Chapter 3 - THE MAN SHE KNEW AS NICO|
Franco had not forgotten Samantha Cooper.
He had tried.
For six years, he had buried the memory of a small apartment in Queens, a broken kitchen clock, and a woman who had smiled at him as though he were not a man surrounded by enemies.
He had entered her life under the name Nico Vale. At the time, he had been recovering from a gunshot wound after an ambush arranged by men inside his own organization. He had been told to remain hidden until Luca could identify the traitor.
Samantha had found him in the laundromat beneath her apartment building, bleeding through his shirt and refusing to call an ambulance.
She had taken him upstairs because she believed a man who was willing to collapse rather than ask for help might still deserve it.
For three months, Franco had experienced something that felt dangerously close to an ordinary life.
He helped her repair a kitchen cabinet. She taught him to cook eggs without burning them. They walked through neighborhood parks at night when his wounds hurt too much for sleep.
He never told her his real name.
He intended to, eventually.
Then Luca discovered that the men who had attacked him were planning another strike. One of them had learned where Samantha lived. Franco left before dawn, believing that distance was the only protection he could offer her.
He had intended to return when the danger passed.
Instead, his younger brother was killed, the family operation fractured, and a war began that consumed every hour of his life.
Weeks later, an anonymous message informed him that Samantha had moved away. He assumed she had forgotten him.
He never knew she was pregnant.
Now he stood beneath her fire escape, looking up at the boy who was humming his mother's lullaby.
“Bring the car around,” he told Luca. “No sirens. No lights.”
Luca glanced at the building entrance.
“You should let the tactical team handle the apartment.”
“By the time they get here, that man could have reached the roof.”
“And if this is a trap?”
Franco's gaze remained fixed on Samantha.
“Then it's one I should have seen coming six years ago.”
Two of his men entered the building through the rear door. Another approached the front entrance and deliberately triggered a loud argument with the supposed maintenance worker.
While the intruder's attention shifted, Franco climbed the fire escape.
He reached Samantha's landing and stopped several feet away.
Tyler clung to his mother's coat.
Franco did not reach for him.
“Hello, Tyler.”
The boy looked at his shoes.
“I'm Franco.”
Samantha's face was pale.
“You said your name was Nico.”
“I know.”
“You told me your family owned a small import business.”
“I lied.”
“You told me you were leaving town for a few weeks.”
“I thought I could come back.”
She stared at him.
“You could have called.”
“I couldn't risk them learning about you.”
“You didn't even try!”
Her voice cracked, and Tyler pressed his hands against his ears.
Samantha immediately lowered her volume and held him close.
Franco watched the boy's shoulders tremble.
“I'm sorry,” he said.
It was not enough. He knew it.
Luca appeared at the top of the stairs.
“The front door is clear. We have the intruder restrained. He had a photograph of the child and a key to this apartment.”
Samantha stared at him.
“Who sent him?”
“We'll find out.”
Franco removed his coat and held it out.
“There's a safe apartment twenty minutes away. You'll have your own rooms, a private entrance, and the freedom to leave whenever you choose.”
“I don't want your money.”
“You won't owe me anything.”
“I don't believe that.”
“Then don't believe me. Let me prove it.”
Samantha looked at Tyler.
He had stopped humming and was watching Franco with cautious curiosity.
Franco knelt, keeping his distance.
“Do you like trains?”
Tyler nodded faintly.
“I know a place where you can watch them from a window. No loud crowds. No strangers coming through the door.”
For the first time that night, Tyler looked directly at him.
Then he hummed four notes.
Franco's face tightened.
It was the melody his mother had sung to him when he was a frightened little boy hiding beneath the dining-room table during his father's arguments.
He had sung it once to Samantha in the dark.
She had later told him she planned to teach it to her future child.
Franco had laughed then, never imagining the promise could become real.
Now the boy in front of him was humming the song.
“What's your full name?” Franco asked softly.
“Tyler Cooper.”
“And your birthday?”
Samantha stepped between them.
“That's enough.”
Franco rose slowly.
He did not ask another question.
But when they reached the sedan, he turned to Luca and spoke quietly.
“Get me a private DNA test. No public records, no pressure on Samantha, and no one touches that boy.”
Luca nodded.
May you like
Franco looked through the window at Tyler, who was already leaning against his mother's shoulder.
“And find out who knew about the pregnancy before I did.”
