Chapter 4 - Shadows in the North End
The next morning, a polished black sedan waited outside Mina’s modest apartment building. The driver, a soft-spoken man named Leo, drove her to an elegant brick townhouse in Boston’s North End.
Inside, the home was grand yet warm, filled with ancient oil paintings and soft Persian rugs. Dominic sat at a dark mahogany dining table, a mug of black coffee in front of him. Ezra was resting upstairs under the care of a private doctor.
"Sit, please," Dominic said, gesturing to the chair across from him.
Mina sat down, resting her hands in her lap. "How is Ezra?"
"Three stitches. Mild exhaustion, but he's safe," Dominic said. "Now, let me explain why my son was in an alley."
He leaned forward. For months, a rival syndicate led by a man named Victor Vance had been trying to force Dominic out of the shipping ports. When legal and underworld avenues failed, Vance stooped to kidnapping. They had snatched Ezra from his school yard yesterday afternoon.
"Ezra is a smart boy," Dominic said, a rare note of pride in his voice. "He managed to slip out of a moving vehicle while they were idling at a red light near Dorchester. He ran until he collapsed."
"He said you told him to only call that number," Mina recalled.
"It's an encrypted line that routes directly to my personal phone," Dominic explained. "If he had gone to a hospital or a police station without me knowing, Vance’s men inside the department would have picked him up immediately."
Dominic studied Mina carefully. "You stayed past your shift because your boss was cutting your hours. You gave my son your coat when you had nothing else. You saved his life, Mina. In my world, a debt like that is paid in full."
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"I don't want your money, Mr. Torrio," Mina said quietly. "I just want to live my life in peace."
Dominic’s lips twitched into a subtle smile. "I respect that. But you saved the son of Dominic Torrio. Peace is something I must now guarantee for you."
