***Chapter 1***
It was a beautiful sunny day and Jimmy Riordan was on his way to a lunch date with Bianca, the sister of his best friend Nobel Sanfino. He has been friends with Nobel and Bianca ever since he could remember. Truth to be said, he always had a thing for Bianca, but they grew apart when he went to Harvard Law School while Bianca stayed in New York and as the time went by she started dating Johnny Tesla, an old nemesis of Jimmy.
Jimmy was lost in his thoughts when he suddenly spotted a man running out of the residential building crying: "Fire! Fire! There's a fire!"
"There's a fire!" More people kept crying as they ran out of the building, many coughing from the smoke.
" Call 911!" Someone shouted.
"There's a baby in there," an elderly woman moaned as she took Jimmy's hand.
"Where exactly?" Jimmy asked her.
"In the apartment on the second floor, facing the street," the woman told him between the sobs.
Jimmy looked up so he could get an idea where the apartment was situated. He didn't hesitate even for a moment and ran into the burning building.
"Hey, kid, wait for the FDNY!" Sergeant Renzulli who just arrived at the scene shouted after him, but Jimmy was long inside the burning building.
"Central, please be advised, I got a 59 of a story residential. 540 East 129th Street." Renzulli reported back to the central, looking nervously at the burning building. This thing could blow any minute, especially if it was connected to a gas.
Sirens of approaching fire trucks could be heard in the distance. Renzulli hesitated whether he should go inside.
From the mists of smoke emerged suddenly a young man covered in good layer of ashes and dust holding a baby in his arms.
"Is he breathing?" Renzulli asked Jimmy as he rushed over to the man so he could have a look on the baby, followed by the medics who too just arrived at the scene.
"Yeah! He is!" Jimmy coughed for he has inhaled some fumes.
"How old is he?" A female medic questioned, taking the baby from Jimmy's arms.
"I don't know." Jimmy replied honestly.
"His parents?"
"I don't know." He shook his head for he had no idea where the baby's parents were.
"Set up a humidifier with six to ten liters of non-rebreather mask." The medic told her colleague.
"Is he gonna make it?" Jimmy wondered, sincerely worried for that innocent little baby.
"His lungs sound clear, so it's a good sign." The medic informed him as the ambulance was about to leave.
The door closed and the ambulance took off, leaving Jimmy who was trying to catch his breath behind.
"You okay?" Sergeant Renzulli asked as he came closer to the men, wondering whether they needed to call another ambulance for the good samaritan.
"Yeah," Jimmy coughed.
"Huh?" Renzulli wasn't so sure about that.
"Yeah. I must have inhaled some smoke."
"You done good, kid. Yeah. Real good." Sergeant Renzulli praised Jimmy.
"Really?" Jimmy had little bit hard time believing Renzulli's words, because he though that everyone would do the same if they were in his place.
"Yeah." Renzulli assured him, laying his hand on the kid's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.
"You sure you okay?" He asked as Jimmy kept coughing.
***BB***
"I thought you were gone. Must be wishful thinking," The NYPD commissioner Frank Reagan mumbled from behind his desk. He didn't need to raise his head to know that it was his best friend DCPI Garrett Moore who walked into his office at this late hour.
"A civilian saved a baby from a burning building before the fire department even got there," Garrett briefed the commissioner as he came over to Frank's desk.
"Some kind of hero, huh," the commissioner uttered, other more important things on his mind.
"He surely is," Garrett nodded his head as he took the seat opposite to Frank's desk. "You know what he also is?" Garrett asked rhetorically. "The ace lawyer of the Cavazzerre crime family - Jimmy Riordan. Hasn't lost them a single case," Garrett revealed to his friend.
"Is he now?" The commissioner wondered. Truth to be told, this caught his attention.
"Frank, I think this is a great opportunity to get some insight into the Cavazzerre crime family, it's just too big to let it go." Garrett told Frank his honest opinion.
Although Frasnk wasn't really interested in having lunches and making secret deals with mobsters like his father once used to do, when he gave it a thought, he had to acknowledge Garrett was right. This was just too big to let it go.
"Alright, give Mr. Riordan a call, and set up a lunch date." He instructed his friend.
***BB***
"Your little act of bravery brought some unwanted attention," Phil Sanfino informed Jimmy as he poured himself and Jimmy a glass of whiskey.
"Look, uncle Phil, I'm really sorry about what happened, but there was a baby in that building..., what was I supposed to do?" Jimmy questioned. He knew uncle Phil has always urged them, especially Noble, to keep low profile, but in no way was he going to let that baby die.
"As a family man, I must say, I'm proud of you. But next time, you better be more careful, alright?" Phil made Jimmy promise.
"Yeah, I will," Jimmy uttered with his head down. He felt bad for not following uncle Phil's instructions, but at the same time he knew he would have done the same if he had to.
"Come here, son," Phil Sanfino instructed Jimmy. "I'm glad that you came home in one piece," the Captain of the Cavazzerre family told the younger man as he embraced him in his arms and planted his head a kiss. He couldn't deny his Italian roots.
"Just make sure Bianca doesn't find out. She would be freaking out." He urged Jimmy.
"What is it I should not find about, uncle Phil?" Bianca who just entered the room questioned.
"Nothing for you to worry about, my dear," uncle Phil assured her.
"If you are talking about Jimmy saying that child from a burning building, then I already know about it!" She pointed out sharply. There was no need for them to make a fool from her. Of course, she worried, but she too was a part of this family, although it had always been rather a men's club.
"Do you now?" Uncle Phil uttered surprised, wondering how she find out.
"Noble told me," Bianca revealed to her uncle as gave them both a stern look.
"Look, Bianca, nothing really happened," Jimmy started. He was well aware how much she worried about him. In fact, he worried about her too.
"I'll leave you two talk," uncle Phil offered before he took his leave. "And Jimmy, I hope you stay for dinner."
"Of course," Jimmy mumbled, nodding his head in agreement.
"Why have you done something so stupid?" Bianca asked Jimmy angrily when uncle Phil has left.
"I know, Bianca, I should have kept on a low profile, won't happen next time!" Jimmy promised again.
"What are you even talking about, Jimmy?" She asked him surprised. "I was talking about you running into that burning building, risking your life to safe that child!"
"Oh, that?" Jimmy wondered.
"Oh, that!" Bianca mimicked him.
"Promise me that you will never do anything stupid like that again," she begged him.
"I promise," he replied.
She leaned closer to him and kissed him on his lips, grateful that he was alive.
"Bianca," Jimmy wanted to protest at first, not only because she was currently dating Johnny Tesla, but mainly because Noble was his best friend and she was his little sister, but then he gave in and returned her kiss.