Chapter 7 - The Choice of a Father
Henry’s breathing stopped completely.
He turned his head slowly, his eyes locking onto the small boy standing at the doorway.
His heart swelled with an overwhelming, painful burst of love and grief. He saw his own eyes, his own mouth, his own legacy standing there in a pair of blue pajamas.
"Leo..." Henry whispered, tears streaming down his face, mixing with the rainwater. "My... my boy..."
He reached out a trembling, muddy hand toward the child.
Leo shrank back slightly, stepping behind Sophie’s silk gown, taking his mother’s hand.
"Mommy, who is he?" Leo asked again, looking at Henry with curiosity, but zero recognition. "Is he a bad man?"
Those six words crushed Henry’s soul far more than any bullet ever could.
Is he a bad man?
Sophie gently petted Leo’s hair, looking down at Henry with cold pity.
"He’s no one, sweetie," Sophie whispered gently to her son. "Just a man who lost his way a long time ago. Go back to bed with Nanny."
"Okay, Mommy," Leo said obediently. He gave Henry one last glance before running back into the warm house.
When the door closed, Henry slumped onto the floor, burying his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent, agonizing sobs.
"He doesn't know me," Henry whimpered. "He’ll never know me..."
"Why should he?" Sophie asked, standing over him. "What could you offer him, Henry? A life of crime? Federal indictments? A father who discards human lives when they become inconvenient?"
Henry looked up, his face broken and hollow.
"What do you want from me, Sophie?" Henry asked, his voice dead. "You want my money? Take it. You want my house? Take it. You want my life? Shoot me right now. Just... don't make my son hate me."
Sophie stared at him for a long, heavy minute.
"I don't want your life, Henry," she said softly. "I want your total surrender. Sign over every remaining Russo asset to the Vance Foundation for Injured Women and Children. Sign a legal waiver relinquishing all parental rights to Leo forever."
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Henry stared at her, his lips trembling. "If I do that... I will have nothing left. I’ll be a nobody."
"You were already a nobody the night you threw me into the snow, Henry," Sophie said coldly. "At least this way, your debt is paid."
