Chapter 4 - The Fortress on the Hill
Weston turned his head, his hands sliding down Wren’s cheeks to rest on her shoulders.
Standing in the hallway, wearing blue dinosaur pajamas with one sleeve pushed up to his elbow, was Leo. He was holding a small wooden fire truck, rubbing his sleepy eyes with his free hand.
Behind him, two smaller figures peeked out around his legs—Maya, clutching her plush bear, and Sam, who was sucking his thumb while staring wide-eyed at the tactical guards standing near the kitchen counter.
Weston felt the knees under his tailored trousers threaten to buckle.
Up close, in the dim yellow light of the apartment, the reality of them hit him with the force of a freight train. They weren't just abstract numbers on a medical report. They were real. They were breathing. They had his jaw, Wren’s mouth, his hair, her hands.
Weston slowly dropped to one knee on the kitchen floor, bringing himself down to eye level with the small boy.
"Hi, Leo," Weston said softly, his voice wavering in a way Viktor had never heard in fifteen years of service.
Leo took half a step back, shrinking against Wren’s leg as she moved forward to shield them. "How do you know my name?"
"I... I know your mom," Weston said, his eyes tracking over the boy's dark curls, then moving to Maya, who was watching him from behind her brother. "My name is Weston."
"Are you the man from the park?" Maya asked in a tiny, raspy morning voice. "The man who scared Mommy?"
The words were like sharp needles sliding under Weston’s fingernails. He looked up at Wren, whose face was set in a stone mask of defensive agony.
"I didn't mean to scare her, sweetheart," Weston told Maya gently, forcing his voice to remain calm. "I came to help your mom move some things. We’re going on a trip tonight."
"I haven't agreed to this, Weston," Wren whispered bitterly from above him.
"You don't have a choice," Weston said, standing up and dropping the soft tone as he turned back to Viktor. "Pack their clothes. Take the toys. Take everything in that kids' room. We aren't coming back here."
Twenty minutes later, the alley behind North Avenue was silent as three black Range Rovers pulled out onto the wet asphalt.
Wren sat in the middle row of the central armored vehicle, sandwiched between Maya and Sam, while Leo sat in the custom car seat beside Weston in the front-facing row. The interior of the vehicle was silent save for the hum of the bulletproof tires against the pavement.
The triplets, exhausted from being woken in the middle of the night, fell back asleep within ten minutes, lulled by the smooth motion of the heavy vehicle.
Wren stared out the tinted window, watching the neon lights of Chicago blur into a streaky haze. "Where are you taking us?"
"To my estate in Lake Forest," Weston said without turning around. "It’s a fortified perimeter. High walls, motion sensors, twenty-four-hour armed guard detail. Nobody gets within a mile of the property without my personal authorization."
"And what happens to Odalys?" Wren asked, her voice laced with poison. "What happens when your mob princess finds out you’ve hidden your secret family in your country house?"
Weston turned his head, his profile illuminated by the passing streetlights.
"The engagement is over, Wren," he said flatly. "The second I saw Leo’s eyes in that park, the Marchetti deal died."
Wren looked at him, startled. "You can't just break an alliance with Don Marchetti. He’ll start a war."
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Weston’s gray eyes locked onto hers with a fierce, absolute certainty that made her breath hitch in her throat.
"Then let him bring a war," Weston whispered. "He'll find out what happens when someone threatens my family."
