Chapter 4 - DAWN AT LENOX HILL
The rain had stopped by the time Gabriel’s armored SUV pulled back into the private parking bay of Lenox Hill Hospital.
When he pushed open the door to Room 412, the room was quiet, bathed in the soft, blue-tinted light of the monitor.
Daniel was still sleeping, his breathing steady and deep, the dangerous spike in his heart rate completely gone.
Sitting in the corner chair was Elena Harper. She had wrapped a clean white bandage around her jaw, but she was awake, watching the door with tired, alert eyes. When she saw Gabriel walk in—alone, his overcoat dusty, his knuckles bruised and stained with blood—she stood up slowly.
“Is it done?” she asked softly.
Gabriel stopped at the foot of Daniel’s bed. He looked down at his son’s peaceful face, feeling the exhausting, hollow weight of a war that would never truly end.
“It’s done,” Gabriel said.
He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a thick envelope containing cashier’s checks totaling an amount that could buy a small brownstone in Brooklyn, and placed it gently on the bedside table.
“What’s this?” Elena asked, eyeing the envelope warily.
“Your back pay,” Gabriel said. “And your severance from cleaning floors in a hospital that can’t protect my son.”
Elena didn't touch the envelope. She crossed her arms, looking at him with that same fierce, unyielding dignity she had shown when she stood before him with a broken mop handle.
“I didn't do it for a payday, Mr. Moretti,” she said quietly. “I did it because that little boy deserves to grow up. If you think throwing money at me fixes the fact that your own blood tried to kill him... you’re wrong.”
Gabriel was silent for a long moment. Then, for the first time all night, a faint, ghost of a smile touched the corner of his mouth.
“You’re right,” Gabriel said. “Money doesn't fix it.”
He looked back down at Daniel, then raised his eyes to meet Elena’s.
“The pediatric wing needs a new head of facility security,” Gabriel said quietly. “Someone who can’t be bought, can’t be intimidated, and isn't afraid to use a mop handle when the guards fall asleep. The salary is substantial. The benefits include round-the-clock protection for you and your daughter.”
Elena stared at him, searching his face for any sign of a joke or a trap. She found none. Just a weary father offering a fellow survivor a place inside his fortress.
She looked down at the sleeping boy, then back at Gabriel.
“When do I start?” she asked.
May you like
Gabriel nodded once. “Immediately.”
As the first pale light of dawn began to break over the New York skyline, painting the glass towers of Manhattan in shades of gold and gray, Gabriel Moretti pulled a chair up beside his son’s bed, sat down, and for the first time in years, finally closed his eyes.
