Chapter 14 - The Date With No Bodyguards at the Table
Anna chose the restaurant.
Small Italian place in the North End.
Not mine.
That was deliberate.
I offered to send a car.
She took the train.
Also deliberate.
I arrived ten minutes early.
No bodyguards inside.
Marco sat across the street pretending not to hate this arrangement.
Anna wore a green dress and no visible fear.
I noticed that before anything else.
She sat.
“You’re staring.”
“Sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.”
“I’m not.”
She smiled.
Then the waiter approached.
For the first twenty minutes, we talked about nothing useful.
Lucy’s school project.
Noah learning to crawl backward but not forward.
Anna’s hatred of cilantro.
My inability to cook anything except steak.
“You can cook steak?”
“I can supervise steak.”
“That is not cooking.”
“Details.”
Then she asked, “How old were you when you took over?”
“Twenty-six.”
“Your father died?”
“Yes.”
“Were you ready?”
“No.”
That answer came easier now.
“What did Victor do then?”
“Everything I didn’t know how to do.”
Anna’s expression changed.
“That’s why you trusted him.”
“Yes.”
“He raised you after your father got sick.”
“Yes.”
“Do you miss him?”
I stared at the table.
“No.”
She waited.
I sighed.
“Yes.”
That was the uglier truth.
“I hate him.”
“I know.”
“I also remember him teaching me to shave.”
Anna said nothing.
“Taking me to my first boxing gym.”
Still nothing.
“Sitting beside me at my father’s funeral.”
She reached for her water.
“Both can be true.”
“I hate that sentence.”
“I know.”
The check arrived.
I reached for it.
Anna reached too.
I looked at her.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I invited you.”
“I can pay.”
“I know.”
“Then?”
“I want to.”
I considered.
Then nodded.
“Okay.”
Her eyebrows rose.
“That was easier than expected.”
“I am evolving.”
“Slowly.”
We walked outside.
No photographers.
No drama.
Boston air cold enough to sting.
At the corner, Anna stopped.
“Nicholas.”
“Yes?”
“I need to say something before this becomes easier.”
I waited.
“If we do this, I will not become a Moretti project.”
“You won’t.”
“You cannot solve every problem before I see it.”
“I know.”
“You cannot put security on my children without asking.”
I exhaled.
“That one is harder.”
“Then say harder.”
“Harder.”
She nodded.
“And I will not lie to you because I’m afraid of your reaction.”
“That should be easy.”
Anna laughed.
“No.”
Fair.
She continued.
“I spent years softening things for Daniel because he came home exhausted. Then after he died, I realized how much we both hid from each other because we called it protection.”
I thought of Daniel’s secret files.
“Okay.”
“And one more.”
“What?”
“You do not get to hurt people for me.”
I went still.
Anna’s eyes stayed on mine.
“No threats in parking lots. No broken jaws. No disappearing problems.”
“You have a specific image of my schedule.”
“Is it inaccurate?”
I looked away.
She laughed softly.
“That is what I thought.”
I returned my gaze.
“I can promise I won’t use violence on your behalf.”
“Not only on my behalf.”
There.
The larger ask.
I was quiet for a long time.
“I cannot promise to become a different man overnight.”
“I’m not asking.”
“What are you asking?”
“That I never have to wonder if kindness to me is being financed by cruelty to someone else.”
I looked toward the restaurant window.
Families eating.
Waiters moving.
Ordinary life.
“I can work toward that.”
Anna studied me.
“That is less romantic than a promise.”
“It is more honest.”
She stepped closer.
“Good.”
Then she kissed me.
Briefly.
No fireworks.
No dramatic music.
Just cold air and her hand against my coat.
When she stepped back, I forgot three languages.
Anna smiled.
“Good night, Nicholas.”
She walked toward the train.
I watched until she disappeared down the stairs.
Marco approached from across the street.
“You look terrible.”
“Say one word.”
He raised both hands.
“Nothing.”
We reached the car.
Then my phone rang.
Maya.
I answered.
“What?”
“Federal prosecutors want a meeting.”
“About Victor?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“You.”
I stopped.
Maya continued.
“They found your signature on three off-books shipping accounts opened after you took control.”
The past I had spent months separating from Victor had just reached for me directly.
Anna’s question returned.
Would kindness to her be financed by cruelty to someone else?
Before the kiss, Anna asked one more question.
“What do you do when you’re angry now?”
I almost said breathe.
She would have known I was lying.
“I call Maya.”
Anna laughed.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“What does Maya do?”
“Tells me what is illegal.”
“That is not emotional regulation.”
“It is a start.”
She shook her head.
Then I answered properly.
“I wait longer.”
“How much longer?”
“Long enough to know whether I want a solution or just punishment.”
Anna went quiet.
“That’s actually good.”
“I have rare moments.”
“And when you want punishment?”
“I try not to pretend it is justice.”
The sentence surprised me as I said it.
Victor had spent years using those words interchangeably.
So had I.
Anna looked down the street.
“Daniel used to say anger was easiest when you gave it a uniform.”
“What does that mean?”
“People behave terribly when they can call it duty.”
I thought of my father.
Victor.
Me.
“Daniel was annoyingly philosophical for a foreman.”
“He also watched game shows every night.”
“Good. I was starting to resent him.”
Anna laughed.
Then she kissed me.
The moment mattered because nothing dramatic happened afterward.
No gunfire.
No confession.
No secret.
Just two people walking away with more truth than they had brought.
May you like
I had no idea yet.
And for the first time, I was afraid the answer might be yes.
