Updated Nov 6, 2025 • ~10 min read
The rest of the meeting was pure business.
Territories. Shipping routes. Profit margins. Legitimate businesses that would serve as fronts for less legitimate operations.
I sat beside Dante, watching. Learning. Seeing firsthand how this world operated.
Caleb was shrewd but fair. Marco contributed strategic insights that surprised me—he was smarter than his aggressive exterior suggested. Adrian took notes, his expression unreadable.
And through it all, Isolde watched me with barely concealed hatred.
When it finally ended, nearly three hours later, Caleb walked us to the door personally.
“Dante, a word?” he said quietly.
Dante nodded to me. “Wait in the car. I’ll just be a moment.”
I descended the steps with Marco and Adrian. The cool night air was a relief after the tension inside.
“You did well,” Marco said grudgingly. “Better than I expected.”
“High praise coming from you.”
“Don’t let it go to your head.” But there was the ghost of a smile on his face. “You stood up for yourself in there. Defended my brother. That counts for something.”
Adrian opened the SUV door for me. “Miss Romano.”
I slid inside, grateful to be alone for a moment. My hands were shaking from the adrenaline crash.
We’d survived. Somehow, impossibly, we’d survived.
Through the tinted window, I could see Dante and Caleb talking on the steps. Caleb clapped Dante on the shoulder—a gesture of respect. Of approval.
The alliance was solid.
But then I saw movement in an upper window. Isolde, silhouetted against the light, staring down at Dante.
She pulled out her phone. Made a call.
My stomach knotted.
Dante returned to the SUV, sliding in beside me. “It’s done. The alliance is official. Contracts will be drawn up tomorrow.”
“That’s good.”
“More than good. This secures the family’s future for the next decade.” He took my hand. “Thank you. For tonight. For standing beside me.”
“I didn’t have much choice.”
“You always have a choice, Sofia. You chose to be brave. To be strong. I won’t forget that.”
The convoy began moving, pulling away from the Navarro estate.
I looked back one more time. Isolde was still in the window, phone to her ear.
“Dante? I think we have a problem.”
“Sterling? He’s handled. Caleb made it clear—”
“Not Sterling. Isolde.” I told him about what I’d seen. “She was watching you. And then she made a call. It felt… purposeful.”
Dante’s expression darkened. “Marco.”
Marco leaned forward from his seat. “Yeah?”
“Contact Julian. I want surveillance on Isolde Laurent. Phone records. Meetings. Anyone she talks to. Everything.”
“You think she’s planning something?”
“I think a woman that ambitious doesn’t give up just because she lost one battle.” Dante pulled out his own phone. “She was counting on that alliance. On being the Marchetti wife. That’s gone now. She’ll want revenge.”
“Against you or Sofia?” Adrian asked from the front.
“Both. But she’ll go after Sofia first. Test the defenses. See if I mean what I said about her being family.”
My blood ran cold. “You think she’d actually try to hurt me?”
“I think she’d try to make you disappear. Discredit you. Something that makes me look weak for protecting you.” He squeezed my hand. “But she won’t succeed. I meant what I said in there. You’re under my protection. Anyone who comes after you answers to me.”
The rest of the drive passed in tense silence. When we finally pulled into the Marchetti estate, I’d never been so relieved to see those gates.
Elise met us at the door, Lucia sleeping against her shoulder.
“She tried to wait up for you,” Elise said softly. “But she fell asleep about an hour ago.”
I took my daughter, held her close. She smelled like cookies and lavender shampoo. Normal. Safe.
“How did it go?” Elise asked.
“We survived,” Dante said.
“That good, huh?” She looked at me. “You’re still here. That means you didn’t completely screw up.”
“She was perfect,” Dante corrected. “Better than perfect.”
Elise’s expression softened. “Good. Because Lucia needs her mother. And maybe—” She glanced at Dante. “Maybe you need her too.”
She left before either of us could respond.
I carried Lucia upstairs, Dante following. He helped me tuck her into bed without waking her.
“She’s beautiful when she sleeps,” he said quietly. “Peaceful.”
“She’s always beautiful.”
“She has your strength. I can see it already. The way she holds herself. The way she observes everything.” He touched Lucia’s dark curls gently. “She’s going to be formidable when she grows up.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
We stood there, watching our daughter sleep, and for a moment everything else fell away. The danger. The complications. The enemies we’d made.
It was just us. Our family.
“I should change,” I said finally, breaking the spell.
Dante followed me to my room. Waited while I unclasped the necklace with trembling fingers.
“Let me.” He stepped behind me, his fingers brushing my neck as he helped with the clasp.
The necklace came free. But Dante didn’t step away.
His hands settled on my shoulders. Warm. Solid.
