Dark Syrinx - Yes, Hell's Kitchen is a neighborhood on the west side of New York City. I'm glad you are enjoying this story!

Chapter Seventeen - A Shoulder to Cry On

Angie Sullivan's Brooklyn Brownstone - Eighty Nine Hours Missing

Angie laughed out loud at Danny as he was tackled once again by an over excited four year old. Little Eddie, happy to have a new play toy, laughed hysterically as he jumped on Danny's back. "Careful Ed, I don't want you to break him. At least not before I get to play with him." Angie giggled, and then broke out into a full on laugh at the look Danny flashed her from where he was trapped under the squirming little boy.

"She used to laugh all the time. You could hear her laugh for miles around and it just made you smile. It was the sound of someone who was truly happy. She smiles now, but I haven't heard her laugh in a long time." Mike Sullivan's words ran through Danny's head as he looked up at Angie. She was cradling baby Rose in her arms and cooing softly down at her. Her long, dark hair was falling softly around her shoulders and her cheeks were flushed pink from happiness. He caught his breath. She was so beautiful.

He could watch her forever like this, lamplit from behind, and let the world wait. In that moment, Danny knew that he was seeing his future. This woman, holding his children, during a quiet evening at home.

Danny shook those thoughts out of his head as he tickled Little Eddie's stomach, causing the little boy to dissolve in a new fit of giggles. He had known her for only a few days and already he was planning their future together? Get a grip, Taylor, he thought to himself.

"Okay, you two. That's enough excitement for one afternoon." Angie said, smiling over to where Danny and Little Eddie continued to play. "Someone is in need of a nap."

"Which one of us?" Danny asked playfully.

Angie shook her head as Danny got up off the floor and lifted Eddie effortlessly into his arms. "I'll take this one if you take that one." He said, heading toward the stairs and throwing Little Eddie over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Squealing with delight, Little Eddie and Danny disappeared up to the guest bedroom.

Careful not to wake the sleeping baby girl in her arms, Angie got up off the couch and walked over to Rose's portable playpen. Kissing her gently on the forehead, Angie laid the baby gently in the playpen and covered her with a soft, pink blanket. "Sleep well, little one." She whispered, gazing down upon her brother's child. "This will all be over soon...one way or another."

Angie started straightening the living room when she heard Danny's voice wafting down from her upstairs guest room. Unable to resist, she crept up the stairs to listen in.

"...and then the brave little dragon charged into the cave to save his friends." Angie bit her lip to keep from laughing at Danny's serious tone as he told the silly little story to put Eddie to sleep. She leaned back against the wall and just listened, but couldn't resist taking a peak. Danny had joined Little Eddie on the bed, cradling the little boy in his arms as he recounted the adventures of the brave little dragon. Angie had to catch her breath...nothing made her heart leap like the sight of a beautiful man holding a beautiful little boy. Her mind quickly flashed into the future and saw a similar scene, but this little boy had Angie's green eyes and Danny's strong jaw line. Angie squashed those feelings back down inside her psyche as quickly as they had come up. She had no idea of Danny's intentions toward her, given the fact that nothing about their future was certain at this point.

Angie was waiting outside Eddie's room when Danny pulled a blanket over the sleeping child and kissed his forehead. Coming out into the hall, he didn't expect to see her standing there.

"Is he asleep?" she whispered.

He nodded his answer, and headed for the stairs. But she had another idea in mind, and grabbed his arm. She pushed him back against the wall, her weight on him and her eyes dancing with mischief. Her hot breath tickled his ear as she whispered sexily, "You know how I told you the other night that I didn't think you ever looked sexier than when you were focused on something and had that intense look in your eyes?"

"Mmm-hmm," he hummed, as she pressed up closer against him, breathless in his ear. It was the only sound he could manage.

"I lied." She kissed his chin and continued, "There is nothing sexier in this world than a beautiful man comforting an adorable little boy and helping him get to sleep."

