33. Dante

Chapter 33

Dante

T he rest of the day was stressful for me. As it wore on without any word from her, it dawned on me that she had made up her mind. It hurt, incredibly, and kept me on edge but I knew enough about her by now to know she wasn’t going to budge. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t aware of the dangers her decision held, but she was still willing to go down that senseless path. It was clear that she shared the same stubborn streak as her father.

I had done my best to talk him out of handling my case. The last thing I’d wanted was to put him in the line of danger. Yet he had insisted and one mistake had brought us here. I could see history repeating itself all over again and I didn’t know how to take it. How would I be able to bear the weight on my head and in my heart?

There was a knock on the door and Giotto entered.

“You know what Leone meant to me and by extension his daughter. She is his only family left so I hope I’m communicating to you how crucial this is.”

He nodded and then raised his head to look me in the eye. “We’re ready, Boss. We got this.”

“Ugo will be ready too,” I said through gritted teeth.

He looked down at his shoes.

“What time is her flight scheduled?”

“At seven,” he said.

I nodded. It was almost five so it wasn’t too late for me to head back.

“Get the car ready,” I ordered.

He made the call as we left the office.

As I arrived back at the hotel I went straight to her door and rang the bell. I lifted my gaze to stare directly into the peephole.

She opened the door a crack. “I’m running late.”

“You’re not,” I said, and she had no choice but to let me in.

I walked in to see that her bags were packed. She walked to the window and watched the city descend into the evening. She appeared calm, untroubled, but I knew that internally she must have been troubled and afraid.

“Here to say goodbye?” she asked.

I told her the truth. “I’m here to try to convince you to stay.”

“That’s not going to happen.” She sighed. “If you’re so worried that the government won’t be able to protect me then why don’t you protect me as well? Or can’t you do it? The moment they have me you won’t be able to find me?”

That was exactly what I was going to do, but I couldn’t admit it to her. My new plan was to allow the government to mess up first so she would be willing to consider a different route. This was extremely risky because too many things could go wrong and not being in direct control of her well-being was frustrating, but I had no choice.

“Be careful,” I said to her. “Anything could go wrong at any second, so you need to be prepared at all times.”

She nodded and continued staring out of the window.

It was time to leave, but with every step I took away from her and toward the door, something inside me died. She meant something to me. This much was now incontestable. Beyond her father, no one else had any hold on me whatsoever in as long as I could remember.

I heard the door click behind me.

Walking away and relinquishing control of her safety to others was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. I couldn’t go back to work so I returned to my room. I sat on the bed with my head in my hands.