"Just be there." My voice is small. "Just... don't hang up yet."
"I'm not going anywhere."
I pull my knees tighter against my chest.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. "For avoiding you. For not answering your calls. For disappearing."
"You don't have to apologize."
"Yes, I do." I take a shaky breath. "Every time I talked to you, I remembered. That day. Daniil in my house. The gun. The fear."
Sophia is silent.
"I couldn't separate you from what happened," I continue. "And I know that's not fair. I know you're not responsible for any of it. But every time I heard your voice, I was back there. On that floor. Bleeding. Terrified."
"I understand."
We sit in silence for a moment. Two women on opposite ends of the country, connected by a phone line and years of friendship and trauma neither of us asked for.
"I can't let him get closer," I finally say.
"Dante?"
"Yes." I wipe my eyes again. "He's dangerous, Sophia. He's killed people. He's hurt people. He's exactly the kind of man I should stay away from."
"Marina—"
"He's a killer." The word tastes bitter on my tongue. "Just like Daniil was."
"No."
The word is sharp. Immediate.
"Sophia—"
"No," she repeats. "Dante is not like Daniil."
"They're both?—"
"Dante has never harmed a single innocent person."
I go still.
"Yeah okay?—"
"In all the years I've known him. In everything Lorenzo has told me about him." Sophia's voice is firm. "Dante has never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it."
"That's not?—"
"The people he's killed? They were threats. Enemies. Men who would have hurt the family. Hurt innocent people." She pauses. "Hurt you."
I don't know what to say.
"Daniil was a monster," Sophia continues. "He enjoyed causing pain. He targeted people who couldn't fight back. He would have—" Her voice catches. "He would have done terrible things to you if we hadn't stopped him."
"I know."
"Dante is not that man." Sophia's voice softens. "He's dangerous, yes. He's done things that would make most people sick. But he has a code. A line he won't cross."