"Well, hell." He managed to say. "To think I went the charming rogue route to impress you." He grinned at her, and said, "If that's all it takes to turn you on, I would've borrowed one of Jack's kids days ago." Her breathless laughter mingled with his and he kissed her, deep and lazy and demanding. She tilted her head up and deepened the kiss, slow and thorough, and by the time he'd finished, she'd almost forgotten that they were still in the hallway.

"Bedroom...is...that...way." She managed to say between kisses.

Tearing his lips away from hers, he breathlessly said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...we can't." She looked up at him, confused. "Not until you tell me what happened today."

Angie locked eyes with him for a few moments and then pushed herself off of him. She turned and headed downstairs while Danny followed close behind. Without looking at him, she sat down on the chair in the corner of her living room and drew her knees up beneath her chin. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she stared out the window at the street. "I don't know where to begin." She said quietly.

"I've always found the beginning to be a good starting place." He said, just as quietly, sitting on the edge of the couch closest to her.

"You already know the beginning." She turned to look at him and said, "Everything I said yesterday in your offices is true. I didn't lie."

"But you didn't tell us everything."

"No." Angie shook her head. "I couldn't." She paused. "I didn't know how."

"But you could tell King Benny?" Danny asked gently.

Avoiding his eyes, Angie said, "He loved my mother. Since she was a little girl. And he always protected us, Eddie and me, like we were his own. I guess he wished that we were." She looked back out the window and said, "Most kids, when they're in trouble, they go running home to daddy to make it all better. To kiss away their boo boo's, protect them from the bullies on the playground, all that kind of stuff. But when things spiral out of my control, as they have recently, I don't have a daddy to run to. I never really did. But I have a King Benny. So that's where I went."

"I don't see what this has to do with your mother." Danny began. "She's been gone for..."

"It has everything to do with my mother." Angie said, quietly but firmly. "Before yesterday, only one other person in the world knew what I'm going to tell you. Eddie. Then last night, I told Mikey and today..."

"You told King Benny." Danny finished for her. What a strange pair of confidantes this woman had. Detective Mike Sullivan, the personification of what a cop should be. And King Benny Spinopolli, the very essence of evil here on earth. And Angie trusted them both completely. Now she was trusting him.

Danny wanted to move closer to her and take her in his arms, but he did not dare. Angie finally looked back at him and said, "Anthony Caruso killed my mother. In cold blood. In the driveway in front of our guest house, he shot her like a dog in the street and left her there to die."

Danny was stunned into silence. Recovering, he asked, "How do you know?"

"I was there. I saw it happen." Danny looked confused and Angie continued, "My uncle Frank had always suspected that uncle Tony had called for the hit on my father. It was just a little strange that he died the way he did. He was in and out of prison his whole life and no one ever bothered him before that day. My father must have warned my mother about it somehow, because she was trying to get some proof. That's why we stayed at the compound after my father died. Not for protection, but to find evidence against my uncle." Angie laughed a heartless little laugh as she said, "You know the old saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Well that is a way of life in the mob. When my father found out that a hit had been called on him, he couldn't believe it. The man who had always been by my father's side throughout the years, his brother and right hand man. Anthony Caruso is a dirty player who only had one thing to gain by killing his own brother...power." Angie paused and looked over at a picture of her mother sitting on a nearby table. Her beautiful face and smile was forever captured beneath the glass of the picture frame. She continued by saying, "Power and greed were the motives for my father's death, and my mother couldn't allow power and greed take over the life she had worked so hard for. But my mother was in over her head. She was no match for my uncle and cousin. She made a wrong move and they figured out what she was up to."

"How old were you?" Danny asked.

"Fifteen."

Fifteen. That thought ran though Danny's head and sent chills up his spine. She was just barely a child, but old enough to witness her mother's murder and know who had done the deed. And then carry this secret with her until recently. "Did they see...do they know you saw him kill her?"

Angie shook her head. "I'm still alive, aren't I? If they knew, I would never have made it out." Angie hugged her knees closer to her chest. "Only Eddie knew. That's the real reason he stayed with the family. To keep me safe and stay within the circle of their trust so that he would know if they ever figured it out."

"How did they explain it?" Danny asked, all of this new information swirling around in his head. Things were beginning to make more sense. "I mean, how did your uncle Frank never figure it out?"