“You were incredible tonight,” he murmured. “The way you faced them all. The way you shut down Sterling. The way you claimed your place beside me.”
“I was terrified.”
“You didn’t show it. That’s what matters.” His thumbs traced small circles on my shoulders. “You’re stronger than you know, Sofia.”
I turned to face him. We were too close. Again.
“What happens now?” I whispered. “The meeting is over. Sterling is handled. The alliance is secure. What happens to us?”
“What do you want to happen?”
“I don’t know. This was supposed to be pretend. Playing a part. But—”
“But it didn’t feel like pretending.” He cupped my face. “Not when I introduced you as mine. Not when I defended you in that room. Not when I held your hand under the table and felt you shaking and wanted to burn the whole place down for making you scared.”
“Dante—”
“I’m done pretending, Sofia. Done lying to myself about what I feel.” His thumb traced my bottom lip. “I want you to stay. Not because of Lucia. Not because of the alliance. But because I want you here. With me.”
“You hurt me,” I said, even as I leaned into his touch. “Three years ago. The secrets. The violence. The things I didn’t understand.”
“I know. And I’ll spend every day making up for it if you let me.” His forehead pressed against mine. “But I can’t do this halfway. Either we try—really try—or we stay apart. I can’t have you this close and not have you at all.”
My heart raced. This was the moment. The choice.
Run again. Or stay. Or fight for something real.
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“So am I.” His confession surprised me. “I’m terrified. Of screwing this up. Of hurting you. Of losing you again.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We take it one day at a time. We’re honest with each other. No more secrets. No more running.” His lips ghosted over mine. “And we see if we can build something worth keeping.”
“What about your world? The violence? The danger?”
“I can’t change what I am, Sofia. What I do. But I can promise to keep you and Lucia safe. To never hide things from you. To give you a choice in how deep you want to be involved.”
“And if I choose not to be involved at all? To just be Lucia’s mother and nothing more?”
Pain flashed in his eyes. “Then I’d accept it. And hate every second of it.”
I touched his face. Felt the stubble on his jaw. The warmth of his skin.
“I don’t want that either,” I whispered. “I don’t want to be just Lucia’s mother. I don’t want to pretend anymore.”
Hope flickered in his expression. “What do you want?”
“I want to try. To see if we can be more than we were. Better than we were.” I took a breath. “I want us, Dante. The real us. Whatever that looks like.”
He kissed me then. Slow. Deep. Nothing like the desperate kiss in the library.
This was a promise. A beginning.
When we finally broke apart, both breathing hard, he rested his forehead against mine.
“Stay with me tonight,” he said. “Just to sleep. To be close. I need—I just need you close.”
I should have said no. Should have maintained boundaries. But I was tired of being alone. Tired of being strong.
“Okay.”
He led me to his room—the master suite I hadn’t seen yet. It was massive. All dark wood and masculine elegance. But the bed looked soft. Inviting.
He handed me one of his shirts. I changed in the bathroom, washing off the makeup, letting down my hair.
When I emerged, he was already in bed, covers pulled back on the other side.
I climbed in beside him. He immediately pulled me close, my back to his chest, his arm around my waist.
“This okay?” he murmured.
“Yes.”
We lay there in the darkness, his breath warm against my neck, his heartbeat steady against my back.
“Dante?”
“Hmm?”
“What you said about Isolde. About her coming after me. You really think she’d—”
“I do. But I won’t let her succeed. I promise you, Sofia. No one touches you. No one threatens our family. Not Sterling. Not Isolde. No one.”
The fierceness in his voice should have scared me.
Instead, it made me feel safe.
I laced my fingers through his. “Thank you. For tonight. For everything.”
“Thank you for giving us a chance.”
I was drifting off to sleep when his phone buzzed on the nightstand.
He tensed. Reached for it.
“What is it?” I asked sleepily.
“Julian.” He read the message, his body going rigid. “Fuck.”
I sat up. “What happened?”
“Sterling’s dead. They found him in his apartment two hours ago. Single gunshot to the head.”
My blood turned to ice. “What?”
“Someone killed him.” Dante was already out of bed, pulling on clothes. “Someone killed him right after he left the Navarro estate.”
“But who—”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” He looked at me. “Stay here. Lock the door. Don’t let anyone in except me or Marco.”
“Dante, you don’t think—”
“I don’t know what to think. But Sterling had information. Evidence. Photos. And now he’s dead. Either someone wanted to silence him, or someone wanted to frame me for his death.” He grabbed his phone. “Either way, this isn’t over.”
He kissed me quickly. Then he was gone, leaving me alone in his bed, in his room, with the terrible knowledge that Luca Sterling—my nightmare for months—was dead.
And whoever killed him was still out there.
Waiting.
Reader Reactions