Chapter 14 - The Night the Gates Opened
They returned to New York forty-eight hours later.
Clare almost didn’t go.
She had every reason to remain in Italy with Maya while Dante searched for Alessia.
Her involvement had already gone too far.
Richard was in custody.
Italian authorities had begun coordinating with American investigators.
Rachel was safe.
Clare could have gone anywhere.
Instead she boarded Dante’s aircraft again.
This time Leo did not cry.
Maya sat beside his bassinet and narrated everything outside the window.
“That’s a cloud.”
Leo stared.
“That’s another cloud.”
Leo stared.
Dante looked at Clare.
“Educational.”
“She’s comprehensive.”
Maya continued.
“That is also a cloud.”
Dante nodded solemnly.
“Excellent.”
Clare smiled.
The first flight had felt like escape.
This one felt like return.
That frightened her more.
During the night, Maya fell asleep.
Leo slept peacefully.
Clare sat across from Dante.
“Why haven’t you asked me to feed him again?”
Dante looked surprised.
“I assumed you would offer if needed.”
Clare studied him.
On the first night, Dante had tried to control every variable.
Now he was learning to wait.
“Good answer.”
“I’m improving.”
“Marginally.”
He smiled.
Their conversations had become easier.
That was dangerous too.
“What happens after New York?” Clare asked.
Dante looked toward Leo.
“I don’t know.”
“If Alessia is alive?”
He was quiet.
“I bring her home.”
Clare felt something in her chest.
Pain.
She had no right to it.
She had known Dante for days.
He belonged to a woman whose letter he still carried inside his jacket.
Clare looked out the window.
“And if she isn’t?”
“I stop.”
“What?”
“Hunting.”
She turned.
Dante’s expression was serious.
“I’ve spent six months thinking revenge was something I owed her.”
“And now?”
“Now I think the only thing I owe her is raising Leo differently.”
Clare smiled faintly.
“That sounds like growth.”
“It’s unpleasant.”
She laughed.
Then Dante asked, “What happens with you?”
“Divorce.”
“After.”
“I find work.”
“You could return to nursing.”
“I’d like that.”
“Where?”
Clare hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Ohio no longer felt like home.
Rome had been temporary.
New York was Dante’s world.
She refused to choose a city because of a man she barely knew.
“I need to decide for myself.”
Dante nodded.
No pressure.
No offer disguised as obligation.
Clare appreciated that more than she could explain.
When they landed, federal agents met them privately.
Hale had provided an address in Brooklyn.
A small rented apartment.
Payments traced to an alias used by Alessia.
Dante went with investigators.
Clare stayed at his Manhattan home with the children.
Hours passed.
No call.
Then four.
Five.
Maya ate dinner.
Leo slept.
Clare’s nerves tightened.
Finally, after midnight, the front door opened.
Dante entered alone.
Clare stood immediately.
“What happened?”
He looked exhausted.
“We found the apartment.”
“And?”
“No one there.”
Her heart sank.
“But…”
Dante held up an envelope.
Clare stared.
“From her?”
“Yes.”
“Recent?”
“Three months ago.”
He sat.
Clare waited.
“She had been there.”
“Why leave?”
“Someone found her.”
“Matteo?”
“Probably.”
He looked at the envelope.
“She left another letter.”
“For Leo?”
“For me.”
Clare’s chest tightened.
“Did you read it?”
“Yes.”
He handed it to her.
Clare hesitated.
“That’s private.”
“I want you to.”
She sat beside him.
Alessia’s handwriting covered two pages.
She wrote that she had survived because Hale’s people removed her from the explosion scene before authorities arrived.
Matteo wanted leverage over Dante.
He intended to use Alessia to force him out of leadership.
But when she refused to cooperate, Matteo kept her isolated.
She escaped.
She returned to New York.
Then she discovered something worse.
Matteo planned to target Leo.
Not kill him.
Take him.
Raise him as leverage against Dante.
Alessia went into hiding again to draw attention away from her son.
The final lines made Clare stop.
Dante, if you find this, know that I chose distance because every road back to you led them toward Leo. Do not look for me if searching puts him in danger. Live. Raise our son. Become the man I always believed was buried underneath the one your father trained you to be.
Clare lowered the page.
Dante looked toward the dark window.
“She wanted me to stop.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
Clare considered.
“Stopping doesn’t mean abandoning her.”
“It feels like it.”
“What if she’s still alive?”
His voice broke.
“That’s the problem.”
Clare understood.
Hope had become a chain.
She folded the letter carefully.
“What would Alessia choose?”
Dante looked at Leo’s baby monitor.
“Leo.”
“Then start there.”
He nodded.
Hours later, Dante walked Clare to the guest room.
At the door, neither spoke.
Something remained between them.
Too much.
Wrong time.
Wrong circumstances.
Clare touched his arm.
“You don’t need to figure out your entire life tonight.”
Dante looked at her hand.
Then her face.
“Stay.”
The word came quietly.
Clare’s heart accelerated.
“At the house?”
“In New York.”
She stepped back.
Dante immediately corrected himself.
“That wasn’t an order.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I know.”
He nodded.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Clare entered her room.
She leaned against the closed door.
For the first time since leaving Ohio, she was not thinking about where to run.
She was thinking about where she might choose to stay.
The next morning, everything changed again.
Federal agents arrived before breakfast.
Not for Dante.
For Clare.
An investigator placed a file on the table.
“We found evidence Richard Peterson was involved in the attack on Alessia Salvatore.”
Clare stared.
“What kind of involvement?”
The agent hesitated.
“He provided the medical records used to identify Alessia’s private obstetric appointments.”
Dante went still.
The agent continued.
“And there’s more.”
Clare’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
“Richard was paid seventy-five thousand dollars forty-eight hours before the explosion.”
Clare closed her eyes.
The man she had married had not merely stolen hospital credentials.
He had helped create the circumstances that led to a mother losing her family.
May you like
And now Clare would have to decide whether to testify against him.
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