Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Ten minutes later, I stood alone in a private meeting room while Mia stayed with Leo upstairs. Dante arrived within minutes, his black coat damp from the rain. He looked exhausted, his usually controlled expression shattered by something I had never seen in him before. The moment his eyes met mine, he whispered, “You really had my son for almost three years, and I never got to hold him once.”
“Don't you dare make yourself the victim,” I snapped. “You married my sister, Dante. You stood in front of the entire city and chose her while I was left wondering why I wasn't good enough.” He closed his eyes briefly, as though my words hurt more than any bullet ever could. Then he reached into his coat and placed a sealed envelope on the table.
“Victoria was never supposed to be my wife,” he said quietly. “Your father discovered that someone inside my organization was planning to kill you. The threat came from a powerful family that wanted to destroy me through the woman I loved.” My blood ran cold as he continued. “Your father begged me to protect you, but there was one condition. I had to make everyone believe you meant nothing to me.”
I shook my head, refusing to believe him. “So you married Victoria instead?” Dante's jaw tightened. “She offered to help convince our enemies that you were no longer connected to me. But Elena, I swear to you, I never knew she would take things this far.”
I opened the envelope with trembling fingers. Inside was a photograph of Victoria standing beside a man I recognized from the Moretti family’s inner circle. Beneath it was a handwritten note dated just two days before the wedding.
**“If Elena ever discovers what we did, neither of us will survive.”**
I looked up at Dante, my heart pounding.
“Who wrote this?”
His answer made my knees nearly buckle.
“Your sister.”
And before I could ask another question, his phone rang. He answered, listened for three seconds, and went completely still.
Then he looked at me.
“Victoria knows you're back in Chicago,” he said. “And she's on her way to the hotel.”
PART 3: Dante barely had time to finish his sentence before the meeting room door swung open. Victoria walked in wearing an elegant cream coat, her perfectly styled hair untouched by the rain outside. For a moment, neither of us spoke, and I watched her eyes move from Dante to the envelope on the table. Then she saw me, and the smile on her face disappeared. “Elena,” she whispered, “you weren't supposed to come back.”
I felt something inside me break all over again. “You knew I was pregnant when I left, didn't you?” I asked, my voice trembling with anger. Victoria looked away, and that tiny movement told me more than any confession could. Dante stepped between us, his expression turning dangerously cold. “Answer her,” he demanded, but Victoria raised her chin and replied, “You don't know the whole story.”
“Then tell me!” I shouted. “You took the man I loved, watched me disappear, and never once tried to find me.” Victoria's eyes filled with tears, but I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for her. “I thought leaving Chicago would keep you safe,” she whispered. “Our father knew someone was targeting you, and Dante agreed to marry me because it was the only way to protect you without exposing the truth.”
I shook my head, remembering every lonely night in Zurich when I wondered what was wrong with me. “You could have told me,” I said, my voice breaking. “You could have let me make my own choices.” Victoria finally looked directly at me, and the guilt in her expression was unmistakable. “I wanted Dante for myself,” she admitted. “But by the time I realized what my jealousy had cost you, I was already trapped in a marriage built on lies.”
Dante turned toward her sharply. “What do you mean, trapped?” Victoria's hands began to tremble as she revealed that the man in the photograph had threatened to expose confidential information about the Moretti organization. He had used that leverage to control her, forcing her to keep Elena away from Chicago. “I thought if you stayed gone, everyone would survive,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I never imagined you would bring Leo back here.”
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At the sound of his name, Dante's entire expression changed. “Where is my son?” he asked quietly. I immediately stepped forward, placing myself between him and the door. “He's upstairs with Mia, and you're not going near him until I know he's safe.” For several seconds, Dante stared at me, fighting the instinct to argue. Then, to my surprise, he nodded. “You're his mother, Elena, and you have every right to protect him.”
—END OF Chapter 2,
