Chapter 11 - THE TRUTH IN THE CURRENT
Vanessa surfaced a few yards away, thrashing wildly in the dark, freezing water.
“Help me!” she choked out, swallowing mouthfuls of muddy river water.
“I can't swim! Help!”
I walked slowly to the edge of the wooden pier, looking down at the woman who had terrorized my life, abandoned her own child, and tried to destroy everything I loved.
Dominic stood beside me, lowering his smoking gun into his holster.
He didn't move to help her.
Neither did I.
We simply watched as Vanessa fought the current for a few agonizing seconds before grabbing hold of a floating wooden piling, coughing and sobbing violently.
Marcus arrived a minute later with two armed guards, tossing a heavy nylon rescue rope down to the pier edge.
“Pull her up,” Dominic ordered flatly.
“Lock her in the transport van. The feds are waiting at the north checkpoint.”
Marcus nodded, hauling a shivering, half-drowned Vanessa out of the water like a wet cat.
She didn't scream anymore.
She just stared at the wooden planks with vacant, shattered eyes as the guards hauled her away toward the waiting black van.
The storm clouds overhead began to break, parting just enough to let a pale shaft of moonlight strike the dark waters of the Chicago River.
Dominic turned to me.
He reached out, gently taking the heavy Glock from my trembling fingers and slipping it into his coat pocket.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“I am now,” I whispered, wiping the rain from my face with the back of my hand.
“Claire,” Dominic said, his voice dropping into something hesitant, almost fragile.
“About what I said at the station... about Maisie.”
I looked up at him.
The harsh mafia boss was gone.
Standing before me was simply a man who had discovered he had a daughter—and a woman who had spent four years loving that little girl with every breath in her body.
“She calls me Mommy,” I said quietly, my voice firm.
“She doesn't know you. She doesn't know what a mafia boss is.”
“I know,” Dominic replied, nodding slowly.
“I don't expect to walk into her life and replace you, Claire. That's impossible. You are her mother. You saved her.”
He took a step closer, his dark eyes searching my face.
“But I want to be in her life. And... if you'll let me... I want to be in yours too.”
May you like
I didn't answer right away.
The wind blew cold off the lake, but as Dominic reached out and gently wrapped his warm, heavy wool jacket around my shivering shoulders, I didn't pull away.
