Chapter 1 - The Encounter in Central Park
Gold and amber leaves fell gently across the Central Park walkway under the soft, hazy afternoon light. Six-year-old Lucy, wearing a cozy cream fuzzy jacket, giggled as she skipped through the crisp autumn leaves.
Suddenly, Lucy stopped playing. Her bright eyes locked onto a tall man sitting on a park bench.
Gabriel Moretti—a mid-thirties handsome mafia chief with short dark hair, heavy stubble, and a dark fitted shirt rolled up to his forearms—sat in rigid, brooding silence. On his exposed right inner forearm was a detailed, intricate tattoo of a wolf facing backward into the dark.
Lucy ran straight over to him, pointing her small finger at his forearm with pure innocent excitement.
"You have a tattoo exactly like my mommy's!" Lucy piped up cheerfully.
Her mother, Emma Brooks—a gentle woman with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a black cardigan over a gray shirt—hurried over to pull Lucy back safely. But as Gabriel slowly turned his arm, exposing the mark, Emma froze in complete shock.
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Gabriel’s cold gaze sharpened instantly. "Where did she see that tattoo?" he demanded in an intense, quiet voice.
👉 What link connected a ruthless mafia chief to a humble single mother in the middle of Central Park?
