Chapter 6 - A Line in the Sand
Dominic stepped into the warm, quiet room.
Keo sat up slightly, holding his Captain Galaxy action figure. "Are you the manager man Linda works for?"
Dominic stopped beside the bed, looking down at the small boy. For the first time in fifteen years, the powerful mafia boss felt entirely out of his element.
"I am," Dominic said softly, pulling a chair closer and sitting down. "My name is Dominic."
"Linda says you're very strict, but you gave her extra money so she could buy me the big comic set," Keo said innocently.
Dominic cast a quick glance at Linda, who blushed slightly and looked down at her hands.
"She works hard," Dominic said, turning back to the boy. "She deserves it."
"Do you like superheroes, Mr. Dominic?" Keo asked, holding out the plastic action figure.
Dominic looked at the blue plastic toy, then reached out his large, scarred hand and gently took it. "I used to know a few men who thought they were superheroes. Usually, they just caused a lot of noise."
Keo giggled, a bright, clear sound that filled the room.
For the next hour, Dominic Gallo—the man who commanded two hundred soldiers in the city's underground—sat in a hospital chair playing with a plastic action figure and listening to a seven-year-old explain galactic space battles.
Linda sat across from them, her eyes fixed on Dominic.
She watched the way his stern, rigid jaw relaxed when Keo laughed. She watched how gentle his massive, dangerous hands were when he adjusted the boy's oxygen tube.
For three years, she had viewed Dominic Gallo as a cold, terrifying authority figure to be avoided at all costs.
Now, sitting in the warm lamplight of her son's hospital room, she saw something entirely different.
A protector.
When Keo finally fell into a deep, peaceful sleep at nine o'clock, Dominic stood up to leave.
Linda followed him out into the quiet corridor.
"Thank you, Mr. Gallo," she whispered, her voice filled with a deep, genuine emotion that made Dominic's chest tighten. "You didn't have to come here tonight."
"I wanted to," Dominic replied softly, looking into her warm brown eyes.
He reached out, his long fingers hesitating for a fraction of a second before gently brushing a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear.
"The city is becoming dangerous, Linda," he said quietly. "Tomorrow morning, I'm moving you and Keo to my estate in the countryside. The doctors will accompany him."
Linda frowned slightly. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"Moretti knows I'm involved in his care," Dominic said, dropping the lie and giving her the brutal truth. "He will try to use you to get to me. I won't let that happen."
Linda stared at him, the realization settling in. But instead of running away in terror, she reached out and wrapped her small, warm hand around his wrist.
May you like
"I trust you, Dominic," she whispered.
It was the first time she had ever called him by his first name.
