Chapter 7 - The Trap
For two months, peace seemed to return to the Russo estate.
Leo hit his four-month milestone, weighing a healthy six pounds. His skin was chubby, his eyes were bright blue like his mother’s, and he no longer required any oxygen support. He was, by every medical standard, a miracle baby.
Elena’s relationship with Gabriel had deepened into something extraordinary. They spent late nights together talking in the library, sharing stories of their childhoods. Elena saw the burden Gabriel carried—a man forced into a life of crime to protect his family after his father was murdered. Underneath the ruthless mafia boss was a man who yearned for peace, a man who loved deeply and protected fiercely.
However, the shadows of the Chicago underworld were never far away.
Salvatore Moretti, furious that his attack on the estate had failed and that his nephew’s child was thriving, devised a sinister new plan.
One Tuesday morning, Elena received an urgent phone call from the South Side clinic where she used to work.
"Elena?" the frantic voice of her old head nurse, Sarah, came through the line. "Thank God I reached you! It’s about your mother’s grave site at St. Jude’s Cemetery... there’s been a terrible accident. The retaining wall collapsed during the rainstorm. They're saying her vault is exposed... you need to come sign the authorization for relocation!"
Elena’s blood ran cold. Her mother’s memory was sacred to her. "Oh my god... I’ll be right there."
Elena rushed out of the medical wing, heading for the garage. She didn't want to bother Gabriel, who was in an emergency meeting with his capos on the other side of the city.
"Miss Jenkins!" Carmine called out as she reached the driveway. "Where are you going?"
"I have to go to St. Jude’s Cemetery, Carmine," Elena said hastily, getting into her sedan. "It’s an emergency about my mother's grave."
"I'll bring an escort team—" Carmine began.
"No time, Carmine! I'll be back in an hour!" Elena pleaded, stepping on the gas and speeding through the gates.
It was a fatal mistake.
When Elena arrived at the foggy, deserted grounds of St. Jude’s Cemetery, she hurried down the stone path toward her mother’s burial plot.
The cemetery was eerily silent. The retaining wall was completely intact.
Elena stopped, her heart dropping into her stomach as realization hit her. It was a lie.
Before she could turn back, three men in dark coats stepped out from behind a mausoleum. A heavy burlap sack was shoved over her head, and a sweet, chemical scent filled her nostrils.
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Elena fought, kicking and screaming, but the chloroform overwhelmed her senses instantly.
The last thing she heard before blacking out was a cold voice whispering: "Tell Gabriel Russo we have his nurse."
