into his lap, kissing her with a fierce, possessive heat that erased every doubt in her mind. That night, the barriers fell completely. In the glow of the fireplace, the mob boss and the waitress claimed each other, forging a bond that no syndicate could ever break.
