Chapter 3 - The Fortress in Lincoln ParkBy 3:00 PM, a cold, biting rain had begun to fall over the stone brownstones of Lincoln Park.
Inside my three-story historic home, the fireplace crackled warmly in the living room. The house smelled of cedar, vanilla, and sweet cocoa.
After leaving the restaurant, I had driven straight home, locked the front security gates, and called my brother, Marcus, who ran a private security firm in the city. Two of his best operators were currently stationed outside on the street.
Maya and Leo were playing happily on the soft Persian rug in the playroom, lining up wooden trains while their golden retriever napped beside them. They were safe, warm, and blissfully unaware of the storm brewing outside our gates.
I sat in a velvet armchair near the bay window, holding a hot cup of chamomile tea with both hands to stop them from trembling.
My phone rang on the side table.
I picked it up. The caller ID displayed an unlisted number from Moretti Global Headquarters.
I pressed answer, setting it to speaker.
"I know you have security outside, Nia," Luca’s deep voice drifted through the speaker. He sounded raw, exhausted, but completely unyielding.
"They're there to keep trespassers off my property, Luca," I replied calmly.
"I'm standing at the end of your block," Luca revealed.
My breath hitched. I looked toward the window, pulling the sheer curtain back slightly. Parked under the oak tree fifty yards away sat a dark, armored Maybach.
"You can't be here, Luca," I spoke softly. "You have a wife. You have a company to run. Leave us alone."
A long, agonizing silence stretched over the line. When Luca spoke again, his voice was thick with a grief so profound it made my heart ache despite myself.
"I went to three specialists, Nia," Luca confessed, every word sounding as though it were being dragged through glass. "Over the last six months... I went to Dr. Aris in Chicago and Dr. Vance in New York. I thought... I thought maybe I was the reason we couldn't conceive. I wanted to fix it."
I closed my eyes, a single tear slipping past my lashes down my cheek.
"And what did they tell you, Luca?" I whispered.
"They told me I was completely healthy," Luca wept softly into the receiver—a sound I had never heard in the ten years I had known him. "They told me there was zero medical reason why I couldn't have children. And that was when I realized... I had destroyed the only woman I ever loved over a lie."
"It wasn't just a lie, Luca," I corrected deadpan, my voice hardening back into iron. "It was trust. When times got hard, you didn't stand by me. You let your advisor whisper poison in your ear, you pulled away, and you walked out when I needed you most."
"Let me see them, Nia," Luca begged, his baritone cracking completely. "Please. Just ten minutes. Let me hold my son and daughter."
May you like
"No," I answered smoothly. "You chose Evelyn. You chose your empire. You don't get to step into my children's lives just because your guilt is keeping you awake at night."
I ended the call and switched the phone to silent.
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