Chapter 10 - Gold Stars
Six months later.
The sun shone brightly over Chicago, reflecting off the clean, polished windows of Rory’s Kitchen. The restaurant was packed with families, police officers, local shopkeepers, and neighborhood residents enjoying lunch.
In the back office, Vincent Kane sat behind a heavy oak desk. He was looking through a portfolio of new community properties he planned to buy and renovate into affordable housing for working families.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Kane said.
The door pushed open, and little Rory walked in. She was wearing a bright blue dress, carrying a crisp, clean sheet of white paper.
"Mr. Kane!" she cheered, walking over to his leather chair.
Kane immediately pushed his financial reports aside, a gentle smile appearing on his face. "Hello, Rory. How was school today?"
"It was great! I learned how to spell 'dinosaur'!" she said proudly. Then, she held up the piece of paper. "I made this for you."
Kane took the paper in his hands.
Unlike the crumpled, wrinkled sheet of paper she had brought into his private room seven months ago, this paper was smooth, clean, and drawn with bright, vibrant colors.
At the top, in neat handwriting that Mara had helped her practice, it read:
Rory’s Kitchen – Monthly Report
And across the bottom of the page, where the dates of unpaid work used to be, were twenty bright, shimmering GOLD STARS.
Kane looked at the drawing, then looked down at the little girl standing beside his chair.
"What do the gold stars mean, Rory?" Kane asked softly.
Rory beamed with a smile that could light up the darkest corners of the city.
"They're the nights Mommy and I are happy," Rory said softly. "So you know we're okay."
Vincent Kane—the most feared man in Chicago, a man who had spent his entire life in the ruthless shadows of the underworld—looked at the gold stars on the paper.
He didn't say a word. He carefully opened his top desk drawer, pulled out a silver picture frame, and placed Rory's drawing inside it, setting it right next to his most prized possessions.
May you like
"Thank you, Rory," Kane whispered, his voice warm and steady. "It’s the most valuable piece of paper I own."
Outside the office window, Mara looked in, seeing her daughter laughing while showing the mob boss another drawing. She smiled, picked up a tray of hot food, and walked back out to serve her customers, knowing that no matter how cold the world became, her family would never be hungry again.
