Chapter 7 - A Knock on the Door Above the Dusty Floorboards
The silence that followed was heavier and more suffocating than the thunderstorm raging outside the attic windows.
I stared at Declan,
my breath coming in ragged,
shallow gasps,
my mind desperately trying to process the impossible words echoing in the room.
“A decoy script?” I repeated,
my voice shaking uncontrollably as tears blurred my vision.
“You expect me to believe that you planned an entire public engagement just to trap a rival family,
while casually risking my life in the process?” “I never risked you,
Amelia,
” Declan said,
stepping closer despite my warning gesture,
his voice dropping into a desperate,
pleading baritone.
“The moment you disappeared from Chicago,
my entire world stopped spinning on its axis.
I didn’t care about the docks.
I didn’t care about the Calloways.
I spent twenty-six days tearing through every hospital,
bus station,
and back alley from Illinois to the Carolinas because I couldn’t breathe without you.
” He knelt down slowly until he was eye-level with me on the iron cot,
his large,
calloused hands hovering near my knees,
trembling in a way I had never seen a feared mafia boss tremble before.
“Look at me,
” he commanded softly,
his dark gaze searching every contour of my face.
“Do you really think I would ever let anyone touch you or our unborn child? Do you think I built an empire just to let it destroy the only person who ever made me feel human?” Downstairs,
the heavy front door of the antiques shop creaked open with a loud groan.
A second set of hurried footsteps echoed on the stairs.
Gavin Roarke’s voice called out from the hallway,
urgent,
breathless,
and sharp.
The silence that followed was heavier and more suffocating than the thunderstorm raging outside the attic windows.
I stared at Declan,
my breath coming in ragged,
shallow gasps,
my mind desperately trying to process the impossible words echoing in the room.
“A decoy script?” I repeated,
my voice shaking uncontrollably as tears blurred my vision.
“You expect me to believe that you planned an entire public engagement just to trap a rival family,
while casually risking my life in the process?” “I never risked you,
Amelia,
” Declan said,
stepping closer despite my warning gesture,
his voice dropping into a desperate,
pleading baritone.
“The moment you disappeared from Chicago,
my entire world stopped spinning on its axis.
I didn’t care about the docks.
I didn’t care about the Calloways.
I spent twenty-six days tearing through every hospital,
bus station,
and back alley from Illinois to the Carolinas because I couldn’t breathe without you.
” He knelt down slowly until he was eye-level with me on the iron cot,
his large,
calloused hands hovering near my knees,
trembling in a way I had never seen a feared mafia boss tremble before.
“Look at me,
” he commanded softly,
his dark gaze searching every contour of my face.
“Do you really think I would ever let anyone touch you or our unborn child? Do you think I built an empire just to let it destroy the only person who ever made me feel human?” Downstairs,
the heavy front door of the antiques shop creaked open with a loud groan.
A second set of hurried footsteps echoed on the stairs.
Gavin Roarke’s voice called out from the hallway,
urgent,
May you like
breathless,
and sharp.
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