Chapter 5 - An Unlikely Alliance
The next four days transformed the cold, echoing fortress on Lake Shore Drive.
Under Hannah’s structured guidance, Noah blossomed with astonishing speed. She didn't force him into endless speech drills. Instead, they built massive blanket forts in the grand drawing room, using antique velvet cushions and leather-bound first editions as building blocks. She played auditory discrimination games with kitchen pots and wooden spoons with Mrs. Gable, laughing until her cheeks flushed red.
For the first time in over a year, laughter echoed down the marble corridors of the Moretti estate.
Gabriel found himself spending less and less time at his private shipping offices in the Loop and more time watching the security feeds from his study desk. On Thursday afternoon, he abandoned his work entirely, walking quietly down the hall to the open playroom doors.
Hannah was sitting cross-legged on the thick wool rug, wearing an emerald cardigan that brought out the fire in her red hair. Her shoes were kicked off, her toes wriggling in fuzzy socks as she helped Noah paint a giant cardboard reindeer with tempera colors.
""Red nose or black nose?"" Hannah asked, holding up two brushes.
""Red,"" Noah decided firmly, his voice sounding stronger, clearer with each passing hour. ""Like Rudolph.""
""Sensible choice,"" Gabriel said, leaning against the doorframe with his sleeves rolled up, revealing thick forearms corded with muscle and crisscrossed with faded scars from a violent past.
Noah looked up, his face brightening with a pure joy that made Gabriel’s chest tighten painfully. ""Dad! Look!""
""I see it, buddy. You're an artist,"" Gabriel said softly. He stepped into the room, kicking off his handmade shoes, and sat down on the floor beside them.
Hannah watched the lethal mob boss carefully arrange his long, tailored legs onto the floor, his massive hands picking up a tiny paintbrush with delicate precision. There was a raw, magnetic power to him that unsettled her in ways that had nothing to do with fear. When he reached across the cardboard to steady Noah’s hand, his shoulder brushed hers, sending a jolt of pure static electricity racing through her veins.
""You're good with him,"" Gabriel murmured, not looking away from the painted reindeer.
""He's a sweet boy. He just needed permission to stop carrying the world on his shoulders,"" Hannah answered softly.
Gabriel’s eyes lifted, locking onto hers. The usual cold, calculating barrier was gone, replaced by a searing hunger that made her breath catch. ""And who gives you permission to put down the world, Hannah?""
Before she could answer, Calvin appeared at the doorway, his face pale and his spectacles crooked. ""Mr. Moretti. We have a problem.""
Gabriel’s expression hardened instantly into stone. He rose to his feet with lethal grace, stepping out into the hall. Hannah followed instinctively, hovering just outside the doorway.
""What is it?"" Gabriel demanded.
""Dr. Evelyn Price,"" Calvin said, holding up an iPad. ""She just held a press conference outside the First District Police precinct downtown. She’s claiming that you abducted Hannah Brooks from Northgate Mall. She told the local news that Miss Brooks was an emotionally unstable, dismissed employee who was coerced into a human trafficking situation by known criminal elements.""
""That conniving, petty woman,"" Hannah gasped, stepping forward. ""She didn't care if I starved three weeks ago, and now she’s using my name to get her clinic on the five o'clock news!""
""She isn't acting alone,"" Calvin added grimly. ""Our intelligence indicates that Sergei Volkov paid her fifty thousand dollars through an offshore shell company this morning. Volkov is using the media and child protective services to force a federal warrant onto this property. If CPD and the FBI raid the gates with cameras rolling, Volkov’s snipers will have a clean shot at the confusion.""
Hannah’s hand flew to her throat. ""They're going to use the police to kill you and Noah.""
Gabriel looked at the screen, his jaw ticking. ""Volkov wants a public spectacle. He wants to drag my name through the mud, strip me of legal guardianship over my son, and leave Noah vulnerable in state custody.""
""What are you going to do?"" Hannah asked, her heart racing.
Gabriel looked down at her, his eyes glittering with a reckless, brilliant calculation. ""I'm going to give Chicago a spectacle they’ll never forget. Calvin, call the press. Call the mayor’s office. And summon the best bridal boutique on the Gold Coast.""
Hannah choked. ""Bridal boutique?!""
Gabriel took her hands in his, his grip firm and burning warm. ""Sergei Volkov is weaponizing your status as an abducted victim. Tomorrow night is the annual Winter Solstice Gala at the Drake Hotel—the biggest charity event of the year. If we show up as a kidnapped employee and an untouchable mob boss, the feds will tear us apart.""
May you like
""And if we don't?""
""We announce our engagement,"" Gabriel said simply. ""We tell the city that Noah’s silence was broken by the love of his future mother. We rewrite the narrative on live television, destroy Price’s credibility, and draw Volkov out into the open on our terms.""
