Chapter 6 - THE SHADOW OF "THAT MAN"
Sophie swallowed the warm soup, her small face flushing with healthy color as she reached for a piece of buttered chicken.
She paused mid-chew, setting her small fork down against the silver tray, and looked up at her mother with wide, innocent blue eyes.
"Mommy..." Sophie asked softly, her childish voice echoing in the quiet dining alcove. "...does this mean we don’t have to hide food in my backpack anymore?"
Elena forced a small, loving smile through her tears, reaching out to gently brush a strand of hair from her daughter's forehead. "No, sweetie. We don't have to hide anything."
Sophie hesitated, her small hands tightening around her gray stuffed rabbit as a sudden, subtle shadow of fear crossed her little face. She leaned forward over the table, lowering her voice to a quiet whisper.
"Even when that man comes back to our apartment?" Sophie added.
The moment those six words left the three-year-old girl's mouth, Elena’s face instantly lost every drop of color.
Her smile vanished. Her skin turned a ghostly, terrifying shade of white, and her hands dropped to her sides, trembling so violently that her fingernails clicked against her trousers buttons. She took a sudden, sharp step back from the table, her hazel eyes flaring with absolute, pure panic as she darted a terrified glance toward Lorenzo.
Lorenzo’s dark eyes locked onto Elena’s drained face.
The gentle, compassionate aura that had surrounded the crime boss moments ago vanished in a fraction of a micro-second. His broad shoulders squared into an iron posture, his sharp jawline setting into a line of lethal, razor-sharp focus.
He turned his full, imposing frame toward Elena, stepping into her personal space until his broad shadow covered her completely.
"What man?" Lorenzo asked.
May you like
His voice was no longer soft. It was a low, terrifying rumble—the voice of an apex predator who had just caught the scent of an intruder in his domain.
Elena said nothing. She squeezed her eyes shut, her chest heaving as she pressed her back against the walnut wainscoting, paralyzed by a secret far more dangerous than stolen bread.
