Chapter 9 - THREE YEARS LATER
Gabriel served twenty-six months.
Good behavior and cooperation shortened the sentence.
Claire visited twice a month.
Emma came whenever permitted.
She grew.
Three became four.
Four became five.
She stopped calling him Mr. Gabe.
Eventually he was just Gabe.
Claire built a life outside the DeLuca estate.
She studied hospitality management.
Marcus helped her buy a small inn on Long Island.
She refused Gabriel's money.
Twice.
On the third attempt, she threatened to marry Marcus just to irritate him.
Gabriel never offered again.
When his release date came, Claire did not tell Emma.
They waited outside.
Gabriel walked through the gate carrying one duffel bag.
No cane.
Emma stared.
Then screamed.
“GABE!”
She ran.
Gabriel crouched.
She crashed into him.
He nearly fell.
“Careful.”
“You're walking!”
“I've been walking for three years.”
“But I didn't see!”
Claire stood beside the car.
Gabriel looked at her.
Twenty-six months disappeared.
Then he walked over.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“You cut your hair.”
“You went to prison.”
“I noticed.”
She laughed.
Then cried.
Then kissed him.
Emma groaned.
“Again?”
Gabriel smiled against Claire's forehead.
“Apparently.”
He did not return to the old estate.
He sold it.
The legitimate pieces of his businesses went into trusts.
Much of the money funded victims of the criminal operations he had once controlled.
He bought a small house near Claire's inn.
Small by Gabriel's standards meant four bedrooms.
Claire called him ridiculous.
He called it progress.
One evening Emma appeared with something behind her back.
A yellow plastic basin.
Gabriel stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“My feet are awake.”
“They need cleaning.”
Claire laughed from the doorway.
Emma filled the basin.
Gabriel rolled up his trousers.
He sat.
She poured warm water over his feet.
“Too hot?”
He smiled.
“No.”
May you like
He could feel every drop.
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