I feel like nothing can bring me down the next day at work. Even if it is just a boring office gig, I’m still smiling the whoel time, thinking about my night with Leah.

That’s what I want. I need to have her pinned down against the bed while I work her body. She’s the kind of girl that’s always begging for more, even when she’s not saying a word, and it drivesme insane. The way we were both trying to be so quiet because of Ryan in the next room just intensified the whole thing, and I can’t get her out of my mind.

None of our problems are solved. I’m not the kind of man to be okay with unsolved problems, but the sting of them isn’t so bad when I think about Leah’s body against mine.

I keep seeing this future that I know is a total fantasty, but I still can’t help myself. There’s a reason I haven’t tried to take Ryan away from Leah. Aside from her being a good mother to him, I also want her around.

I keep seeing it like this: we live in the city together, she works as a nurse, and I start a new business. It’s hard at first, and there are a lot of late nights, but we spend as much tme as a family as we possibly can. And as Ryan gets older, things get easier, and the spark never dies between Leah and I. We keep things fresh and exciting because there’s nothing better than family, even when things look tough.

It’s a stupid and a simple fantasy. Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m just substituting Leah for Harper, but that’s not true, not really. I wasn’t in love with Harper before Ryan ever came along, and I was only in it because I was afraid Harper would die without me. Turns out that I was right.

Leah is completely different. She has her shit together. I don’t have to be around her all day long every single day making sure that she’s not getting involved in something stupid. I can trust Leah to make her own decisions, and I can believe that she’ll make the right ones. I fully expect her to put Ryan first, whereas with Harper I fulled expected her to put the drugs first. Being with Harper was like having a second kid. Being with Leah is like a breath of fresh air.

I know we live in the same house now, but that doesn’t mean we’re together. I have ot keep reminding myself of that. She’s sentiive and worried that I’ll try to take Ryan way from her, or that I’ll develop a stronger bond with him than she has. It’s true that he’s my son, but he’s every bit the stranger to me. She has a head start in bonding, especially considering she’s been taking care of him, and doing such ag ood job.

And I don’t want to catch up. I don’t want to take that bond away from her. I love that she feels so close to a boy that she really owes nothing to, all becase her cousin told her to take care of him. It’s remarkable actually, and the more I think about it, the more I want to be with her.

That’s whatit comes down to. When I’m arund her, I want to keep being around her. She makes me a better man. Haper was constantly tdragging me down, because that’s what she did. Harper dragged everything around her down to her level, and although she was a good person keep in her heart, she was broken. She came out of that Gallo family broken and addicted and there was nothing I or anyone else could do.

I don’t have ot worry aout Harper anymore. Although she keeps coming back into my mind, and I hate that she’s dead, I don’t have ot worry. I like to think that she’s at peace not, since she definitely wasn’t peaceful in life.

I try to lose myself in work, although it’s hard, sitting at a computer all afternoon. It’s easy for my mind to wander back to Leah and Harper and Ryan and the Gallo family. I wish I could get them out of my head but it’s all there, swirling around, refusing to give up. I hate that those bastard Gallos have even an inch of my mind.

The day finally comes to an end and I pack my stuff up. I say goodnight to my coworkers and head out to the elevator and down into the lobby. Our company is on the twelfth floor of a large office building down town, so I head into the flow of people that are going home.

Since it’s nice out, I decide to walk. It’s maybe twenty mintues on foot but I could use the exercise. I head down toward Walnut street, getting away from the main pack of people and finding myself on the smaller side streets.

This part of Philadelphia is pretty beayutiful. It’s an old city, so the streets are all narrow and beat up. The buildings are relatively uniform, and there are tiny little streets that jut away from the main ones with just enough room for a isngle car. Those streets are basically tiny little microcosms in the greater city, their own secluded neighborhoods. Our spot is great, but I want to move into a place like that one day.

I stop at the end of one of those streets and look down. Brick buildings on either side, one or two cars half on the sidewalk and half in the street. The buildings have private garages and balconies with ivy growing up the side. The sunlight comes down through the gap in the roofs and I smile as I turn and walk down along it.

I glance at the doors and wonder who lives in these places. I bet it’s a little paradise, being in a house like this. I pause outside of one and look at the old, ornature door, imagining a smiling family that looks a lot like me, Leah, and Ryan.

I hear a sound at the end of the street and turn my head. I blink for a second, surprised, as two guys walk toward me.

“Connor,” the shorter one says, and it takes a second for my brain to catch up with my eyes.

Enzo Gallo grins at me.

“What do you two want?” I ask, turning toward him.

I have just a second ot drop my bag off my shoulder as Enzo barrels at me. Piero stays behind, impassive as always, as Enzo slams his body against mine.

I turn and twist, and instead of falling to the ground, I manage to put most of my weight on Enzo. He gruns as I sprawl my legs out, pushing him down onto the concrete, my body on his back. It’s an old wrestling move but an effective one for when someone tries to tackle you like this.

He grunts and punches at me, knocking the wind out of me. I roll to the side as he scrambles toward me, his eyes wide, and I know he wants to kill me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I manage ot say before Enzo leaps on me. I stumble back and hit the ground against, slamming against the wall of the building. Enzo rears back and goes to punch me, but I jab him in the gut first and shove him off. I roll to the side, getting to my feet.

Enzo gets up to and dances toward me, looking grim. Piero still hasn’t moves. We trade blows for a second before Enzo lands a right hook and stars burst into my vision. I don’t have time ot try to recove as Enzo throws himself at me, a little ball of fury.

We hit the concrete against and pain lances through my shoulder. Enzo gets on top of me, punches me again, and I feel his hands wrap around my throat. I gag and try to hit him but I dn’t have any leverage of strength as he cuts off my windpipe.

I gag and choke, scrambling at him. I look around, desperate for something, and spot my bag a few feet away. My work laptop is poking out. Of it, just the corner showing, and I reach for it. Enzo’s eyes are locked with mine, and he doesn’t notice as I get the corner of the computer and slowly pull it out.

“Enzo,” Piero says from nearby, but it’s too late. I grab the computer and smash it into Enzo’s face.

He grunts and falls off me. I gasp for air, coughing and choking. I roll over to him and smash the laptop into his face again, making a wet sound. I go to hit him a third time, mindless with anger, but Piero shows up next to me.

“Enough,” he says, catching my hands. He pulls the computer frm my grip and tosses it aside. “Enough,” he says again.

I roll over onto my back, coughing. Enzo groans on the ground a few feet away. Piero walks over to hm and nudges him with his foot.

“Get up,” he says. “You lost.”

Enzo groans and slowly gets to his feet, bleeding from his head, his eyes a little cross. I sit up and look at him.

“Just a taste,” he says, giving me a red grin. He spits blood onto the ground.

The two men walk away without another word.

I collapse back onto the ground and stare up at the sky through the gap in the buildings. I don’t know what the fuck just happened, but I feel lucky that I survived. Enzo was trying ot kill me. I could see it in his eyes, in that moment he would have choked me until I was dead right there in broad daylight, in the middle of the afternoon commute. He wouldn’t have hesitated, not for a single fucking second.

I’m lucky I’m alive, I realize. I fought for it, but fucking hell. How did they even find me? How did any of that happen?

I roll over onto my side and slowly get to my feet. I go over and grab my bad. The laptop’s on the ground, smashed and ruined. I have no clue how I’ll explain that one. I put it away, not thinking about it. I straighten myself up the best I can before starting my long walk back home, hurting all over, aching but alive.