Chapter 3 - A Debt in Blood and Tears
The words struck Arthur harder than any bullet he had ever taken.
He froze, his hand suspended in mid-air above her face.
Chloe struggled to sit up, her breathing shallow and ragged against the pillows.
She clutched the hospital blanket over her belly, shielding the baby from his sight with defensive instinct.
“Lie down, Chloe,” Arthur said softly, his voice trembling slightly.
“You have an abruption, any sudden movement could trigger another hemorrhage.”
“I don't care about your orders!” she cried out, her voice breaking into hoarse sobs.
“I am not one of your soldiers, Arthur!”
“You don't get to command me, not after what you did!”
Dr. Vane rushed to the bedside, holding a sedative syringe.
“Miss Henderson, please, your blood pressure is skyrocketing, the baby is in distress.”
Chloe turned her head away from the doctor, weeping into the pillow.
“Please just let me go home.”
“Take the money back, take everything back, just let me go back to my diner.”
Arthur gripped Dr. Vane’s wrist, stopping the needle an inch from her skin.
“No sedatives,” Arthur commanded sharply.
“Step outside, Julian.”
“Both of you, get out.”
Leo signaled the doctor, and the two men quickly exited, sealing the soundproof steel door behind them.
Arthur pulled a metal chair to the edge of the bed and sat down heavily.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his face buried in his hands for a long moment.
When he looked up, his dark eyes were bloodshot and raw.
“You shouldn't have come to the cathedral, Chloe.”
“You should have let me drink it.”
Chloe stared at him through blurred, tear-filled eyes.
“I tried to let you die,” she whispered fiercely.
“When I found out who you really were... when the news announced your grand engagement on every television screen... I swore I would never look at your face again.”
“I burned every gift you ever gave me.”
“I threw your money into a safe and never touched a single dollar.”
She pressed both hands hard against her swollen stomach, her chest heaving.
“Then yesterday morning, Malcolm Croft’s men came to my diner.”
Arthur’s spine went rigid.
“What did they do to you?”
“They didn't come to hurt me, they came to gloat,” she spat, venom lacing her words.
“A man named Daniel Croft walked into my kitchen like he owned the ground I stood on.”
“He told me they knew Arthur Romano had a weak spot for a chubby waitress on the South Side.”
“He laughed, Arthur.”
“He laughed and said they were going to put a bullet in your chest at the altar with a glass of vintage wine.”
“He said once you were rotting in the family crypt, they would come back and turn my diner into a pile of ashes with me inside it.”
Arthur felt a cold, murderous fire consume his veins.
“They threatened you to keep you quiet.”
“They didn't know I was pregnant,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
“I was wearing my heavy winter apron, they just thought I was fat, like everyone else does.”
“They left two guards outside my street to make sure I didn't leave Chicago before the wedding.”
“How did you get past them?” Arthur demanded, his heart hammering against his ribs.
“My brother Toby,” Chloe said, tears streaming freely down her cheeks.
“Toby created a distraction in the back alley, he smashed their car windows with a crowbar.”
“They chased him down the avenue, and I slipped into my station wagon and drove.”
“I drove through the rain for sixty miles without stopping, terrified that every pair of headlights behind me was a hitman.”
She looked at him with an expression of pure, unadulterated heartbreak.
“I didn't drive to that church to win you back, Arthur.”
“I know what I am, and I know what you are.”
“A mob boss doesn't marry a girl who smells like frying oil and dish soap.”
“I came because I couldn't live with myself knowing our child would grow up in a world where his father was murdered over a crooked crown.”
Arthur couldn't take the distance between them any longer.
Ignoring her flinching protests, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms firmly around her shoulders, pulling her gently against his chest.
She fought him weakly, pounding her small fists against his shoulders.
“Let go of me, you monster, let go of me!”
“I am sorry, Chloe,” he whispered into her wet hair, his voice breaking.
“I am so sorry.”
“I thought walking away would protect you from the war.”
“I thought marrying the Croft girl would seal the borders and make my enemies forget about my past.”
“I was an arrogant, blind fool.”
Chloe’s resistance slowly crumbled against his solid warmth.
Her hands stopped striking his chest and instead gripped the fabric of his torn shirt.
She buried her face into the crook of his neck, sobbing violently until the monitors began to stabilize.
“You broke me, Arthur,” she wept.
“Every night I woke up alone, thinking I wasn't pretty enough, wasn't rich enough to make you stay.”
Arthur pulled back slightly, forcing her to look into his fierce, unyielding eyes.
“Look at me, Chloe.”
She sniffled, trying to look away, but his gentle fingers held her chin in place.
“You are the only real thing I have ever loved in my miserable life.”
“I didn't leave because of your body, or your money, or your background.”
“I left because I was a coward who couldn't bear the thought of my enemies staining your pure hands with blood.”
He placed his large, scarred hand over the tight curve of her belly, feeling a faint, miraculous kick beneath the fabric.
Arthur’s breath shuddered.
“This child is my blood, my heir, and my entire soul.”
“No one touches you again, Chloe.”
“No one threatens my family and lives to see another sunrise.”
The heavy steel door swung open abruptly.
Leo stood in the threshold, his face grim and covered in fresh rain.
“Arthur, we have a major problem at the South Side warehouse.”
Arthur didn't take his hand off Chloe’s stomach.
“What happened?”
“Malcolm Croft just sent three hit squads to Henderson’s Diner,” Leo reported grimly.
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“They burned the entire block to the ground.”
“And they took her brother Toby alive.”
