The Truth Between Them
Chapter 11 - The Truth Between Them
The darkness lasted less than a minute.
But by the time the lights returned, Adrian was gone.
So was the ledger.
Dante blamed himself.
Leah blamed neither of them.
She simply sat on the farmhouse steps and stared at the snow.
“I don't know what part of my life is real anymore.”
Dante sat beside her.
“This part is.”
She looked at him.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You protected me.”
“Yes.”
“You controlled me.”
“Yes.”
“And you love me.”
He went completely still.
Leah waited.
Finally he said, “Yes.”
The word was quiet.
No speech.
No excuse.
Just the truth.
Leah looked away.
“I needed you to say that years ago.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of what loving you would do to you.”
She turned back.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Dante did not reach for her.
He simply sat beside her.
That mattered.
When they returned to New York, Leah moved into her own apartment.
Dante did not object.
He sent flowers once.
She sent them back.
Two weeks later, he sent a handwritten note instead.
No flowers.
No demands.
Just one sentence.
I want to know you as the woman you became, not the girl I was afraid to lose.
Leah kept the note.
Meanwhile, Nora discovered the missing ledger page.
It had been hidden inside their mother's old sewing machine.
The page named the person who had ordered the original cover-up.
It was not Marco.
It was Bianca.
Leah stared at the signature.
Her entire understanding of the woman who saved her began to fracture.
Then she noticed the date.
Bianca had signed the document six days before Leah's mother disappeared.
May you like
And beside her signature was a handwritten instruction:
Protect Leah at any cost.
