Chapter 5 - Trust Earned
When the heavy steel door finally opened, I stood up, raising a heavy brass lamp over my head.
I was ready to fight.
But it wasn't an intruder standing in the doorway.
It was Adrian Vale.
He was covered in dust and smelled like smoke, his chest heaving with exertion.
His eyes swept the panic room, landing on his four boys huddled behind me.
When he saw that they were unharmed, his knees actually buckled slightly.
"Dad!" Luke screamed, running out from behind me and throwing his arms around Adrian's legs.
Adrian dropped to his knees, pulling all four of his sons into a desperate embrace.
It was the first time I had seen the ruthless crime boss look like a normal father.
After a long moment, Adrian looked up at me over his sons' heads.
"You kept them in here," he said, his voice thick with emotion.
"I just followed instructions," I replied quietly, putting the heavy brass lamp down.
"No," Evan interrupted, wiping his face.
"She stood in front of the door the whole time, Dad."
"She said she would fight them if they got in."
Adrian stood up slowly, looking at me with a new, intense level of respect.
"The threat has been neutralized," Adrian announced to the room.
"It was a rival family making a play for my territory."
"Are they gone?" Caleb asked nervously.
"They will never come back," Adrian promised, and the coldness in his tone made me shiver.
That night, the atmosphere in the house changed completely.
The boys didn't throw anything at me.
They didn't scream or demand pizza.
When I tucked Luke into bed, he held onto my hand for a long time.
"Thank you for not running away," Luke whispered into the dark.
"I'm not going anywhere," I promised him.
I walked out into the hallway and found Evan waiting for me.
"I threw that baseball at you because I wanted you to leave," Evan confessed, looking at the floor.
"I know," I said gently.
"I thought if I chased away all the nannies, my dad would stop bringing strangers into the house," he explained.
"Strangers who could hurt us."
I knelt down so I was eye-level with the boy who carried far too much weight on his shoulders.
May you like
"I will never hurt you, Evan," I promised.
He nodded, finally believing me, and went back to his room.
