Chapter 3 - The Hand Around Her Throat
Norah should have gone home.
Instead, she made one mistake.
She returned to Cafe Pernell forty minutes later.
Her purse was missing.
Inside it were her identification, keys, and a small notebook containing the number for her obstetrician.
“I'll get it,” Gideon said.
“I can retrieve my own purse.”
“Mrs. Moretti.”
“Thirty seconds.”
Gideon sighed.
“Thirty.”
Norah entered through the side door.
Her purse was beneath the table.
She bent down.
“Still making other men clean up your messes?”
Her blood turned cold.
Ethan stood near the hallway leading toward the restrooms.
“I'm leaving.”
“You owe me a conversation.”
“I owe you nothing.”
He stepped closer.
“You destroyed four years of my life.”
Norah laughed once.
It surprised both of them.
“Your life?”
“You told people things.”
“I told the truth.”
“You made me sound like a monster.”
“You did that yourself.”
Ethan's face changed.
Norah saw it.
The tiny tightening around his eyes.
The jaw.
The breath through his nose.
She remembered those signs.
But this time she didn't shrink.
“Move.”
He blocked the hallway.
“Is it his?”
Norah stared at him.
“What?”
“The baby.”
Her hand instinctively moved toward her stomach.
Ethan noticed.
“God.”
His voice rose.
“You really are pregnant.”
“Move.”
“He knows?”
“That's none of your business.”
Ethan grabbed her arm.
Norah jerked backward.
“Don't touch me!”
“You think you're better than me because you married some gangster?”
“Let go.”
“You think he loves you?”
“LET GO.”
She shoved his hand away.
Something snapped behind Ethan's eyes.
He seized her shoulders.
Norah stumbled backward into the wall.
“Ethan!”
“You walked out on me!”
“I escaped you!”
His hand moved upward.
Around her throat.
Not squeezing hard enough to crush.
But enough.
Enough to send her instantly back years.
Norah froze.
Ethan leaned closer.
“You always knew exactly how to make me angry.”
Then another voice came from behind him.
“No.”
Quiet.
Controlled.
Terrifying.
Ethan's grip loosened.
Norah looked past him.
Lucian stood at the entrance to the hallway.
Charcoal suit.
Black shirt.
No tie now.
His coat open, exposing the dark ink running from his collarbone toward one forearm.
Gideon stood behind him.
Lucian's eyes were fixed on Ethan's hand.
“Take your hand off my wife.”
Ethan released her.
Norah stumbled sideways.
Lucian crossed the distance immediately.
But he didn't attack Ethan.
He went to Norah.
“Look at me.”
She couldn't.
“Norah.”
Her eyes found his.
“Can you breathe?”
She nodded.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don't know.”
Lucian's jaw tightened.
But his hands remained at his sides.
He didn't touch her until she reached for him first.
Her fingers closed around his jacket.
Only then did his arm move around her.
Ethan scoffed.
“Very touching.”
Lucian looked at him.
The room changed.
Ethan took an involuntary step backward.
“So you're Moretti.”
“Yes.”
“You know what she is?”
Lucian's expression didn't change.
“My wife.”
“You know what she did to me?”
“I know exactly what you did to her.”
Ethan went pale.
Norah looked up sharply.
Lucian continued.
“I know about the hospital visit in March.”
Ethan said nothing.
“The broken bathroom door in September.”
Silence.
“The neighbor who heard her screaming and withdrew his statement two days later.”
Ethan swallowed.
Lucian took one step closer.
“I know things Norah doesn't know I know.”
“Lucian.”
He stopped instantly when she said his name.
That mattered.
Everyone noticed.
Norah stepped beside him.
“I don't want this.”
Lucian looked at her.
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want him gone.”
Lucian nodded.
“Then he's gone.”
Ethan laughed nervously.
“You think you own the city?”
“No.”
Lucian's voice remained calm.
“I own my choices.”
He glanced at Gideon.
“Call the police.”
Ethan blinked.
“What?”
Norah looked at Lucian too.
“You heard me,” Lucian said.
“Police. Witnesses. Security footage. Everything.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You're kidding.”
“No.”
“You're supposed to be some mafia king.”
Lucian's expression became colder.
“That's exactly why I'm not giving you the story you want.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Ethan looked toward the door.
Then back at Norah.
“This isn't over.”
Norah stepped forward.
For once, her voice didn't shake.
“Yes.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
May you like
“It is.”
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