Chapter 2 - The Setup
To understand the absolute, suffocating terror of that moment, you had to understand what happened exactly one hour earlier.
It was 3:47 on a Thursday afternoon when Rose Moretti marched through my studio doors, dragging her enormous, furious grandson behind her. Gabriel was six-foot-three, broad-shouldered, and dressed in an expensive charcoal suit. He controlled warehouses, nightclubs, shipping businesses, and half the criminal operations in the city.
"This is Gabriel," Rose had announced cheerfully, completely ignoring his lethal aura. "He thinks he's too important to dance. Ignore that."
Gabriel had tried to leave. He argued. He demanded his security chief bring the car around. But Rose threatened to change her will, and the most dangerous man in Chicago actually submitted to an eighty-year-old woman holding a caramel candy.
I stepped onto the floor and held out my hand. "Come here."
He placed his hand in mine. He was stiff, angry, and gripping me like I was a rival boss he was preparing to strangle.
"You're holding me like I owe you money," I had joked gently. I loosened his fingers. "There. You're holding a person, Mr. Moretti, not controlling one."
He had gone incredibly quiet. For one strange, profound moment, he simply stared at our joined hands. The rage had melted from his dark eyes. By the end of the lesson, he had actually smiled. He had asked to stay. He told me it was the first time in years someone hadn't wanted anything from him except to move his feet correctly.
But it was all a lie.
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Gabriel hadn't relaxed because of the music. He had relaxed because he thought he was safe.
👉 The sniper outside shifted his position, and Gabriel was about to issue a command that would shatter my entire world.
