Chapter 6 - WHEN ELENA CAME HOME
Elena returned to Chicago under federal protection.
Leo ran toward her before anyone could stop him.
She dropped to her knees.
He hit her chest like a small missile.
“Mommy!”
She collapsed around him.
Victor stood ten feet away.
Unable to move.
Elena looked over Leo’s shoulder.
Victor’s face broke.
For one second, I wondered whether five years of marriage, grief, and survival would simply snap back into place.
Then Elena said:
“I’m sorry.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
She cried.
“I should have trusted you.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You should have been able to.”
That stopped her.
The marriage had broken before the bombing in ways neither understood.
Victor’s violent world made truth dangerous.
Anthony exploited that.
Gabriel enabled secrecy.
Elena chose disappearance.
No single villain created all of it.
Except maybe Anthony.
He had done a great deal.
Elena moved into a protected guest wing temporarily.
I prepared to leave.
Victor found me packing.
“What are you doing?”
“Going home.”
“No.”
I laughed.
“Here we go.”
His face hardened.
“Anna.”
“Your wife is alive.”
“Elena and I need time.”
“Exactly.”
“And you are still recovering.”
“I can recover elsewhere.”
He looked at the suitcase.
“Leo will be devastated.”
“Don’t use him.”
Victor stopped.
Good.
He knew I was right.
“I’m not staying in the middle of your marriage.”
“We may not have one.”
“That is not something you decide tonight.”
He stared.
I zipped the suitcase.
Then he said:
“I love you.”
My hand stopped.
I did not turn.
He continued:
“I don't know when it happened.”
Silence.
“Maybe when you told me my proposal was insane.”
I almost laughed.
“Maybe when you fought physical therapy harder than my captains fight prosecutors.”
I turned.
His eyes were open in a way I had never seen.
“But Elena is alive.”
“Yes.”
“And you loved her.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you still do.”
“Yes.”
That hurt.
He did not lie.
Good.
I picked up the suitcase.
“Then figure that out.”
“And you?”
“I figure myself out.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Will you come back?”
“I don't know.”
He nodded.
That was growth.
Months earlier he would have said I belonged to him.
Now he let me walk away.
I moved into a small apartment near Noah’s clinic.
Returned to work.
Not housekeeping.
I could no longer lift much.
A social worker at the hospital helped me enroll in a medical billing course.
Funny.
I had spent years cleaning after powerful men because I thought that was the only job flexible enough for Noah’s care.
Now his treatment was stable.
Debt gone.
My life unexpectedly open.
Victor called rarely.
Mostly about Leo.
Leo called constantly.
“What are you doing?”
“Studying.”
“Boring.”
“Correct.”
He mailed me drawings.
One showed four people.
Victor.
Elena.
Leo.
Me.
Children refused adult categories.
Elena called once.
I almost did not answer.
“Anna?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to thank you.”
“You don't owe me.”
“I know.”
She paused.
“Victor says that now too.”
I smiled.
Progress.
Then Elena surprised me.
“I know he loves you.”
I said nothing.
“I also know what I feel for him.”
My chest tightened.
“And?”
“History.”
Not nothing.
History.
She continued:
“We loved each other. Then we became afraid of each other’s worlds.”
Elena wanted a life outside the syndicate.
Victor refused to leave.
Then Anthony trapped her inside the consequences.
“I don’t want him back.”
I sat.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
Her answer was immediate.
“Because I spent two years hiding and realized survival is useless if you return to the same cage.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Elena planned to take Leo part-time after protection restrictions eased.
Victor agreed.
Shared custody.
No war.
No threats.
No Romano ownership.
Again, growth.
Then Anthony’s trial approached.
And he offered prosecutors a deal.
He would expose every illegal Romano operation he knew.
In exchange, reduced charges.
Victor could lose everything.
Maybe freedom too.
The question was whether he would choose his empire—
May you like
or the life he claimed he wanted.
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