Chapter 7 — Grace's Cruel Father
# The Girl Who Ran Into the Mafia
## Chapter 7 — Grace's Cruel Father
That evening, Damian gently asked Grace to tell him everything she remembered.
She hesitated.
Then began speaking in short, trembling sentences.
"My dad wasn't always angry."
"When I was little..."
"...he smiled sometimes."
"But after Mommy disappeared..."
"He started drinking every day."
Grace described nights spent hiding inside closets.
Broken dishes.
Locked doors.
Long periods without food.
Whenever she asked where her mother was...
Richard always gave the same answer.
"She abandoned you."
"But I knew he was lying."
Damian listened without interrupting.
Grace reached into the pocket of her torn dress.
She removed a folded piece of paper.
"My mommy hid this inside my shoe."
Damian carefully unfolded it.
It contained only four handwritten words.
**Trust the man. Boston.**
Nothing else.
No address.
No phone number.
No signature.
But Damian immediately recognized Sophia's handwriting.
She hadn't written a name.
She hadn't needed to.
She had always trusted only one man in Boston.
Damian Moretti.
His heart tightened.
For years, he believed Sophia had forgotten him.
Instead...
She had trusted him with her daughter's life.
