Dante's grip on my arms tightens.
"Don't apologize. You didn't pull the trigger."
"But I?—"
"Angelica." He waits until I open my eyes and look at him. "If you want to be with me, you have to trust me. And you need to let me handle these ugly parts, okay?" He pinches my chin and makes me look him in the eye.
His words are blunt, almost brutal. But there's something underneath them—a plea, maybe. Or a warning.
He's asking me to let him shoulder this burden alone.
To step back and let him be the wall between us and the violence that fills his world.
"Okay," I say finally. "I trust you."
His shoulders relax slightly, not much, but enough for me to notice.
He releases my arms and steps back, putting space between us.
"Go upstairs," he says, gentler this time. "Check on Sofia. I'll come find you when the doctor's finished."
I nod and turn toward the staircase.
But I only make it three steps before I stop and look back at him.
"Dante?"
He's already halfway to his den, but he pauses. "Yeah?"
"What's going to happen?" I ask him, feeling really afraid. I don't know what this attack means or how bad it is, but I can assume things.
Dante seems very upset by it, and that might mean the war isn't over yet.
"Well," he says thoughtfully, coming to join me at the bottom of the steps again, "I’m going to answer Antonelli Gerard for the scum he is and I'm going to put him in his place, and then we're going to celebrate Christmas as a family."
I swallow around the lump forming in my throat.
I don't like the idea that killing is the only way that Dante can end this, but if he's right and Gerard was there at the end of thetunnel and attacked his men, then it might mean it’s his only choice.
"You think that’s even possible? I mean, to murder a man one day and then have a happy family moment the next day?"
I study his face for a moment and see him rush through half a dozen emotions before settling on resolve.
"I don't have a choice,Bella."
He kisses me softly, so gently I believe him when he says he can murder Antonelli one day and then celebrate with me and Sofia the next.
After the violence he just witnessed and the way he's tender with me, I'm a believer.
"You’re my family now," he says softly, "and I want to be the best partner and lover and father that this world has ever seen. You and Sofia deserve that from me, for everything you've been through, and I'm not going to stop trying until you have it. Do you understand now?"
I nod my head, suddenly beginning to feel tired.
Knowing he's safe for the night is all I needed.
I let a yawn escape and he asks me, "Would you like me to see you to bed?"
Smiling, I say, "Does that mean you can stay with me too?"
