Chapter 7 - The Lakeview Sanctuary
By ten that night, the city of Chicago was blanketed in six inches of fresh white snow.
Adrian drove his private SUV through the quiet residential streets of Lakeview, far away from the gleaming skyscraper downtown and the dark memories of the Mercer tower.
He pulled into the heated garage of the restored two-story brick townhouse they had bought when they were first married.
He carried Elena inside through the kitchen, refusing to let her walk a single step on the icy pavement.
The house was warm, smelling of dried lavender and the cedar wood in the entryway.
There were no security details stationed at the corners, no armed couriers waiting in the foyer, and no red-flagged corporate files on the coffee table.
Adrian carried her upstairs to their master bedroom, gently laying her down onto the soft duvet and removing her boots with tender care.
"I moved everything from the Lincoln Park house back here while you were at the clinic," Adrian explained softly, pulling a thick cashmere throw over her shoulders.
"The board meetings have been delegated to the executive committee for the next six months. I am not leaving this neighborhood, Elena."
Elena leaned back against the pillows, her face pale against the dark wood of the headboard.
"You can't just stop running your father's world, Adrian. That machinery doesn't pause for pregnancies."
"Then let it break," Adrian said without an ounce of hesitation, sitting on the edge of the mattress and taking her cold hands between his own.
"I spent thirty-six years living for a dead man's reputation. I’m not spending the next thirty-six losing the only family that ever loved me for who I actually am."
Elena turned her head toward the nightstand, where the small white envelope she had left at the clinic now rested beside her reading glasses.
Next to it sat David’s tarnished military wristwatch, polished clean and placed securely on a velvet pad.
"You went and got it?" she whispered, her eyes softening.
"Julian Vance personally handed it to me at the downtown terminal before his train left," Adrian answered.
"He told me that your brother always bragged about how smart his older sister was. Julian told me that if David were alive today, he would have punched me through a wall for ever doubting you."
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A faint, trembling smile appeared on Elena’s lips through her tears. "David was always very protective of me."
"He was right to be," Adrian murmured, leaning down until his lips gently brushed her knuckles. "And I promise you, on David's memory and on the lives of our two children, I will spend every sunrise proving that you were right to give me a chance."
