Chapter 10 - Jack Moretti’s One Rule
Ethan was charged with kidnapping, unlawful confinement, and several related offenses.
Marco was held on conspiracy charges.
Victor disappeared.
Parker negotiated with prosecutors before sunrise.
For the first time since I dropped the tray, the world became quiet enough for me to hear my own thoughts.
I hated them.
Because too many of them were about Jack.
Not the mafia boss.
Not the man newspapers described with words like feared and ruthless.
The man who had stood in the rain holding Noah’s broken robot.
The man who asked before touching me.
The man who did not promise safety when safety could not be guaranteed.
Three days after Noah came home, I found Jack sitting at the kitchen table trying to repair the robot.
I stopped in the doorway.
“What are you doing?”
He did not look up.
“Failing.”
Noah sat opposite him.
“You put the arm backward.”
Jack frowned.
“That seems like information you could have provided five minutes ago.”
“I wanted to see if you figured it out.”
I laughed.
Jack looked up.
For one second, everything felt normal.
Dangerously normal.
Noah grabbed the robot.
“I’ll fix it.”
He ran away.
Jack leaned back.
“Apparently I’m unnecessary.”
“Get used to it.”
His eyes stayed on mine.
“I’m trying.”
The words carried more meaning than they should have.
I moved toward the sink.
Jack said, “Your old job called.”
I froze.
“The restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“What do they want?”
“The owners fired Victor.”
“Obviously.”
“They want you back.”
I laughed once.
“No.”
“I assumed.”
“You answered for me?”
“No.”
He placed a business card on the table.
“I told them to call you themselves.”
Good.
I relaxed.
Then I looked at him.
“What would you have done if I wanted to go back?”
“Make sure their security stopped being incompetent.”
“That’s it?”
“What else?”
I did not know.
Some small damaged part of me had expected him to say he would not allow it.
Ethan would have.
Jack noticed my silence.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Lily.”
I sighed.
“You don’t tell me what to do very often.”
“Would you prefer I start?”
“No.”
“Then why are you complaining?”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
I turned.
Jack’s expression held faint amusement.
“You’re impossible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
The smile faded.
“There’s something I should tell you.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“My father had one rule.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It was.”
Jack rested his forearms on the table.
“He said never protect someone by taking away the life you claim you’re protecting.”
I stared.
“He actually said that?”
“Not exactly. His version had more profanity.”
I smiled.
Jack continued.
“When my mother was alive, people around my father treated protection like permission. Drivers. Guards. Curfews. Men outside every door.”
“What did she think?”
“She hated it.”
Jack looked toward the window.
“My father loved her. But sometimes his fear for her became another cage.”
The words settled heavily.
“And you don’t want to do that.”
“No.”
“To me?”
“To anybody.”
He paused.
“But especially you.”
My breath caught.
There it was.
Not a declaration.
Something more careful.
I pulled out the chair opposite him.
“Why especially me?”
Jack looked almost uncomfortable.
I had never seen that before.
“Because you spent enough years being told fear gave somebody the right to control you.”
I sat.
“And because?”
He exhaled.
“And because I think about you more than is useful.”
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
His eyebrows rose.
“Useful?”
“I’m trying to be honest.”
“You sound like you’re discussing a shipping problem.”
“Emotional conversations are not my specialty.”
“I noticed.”
He almost smiled.
Then I touched the edge of my sleeve.
The old habit.
Cover.
Hide.
Disappear.
Jack saw it.
His eyes returned to my face.
Not my arm.
That mattered.
“I don’t know what I’m ready for,” I said.
“I didn’t ask you to be ready.”
“I have Noah.”
“I know.”
“My life is complicated.”
“I noticed.”
“I’m probably going to spend months dealing with lawyers because Ethan will fight custody from jail just to hurt me.”
“I know.”
“And I don’t want to become somebody’s protected woman.”
Jack’s expression sharpened.
“I don’t want that either.”
“What do you want?”
He answered immediately.
“For you to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Everything.”
My throat tightened.
“Even if I choose something you hate?”
“I didn’t say I’d enjoy it.”
I laughed again.
He leaned back.
“But yes.”
The front door opened.
Rocco entered holding a folder.
The moment disappeared.
“I have bad news.”
Jack’s expression changed instantly.
“What?”
“Victor contacted Marco’s lawyer.”
“From where?”
“Unknown.”
“What did he say?”
Rocco placed the folder down.
“He claims Lily planned the entire assassination attempt.”
I stared.
“How?”
“He says you threatened him weeks ago and demanded to be assigned upstairs.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“There’s more.”
Rocco pulled out printed messages.
Screenshots.
Supposedly between me and Victor.
Make sure I’m in the suite.
Rinaldi will handle the rest.
Marco cannot know.
I laughed in disbelief.
“I never sent those.”
“We know.”
Jack studied them.
“Can we prove they’re fake?”
“Probably.”
“Probably isn’t enough.”
Rocco nodded.
“Victor says he has an original phone containing the messages.”
“Then we find him.”
“He offered a deal.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed.
“What deal?”
“He’ll turn over the phone if Lily meets him.”
I looked at Rocco.
“Where?”
Jack spoke first.
“No.”
I turned toward him.
His face tightened.
Then he stopped himself.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
He corrected his words.
“I think it’s dangerous.”
I crossed my arms.
“Better.”
Rocco almost smiled.
Jack ignored him.
“I also think Victor expects us to refuse.”
“Which means?”
“He has another reason for requesting Lily.”
I looked at the fake messages.
Victor had spent months humiliating me because he believed I could not fight back.
Marco had chosen me because he believed the same.
Ethan had built our marriage on that assumption.
Three men.
Same mistake.
“I’ll meet him.”
Jack’s jaw tightened.
“Lily.”
“You said I choose.”
“I did.”
“Then trust your own rule.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he nodded.
“All right.”
That should have felt like victory.
Instead it terrified me.
Because Jack Moretti had just proved something few powerful men ever proved.
He meant what he said even when honoring it scared him.
May you like
And that made trusting him far more dangerous than fearing him had ever been.
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