For a heartbeat, he simply turns back to stare at me in disbelief. His hand hovers near his cheek, though not quite touching it. The skin is already flushing red. Shock flickers across his expression, the look genuine and unguarded.
“Get out,” I hiss, shoving against his chest with every ounce of strength I have left. My hands tremble as they press over his heart. “Getout!”
He pulls in a harsh breath as if he’s restraining something violent inside himself from bursting forward, but then he exhales in one hard, controlled breath. The emotion drains from his face, replaced by something much colder. It isn’t rage, exactly, though something close to it.
For a split second, everything is still.
Then he speaks. His voice is cold now, flat. Don Cosenza is in full control as he locks his eyes with mine. “You will be staying in this room every night until further notice.”
My entire body stiffens.
“If you even think about leaving it, your son will pay the consequences.”
My throat tightens painfully as I swallow. Panic flares in my chest. “What about Luca? I’m not letting him sleep on his own. He’s just a baby. He’s been sleeping with me since he was born.”
For just a moment, I search his face for something—hesitation, humanity, anything that remains of the man I used to know. But… I find nothing. “He will be taken care of.”
The words land like a death sentence.
“No,” I whisper, stepping forward without thinking. “Dante, please…”
He doesn’t let me finish. He turns away, already done with me, sealing the decision into stone. He crosses the room before I can force another word past the hysteria clawing up my throat and slams the door shut behind him.
Only then do my legs finally give out.
I crumple to the floor, the silk robe pooling around me as sobs rip free from my chest. They’re violent and uncontrollable, tearing their way out of my throat despite my desperate attempts to stop them. My hands shake as I press them over my mouth, trying and failing to muffle the sound.
This man will use my love for my son to break me. He knows I would endure anything for Luca. Anything at all.
Even this.
But what happens when there’s nothing more of me left for him to ruin?
What will happen to Luca then?
7
DANTE
The days blur together after the night of the wedding.
I move through them on instinct alone. Meetings, briefings delivered over the phone with barely any attention paid to what’s being discussed, all while my mind stays anchored to that night. To Elena’s face after she hit me and the look in her eyes when I told her what would happen if she disobeyed me.
I tell myself it was a control tactic meant to keep her in line, not cruelty. But… even that half-truth doesn’t sit well inside my gut.
My men have been tearing through New York from the moment we returned, chasing every whisper of Giovanni Vitale’s name like they’re hot on a scent trail. I’ve ordered it done quietly but thoroughly, no mistakes or unnecessary bodies left along the way because I can’t afford a turf dispute from halfway across the globe.
Elena has always been close to her father, loyal in a way that borders on foolish sometimes. It’s exactly what has convinced me that he stayed near her, hiding in plain sight, trusting thatproximity to his daughter and grandson would protect him after they all fled to the States.
It’s the kind of arrogance I’ve seen from him before, but strangely, every report that comes back to me ends the same way. With absolutely nothing.
No sightings, no bank activity, not even a shell corporation to hide his assets and keep him and his daughter afloat in the years since they’ve been away from Sicily. I’ve had apartments searched, storage units turned over and cleared, even old contacts questioned and dismissed one by one.
It’s as if Giovanni Vitale has vanished completely, leaving behind nothing but cold leads and wasted time.
Each failure tightens the anger more viciously in my chest. Frustration claws at me with each dead end. It’s not just the uncertainty of not finding him that’s bothering me. It’s also the knowledge that Elena is sitting under my roof, hating me with every breath she takes while I come back empty-handed again and again with nothing to show for bringing her back here.
Sleep offers no relief.
