Chapter 1 - The Whispering Sunflowers
The icy wind off Lake Michigan whipped through the dead weeds of Elena’s forgotten garden, but Stone stood frozen. Three-year-old Emma knelt on the frozen earth, holding a battered tin cup filled with rainwater. Beside a small gray stone, she had propped a fading photograph of a handsome young man in a tactical uniform.
“Daddy,” Emma whispered, her breath blooming like little white clouds in the freezing morning air. “I gave Mommy my bread today. She cried, but I told her I wasn’t hungry. Stone’s house is big, Daddy. He looks sad like you used to look when the bad men hurt you. But I’m trying to make the yellow flowers grow for him... so he remembers how to smile too.”
Stone’s heart shattered into a thousand jagged pieces. Blood roared in his ears as his gaze locked onto the face in the photograph. It was Julian Vance—his top lieutenant and closest brother-in-arms, the man who had thrown himself in front of Stone during an ambush four years ago. Stone had believed Julian had no surviving family. The mafia had wiped out Julian’s records, and in the chaos after Elena and Claire died, Stone had never found Julian’s young widow.
May you like
Sofia hadn’t just come to his house looking for work. She had been hiding in plain sight, starving herself so her daughter could live, never asking for charity from the man her late husband gave his life to protect.
Stone stepped out from behind the tall hedge. Emma gasped, clutching the battered rag doll Daisy to her small chest. Stone dropped to his knees in the mud, uncaring that his thousand-dollar suit was ruined. For the first time in three years, the cold stone inside his chest melted into overwhelming heat. He picked up the metal cup, filled it from the fresh fountain, and gently handed it back to her. “Let’s make those flowers grow together, Emma.”
