Chapter 10 - Dante’s Promise to a Frightened Little Girl
Dante did not speak until they were inside the armored SUV.
Elena sat across from him.
Nathan Cole rode in another vehicle with the ledger.
For security, the original evidence had been separated from them.
Smart.
Necessary.
Elena barely cared.
“What did Sarto mean?”
Dante stared at the passing city.
“Four years ago, Marco called me.”
“You told me.”
“After the call, Gabriel asked where I was going.”
Elena felt cold.
“You told him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell him where Marco was?”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“I told him Marco was heading toward the north warehouse corridor.”
“That’s where the crash happened.”
“Yes.”
“So Sarto was telling the truth.”
“Possibly.”
She hated the qualification.
“Your information got Marco killed.”
Dante finally looked at her.
“Yes.”
The word hit harder because he did not defend himself.
Elena turned toward the window.
She wanted anger.
Needed it.
Anger was easier than the strange sympathy she felt seeing guilt on Dante’s face.
“You didn’t know,” she said.
“That does not bring him back.”
“No.”
“If I had distrusted Gabriel—”
“You trusted family.”
“I should have trusted Marco.”
“You did.”
“Not enough.”
The SUV entered the estate.
Dante went directly to his study.
Elena went upstairs.
Mia ran toward her.
“Mama!”
Elena dropped to her knees and hugged her.
Too tightly.
Mia squirmed.
“You’re squishing me.”
“Sorry.”
Mia leaned back.
“Did you find Daddy’s secret?”
Elena looked at her.
Children heard everything.
“No more secrets tonight.”
“Okay.”
Mia looked down the hallway.
“Where’s Dante?”
“Working.”
“He promised we’d make pancakes.”
Elena blinked.
“What?”
“He said Daddy made bad ones, so he wanted to try.”
Despite everything, Elena laughed.
“I’m sure that will be catastrophic.”
Mia nodded seriously.
“He doesn’t know where flour is.”
Later that evening, Dante appeared.
Still in his dark trousers and white shirt.
Sleeves rolled.
Tired.
Mia immediately dragged him toward the kitchen.
“Pancakes.”
Dante looked at Elena.
She shrugged.
“A promise is a promise.”
The first pancake burned.
The second tore.
The third looked like a continent nobody recognized.
Mia laughed so hard she nearly fell off the stool.
Dante looked offended.
“This kitchen equipment is defective.”
“It’s a pan,” Elena said.
“A defective pan.”
The fourth pancake was acceptable.
Mia ate half.
Then slowed.
Her smile faded.
“What happens if the bad people come?”
Dante set down the spatula.
Elena moved beside her.
“They won’t.”
Mia looked at Dante.
“You promised.”
“I remember.”
“Daddy promised he’d come home.”
Silence.
Elena’s heart broke.
Mia rarely said things like that.
Not anymore.
Dante crouched.
“I’m sorry.”
Mia looked down.
“Promises don’t always work.”
Dante thought before answering.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Sometimes people make promises they cannot keep.”
“So yours might not work?”
Dante could have lied.
Instead he said, “I can promise what I will do. I can’t promise what the world will do.”
Mia considered this.
“What will you do?”
“Everything I can to keep you and your mother safe.”
“Even if you’re scared?”
Dante smiled faintly.
“Especially then.”
Mia seemed surprised.
“You get scared?”
“All intelligent people do.”
Elena looked at him.
“Questionable.”
He ignored her.
Mia asked, “What are you scared of?”
Dante’s eyes moved to Elena.
The answer was too clear.
He looked away.
“Losing people.”
Mia nodded as if that made perfect sense.
Then she hugged him.
Dante froze.
His arms remained at his sides.
Mia hugged harder.
Finally he carefully placed one hand against her back.
Elena watched.
Something inside her shifted dangerously.
Not because Dante was powerful.
Not because he could protect them.
Because for one brief moment, she saw a lonely man holding a child as though he was afraid she might disappear.
After Mia went upstairs with Teresa, Elena remained in the kitchen.
Dante washed the pan.
“You have staff.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then why are you doing dishes?”
“Mia said people who cook clean.”
“Smart girl.”
“Yes.”
Elena took the towel.
They worked silently.
Almost domestic.
