Chapter 1 - The Ten Minutes
I stared at the glowing screen of my phone.
My hands were shaking so violently I could barely hold the device.
I told myself to turn it off.
I told myself to tell the driver to keep driving until we reached a hotel under a fake name.
But I looked back at my sleeping son in his car seat.
Leo deserved a father.
I typed the address of an empty diner three blocks away and hit send.
I told Mia to stay in the car with Leo and lock the doors.
I walked into the diner alone.
The bell above the door chimed softly in the quiet room.
Dante walked in less than two minutes later.
He was not flanked by his usual army of armed bodyguards.
He came alone.
He wore the same black overcoat from the airport.
His dark hair was slightly damp from the Chicago rain.
He stopped three feet away from me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
His gray eyes searched my face as if looking for the girl he used to know.
"You look beautiful, Elena," he whispered.
"You have nine minutes left," I replied coldly.
Dante swallowed hard, his jaw clenching.
"I never wanted to marry Victoria," he said.
"But you stood at an altar and put a ring on her finger," I countered.
"I did it to keep you alive," Dante stated firmly.
I crossed my arms, refusing to let his deep voice affect me.
"No one was trying to kill me, Dante."
"Your father was," he said.
I froze.
My father had died of a sudden heart attack a month before Dante married my sister.
"My father loved me," I argued, but my voice trembled.
Dante took a step closer, filling my space with the scent of rain and expensive cologne.
"Your father owed thirty million dollars to the Russian syndicate."
"He sold you to them to clear his debt, Elena."
I stopped breathing.
"The only way to void the contract was if the bride belonged to another Don," Dante explained.
"But the Russians would have started a war if I married you directly after he promised you to them."
"So you married my sister?" I asked, tears stinging my eyes.
"Victoria found out about the contract and came to me," Dante said.
"She offered to marry me publicly to secure the Moretti protection for your family."
"She sacrificed herself for me?" I whispered in shock.
Dante shook his head slowly.
"No, Elena."
May you like
He looked at me with an expression of pure terror.
"Victoria is the one who convinced your father to sell you to the Russians in the first place."
