Chapter 10 - The False Peace
Dante lunged forward, but the dark water had already swallowed Victoria entirely.
His men scrambled to search the docks, but the unknown shooter had vanished completely into the night.
Dante turned around and walked back to where I was holding our crying son.
He dropped his gun on the ground and wrapped his massive arms around both of us.
"It is over, Elena," Dante whispered into my hair, his chest heaving with adrenaline.
"The threat is gone, and the Commission will accept you as my true wife now."
I closed my eyes, letting the warmth of his body melt away the terror of the past twenty-four hours.
We had survived the absolute worst nightmare of my life.
My sister's betrayal was finished, and my son was finally safe in his father's arms.
Dante's men drove us back to the heavily fortified Moretti estate in absolute silence.
The mansion was warm, quiet, and guarded by a hundred loyal soldiers.
I gave Leo a warm bath, dressed him in clean pajamas, and tucked him into a massive king-sized bed.
Dante stood in the doorway of the bedroom, watching us with a look of pure, unguarded love.
"We are finally a real family," Dante said softly, walking over to kiss my forehead.
I smiled up at him, feeling a deep, comforting sense of victory and peace.
The nightmare was finally over.
Then, Dante's encrypted cell phone rang loudly on the nightstand.
He picked it up and put it on speakerphone, expecting a final report from his cleanup crew at the docks.
The voice that echoed through the quiet bedroom did not belong to a syndicate soldier.
It was the chilling, perfectly calm voice of my supposedly dead father.
"Thank you for getting Victoria out of the way, Elena, she was becoming far too greedy with my money."
I stopped breathing, staring at the phone in pure, paralyzed horror.
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"Now open the front doors for me," my father said cheerfully.
"Or I will let my men burn this mansion to the ground with you and my new grandson inside."
