Chapter 6 - The Breadcrumbs of Betrayal
“You need to eat,” Clara said, setting the bowl down. She stood over him, watching him carefully as he struggled to sit up against the cushions. “Your fever is down, but you’re still losing fluids.”
Enzo took the spoon, his large hand looking ridiculous against the delicate ceramic. He took a few sips before looking up at her. “Why did you do it, Clara? A woman with a child... you should have run the other way.”
Clara walked to the small window that looked out onto the dark alleyway. “Six years ago, Lily’s father found out I was pregnant. He was a petty thief, a small-time hustler who thought he could use me to hide his stash. When the police came, he ran and left me to take the fall. I spent three nights in a holding cell before a public defender cleared my name.”
She turned around, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “I promised myself that night that I would never let another man’s choices define my daughter’s safety. When I saw you out there... you looked like him. Not the power part. The abandoned part. I couldn't let Lily see a man die like that.”
Enzo went silent. The comparison wounded him more than Luca’s bullets. He had always considered himself a king, a master of his own destiny. To be viewed as a common, abandoned runner was a bitter pill to swallow.
Suddenly, the bell above the diner’s front door chimed violently.
The heavy, rhythmic sound of heavy boots entering the diner echoed through the thin walls of the break room. Clara’s breath caught in her throat.
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“Clara!” Calvin, the diner manager, called out from the front, his voice tight with an unnatural, high-pitched fear. “There are some gentlemen here... they’re looking for you.”
Enzo’s hand instantly dropped to the floor, his fingers locking onto a heavy metal pipe he had broken off the radiator earlier that morning. He looked at Clara, his eyes screaming a single command: Stay behind me.
