Chapter 5
I called an emergency meeting with my security chief that night, Hannah standing beside me at the table for the first time, uninvited by anyone but me.
“Vincent Castellano wants leverage,” my chief explained. “He knows attacking you directly is suicide. Your daughters are the weakness he thinks he’s found.”
“Then we remove the weakness,” I said, “without removing my daughters from their home.”
Hannah spoke before anyone else could. “You increase visible security enough that he knows this house isn’t the soft target he assumed. But you also give him a reason to believe he’s still winning, until he makes a mistake.”
Every man at that table looked at her like she didn’t belong there.
I held up a hand before anyone objected.
“Keep talking.”
“Men like this need to feel in control right up until they aren’t,” she said. “Leak that you’re rattled. Leak that you’re considering moving the girls out of state. Let him think a transfer is coming. He’ll want to strike before that happens.”
“And when he strikes?”
“You’re ready. On your terms, not his.”
It was cold, calculated, and precise.
It was also exactly right.
Three nights later, we let the leak spread through channels I knew would reach Castellano’s people within hours.
By midnight, surveillance caught movement near the service entrance, the exact vulnerability I’d allowed to appear undermanned on purpose.
My men moved in fast and clean.
Vincent Castellano himself hadn’t come personally, too smart for that, but the men he sent talked quickly once they understood the alternative.
By dawn, the threat against my family was neutralized, the network exposed enough that Vincent would spend the next several years fighting legal battles instead of vendettas.
I found Hannah on the porch as the sun rose, Claire’s monitor clipped to her waist even now, always watching, always protecting.
“It’s over,” I said. “For now.”
She nodded slowly, exhaustion evident beneath her composure.
“For Elliot,” she said quietly. “This doesn’t bring him back. But it’s something.”
“I should have found the men responsible for his death years ago.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I run an empire, Hannah. I should have known.”
She turned to face me fully.
“You’re not responsible for every shadow your world casts. You’re responsible for what you do once you see them clearly.”
I thought about the years I’d spent building power without asking who it crushed along the way.
“I want to change what this family stands for,” I said. “Not overnight. But starting now.”
Hannah studied me for a long moment.
“Claire took nine steps yesterday without the chair,” she said. “Did you know that?”
“I didn’t.”
“You will now. If you’re staying present enough to notice.”
Inside the house, I heard small footsteps and Josie’s laughter drifting down the hallway, innocent and untouched by the danger that had circled them without their knowledge.
“I don’t know how to be the kind of father who deserves that,” I admitted.
“You already are, Mr. Reyes,” Hannah said softly. “You just have to keep choosing it. Every single day.”
For the first time in longer than I could remember, I believed that was possible.