With no emotion in her voice, Angie said, "They put her body in a car and ran it off a cliff in New Jersey. She was completely burned in the explosion and then cremated." She blinked back the tears that came to her eyes and continued, "Uncle Tony and Joey made up some story about my mom suffering from depression and abusing pain killers after my dad died. Eddie and I never told uncle Frank what we knew and he was so distraught about her death..." Angie's voice trailed off as she blinked back the tears. "I've lied to them everyday. How will he ever forgive me for that?"

Danny finally left his place on the couch and moved to the chair. Kneeling in front of her, he said, "You were scared, Angie. Your uncle knows what kind of people the Caruso's are and will understand why you did what you did. You had to save your own life and I'm sure that's exactly what he would have wanted you to do. He loves you so much."

His voice was soft, full of concern, and at the sound, a sob escaped her lips as a shudder tore through her rapidly weakening frame and tears became a storm of repressed anger, fear, and sheer exhaustion. All at once his arms were around her, gathering her into a warm and strong embrace as he pulled her down to the floor with him. Danny fought down his own dark emotions as he felt her transferred pain with each quiver, tear, and ragged breath she took; words did not need to be uttered in order to communicate what ordeal she had no doubt survived, miraculously with such little damage.

"Why didn't we stay?" Angie cried into Danny's shoulder. "Why did we ever go back to that house? Things would have been so different if we had only stayed in Hell's Kitchen." The whole time Danny gently stroked her hair, finding peace in just being with her.

Several minutes passed before Angie was able to finally take a full breath, trying to abate the lightheaded feeling that accompanied the hyperventilation of her sobs. "You know," she said quietly, "up until a few days ago, I never cried. I told myself that it was because I was too tough, too strong. But the truth is, crying just never seemed to do any good. Because when I stopped crying, things were still awful. But now," she said, pulling closer to him, "all I seem to do is cry." Angie looked up at him and smiled through her tears, "And when I stop, you're there. And things aren't quite so awful anymore."

Danny slowly tilted her head up towards him. Their faces inched closer and closer together. Angie sighed as Danny's lips found hers. They kissed for several long moments, both completely lost in each other. As he kissed her, Danny kept whispering her name. And it was the sweetest sound Angie had ever heard.

"Mommy!"

Angie's eyes flew open and she tore her lips away from Danny's, just in time to hear him groan. Laughing silently, she leaned down and met Danny's forehead with her own. "I feel like I'm back in high school and we just got caught making out by our parents." She giggled.

He laughed too, a much deeper, sexier sound than her own embarrassed giggle.

"Mommy!" Little Eddie's cry was more insistent this time and they could hear him begin to whimper.

"He's in a strange bed." Angie guessed, climbing off Danny and leaving him in a crumple on the floor. Walking out of the room to go comfort the scared child, she glanced back over her shoulder with a sexy look. "Save my place." she said, before climbing the stairs to the second floor.

Danny shook his head and thought about the events of the last two hours. It was unlike anything he'd ever been involved in before. He felt a faint glimmer of hope with the realization that Angie might be right...King Benny may be able to end this whole thing. As a federal agent, he knew he couldn't just look the other way, but as a human being he was considering it. Like a grisly crime scene, the image of Angie's pain and tears would remain with him forever. And when this was over, she would be free. His thoughts were accompanied by a feeling of shame, for thinking of himself at a time like this. But he couldn't help it; his feelings for the woman were that strong.

Danny heard his cell phone ringing from his jacket pocket on the couch. Moving off the floor to retrieve it, Danny answered and heard Jack's concerned voice on the other end. "Where are Angie and the kids?"

Danny hesitated for a moment and then said, "Right here. With me." He paused and waited for Jack's reaction, but there wasn't one so he asked, "What's going on?"

"There was a major explosion at the warehouse that houses the Caruso family's labor union headquarters. Anthony, Joey, and most of the key players in the family were all inside for some kind of meeting." Jack paused as Danny caught his breath. "They're all dead, Danny. You need to get down here right away."