I run, shouldering the door to the service hall open again.
My legs feel weightless, fueled by something bigger than fear as the sound of it slams closed behind us. I barely even feel the pain in my side anymore, my adrenaline pumping too fiercely through my system for me to care about pulling my stitches.
Water drips from my clothes onto the dirty tile as I run.
Luca clings to my neck, small arms tight. “Mama, where are we going? Are we going to go get Dante now?”
“Yes,” I gasp.
I burst through the door at the end of the hall and nearly collide with a nurse pushing a cart. She startles, muttering something under her breath as I rush past her without apologizing.
Through nothing but muscle memory, I retrace my steps back to the lobby—left at the vending machines, past the reception desk, through the wide arch that opens into the main waiting area. My lungs burn, my side throbbing viciously as the adrenaline begins to wear off. I refuse to slow down until I see the row of gray chairs we had been sitting in not twenty minutes ago.
I’m breathless by the time I reach them. Sweat, or maybe rainwater, slides down my temples and into my collar.
I find him exactly where I left him.
Dante is sitting in the same chair, elbows braced on his knees, hands hanging between them. His head is bowed, shoulders rounded inward in a way I have never seen before. Not after Matteo or Cesare. Not even after the attack that almost stole Luca and me away permanently.
If I didn’t know him, I would assume he’d just suffered a devastating loss.
“Dante!” Luca calls out, his small voice bright.
His head snaps up.
For one suspended heartbeat, the world stops. His eyes lock onto mine, shock slamming across his face first, then slowly morphing into disbelief. As he blinks a few times to clear his vision, his expression turns almost feral with relief.
Luca wiggles from my arms and runs the last few steps to him. Dante rises so fast, the chair behind him scrapes loudly across the tile. He drops to one knee automatically, arms opening right as Luca crashes into him.
“You came back,” he breathes out, voice shaking so badly, I barely recognize it. He crushes Luca to his chest, burying his face in his hair before kissing the top of his head over and over. His eyes, though, never leave me.
Confusion flickers through me for half a second.How did he know? Did someone tell him? Did Nicolo contact him directly?But I shove the questions away.
They don’t matter.
I step closer, my knees trembling. “I couldn’t…”
His jaw flexes. He stands slowly, Luca still in his arms, and holds out an arm toward me. Tears spill down my cheeks again as I slowly fold myself against his chest, curling my arms around the both of them as I hold them tight.
“I couldn’t leave you,” I confess.
Dante squeezes me, one hand cradling the back of my head. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
When I lift my head to look at him, I notice the small details I couldn’t from far back. His eyes are red-rimmed, remnants of tears clinging to his bottom lashes. He searches my face like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he blinks again.
“Are you sure?” he asks, his voice rough, betraying him.
I swallow and nod. “I am. I want you to protect us. I don’t want us to separate again. I want us together as a family.”
Dante’s breath shudders out of him. He closes his eyes for a second, forehead dropping to mine. “I thought… I thought I’d lost you again. For good.”
“I’m sorry.”
He opens his eyes once more. They’re wet, unguarded in a way I’ve rarely ever seen. “I would have let you go, Elena. If it’s what you truly wanted. I would have hated myself every day for allowing it to happen, but I would have let you live your life in peace.”
I reach up, brush my thumb along the line of his jaw. “I know.”
Luca squirms between us, looking from one face to the other. “Are we not going on the trip now?”