That felt more dangerous than gunmen.
Finally she said, “I don’t blame you for Marco.”
Dante stopped.
“You should.”
“No.”
“I gave Gabriel the location.”
“You had no reason to think—”
“I did.”
She looked at him.
“What reason?”
He stared at the sink.
“Marco warned me.”
“When?”
“A month before.”
“What did he say?”
“That someone in my family was compromised.”
“Did he name Gabriel?”
“No.”
“Then stop rewriting the past because guilt makes you feel responsible for everything.”
Dante looked at her.
The words had escaped before she examined them.
He dried his hands.
“You sound like Marco.”
“That may be the worst insult you’ve given me.”
A small smile.
Then it faded.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“I need to tell you something.”
Her pulse changed.
“What?”
“Gabriel knows you are under my protection.”
“That seems obvious.”
“No.”
Dante stepped closer.
“In my world, protection has meaning.”
She understood the implication.
“What did you tell people?”
“That anyone moving against you moves against me.”
“And?”
“That your daughter is untouchable.”
Elena’s voice softened.
“What does that cost you?”
“Potentially alliances.”
“Business?”
“Yes.”
“Family?”
“Yes.”
“Your uncle?”
“He stopped being family when he ordered Marco’s death.”
The certainty in his voice unsettled her.
“You don’t have to destroy your life for us.”
Dante held her gaze.
“I am not.”
“What are you doing?”
“Fixing the life Marco died trying to protect.”
She looked away.
“Don’t make this about him forever.”
The sentence surprised both of them.
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
Elena felt heat rise to her face.
“I mean… if you help us only because of Marco, eventually you’ll resent it.”
“I won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
The kitchen became quiet.
He stepped closer.
Not enough to touch.
Enough to make the distance noticeable.
“This stopped being only about Marco the moment I watched you lie to your daughter about being hungry.”
Elena swallowed.
“That isn’t romantic.”
“I wasn’t trying to be romantic.”
“Good.”
“Good.”
Neither moved.
Then his phone rang.
The moment disappeared.
Dante answered.
Nathan Cole.
His expression tightened.
“When?”
A pause.
“Who had access?”
Another pause.
Dante’s eyes hardened.
“I’ll be there.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“The ledger is gone.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
“Cole placed it inside federal evidence storage.”
“And?”
“Someone removed it twenty minutes ago using authenticated credentials.”
“Who?”
Dante’s answer came slowly.
“A federal judge named Richard Hale.”
Elena recognized the name from the ledger.
One of Sarto’s people.
Dante reached for his jacket.
“We have copies.”
“But not the original.”
“The original proves chain of custody.”
“Can they destroy everything?”
“Not everything.”
His phone rang again.
This time Teresa’s voice came over the house system.
“Dante.”
“What?”
“Mia isn’t in her room.”
Elena’s blood stopped.
She ran.
Upstairs.
Bedroom empty.
Bathroom empty.
Terrace locked.
Bunny on the floor.
“Mia!”
No answer.
Security flooded the hallway.
Dante’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Lock the property.”
Elena could barely breathe.
Then one guard shouted from downstairs.
They found Mia.
Not outside.
Inside Dante’s library.
Hiding beneath a desk.
Elena dropped to her knees.
“Oh God.”
Mia was crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena grabbed her.
“Why did you leave?”
“I heard the man.”
“What man?”
Mia pointed toward the library window.
“He was outside.”
Dante crouched.
“What did he look like?”
“Old.”
“Hair?”
“Gray.”
“What did he say?”
Mia wiped tears.
“He talked on the phone.”
Dante’s stomach tightened.
“What did you hear?”
Mia looked at Elena.
“He said Uncle Gabriel.”
Everyone froze.
Then she added:
“He said they got Daddy’s book.”
The ledger.
Dante looked toward the window.
Someone had been inside his property.
Close enough for Mia to hear.
His security had been compromised again.
But Mia was not finished.
“He said something else.”
“What?”
“He said, ‘Tomorrow we finish what Marco started.’”
Elena pulled her daughter closer.
Dante stood.
Tomorrow was not going to be another defensive day.
Gabriel and Sarto believed they controlled the next move.
May you like
Dante intended to prove them wrong.
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