Chapter 38
Chapter 38: The Silence of the Docks
By December, the transition was complete. The Moretti family had collapsed into a dozen warring factions, none of them strong enough to challenge the clean, legal blockade that Harper had engineered. The Nathan & Lillian House opened its New York headquarters in a beautiful, renovated brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, funded entirely by Vanguard’s liquidated assets.
Enzo stood on the balcony of their new home, looking out over the harbor. Little Lillian was strapped to his chest in a dark carrier, her small face protected from the winter wind by his wool coat.
Harper walked out behind him, two cups of tea in her hands. The freshwater pearl bracelet on her wrist caught the grey winter light, a permanent reminder of how far they had traveled from that broken bedroom in Lake Forest.
"The Commission signed the non-aggression pact this morning," Harper said, leaning her head against his good shoulder. "Brooklyn and Queens are secure. The other families are staying behind their lines. They’re afraid of the notebook, Enzo. They think I have a library of their sins."
May you like
"Do you?" Enzo asked, a small, proud smile touching his lips as he looked down at his wife.
"I have enough to keep them honest for fifty years," she murmured, her eyes dark and peaceful. "But the room is clean now, Enzo. We can raise her here. No more hidden rooms. No more shadows."
