Chapter 7 - The Life She Saved Twice
“Look at me.”
Dante’s eyes struggled to focus.
“Elena—”
“Look at me.”
Her hands pressed against the wound below his shoulder.
Not the heart.
Not a major artery, she hoped.
But blood was coming fast.
Gunfire echoed throughout the warehouse.
Elena ignored it.
“You don’t get to die.”
Dante gave the faintest laugh.
“Still ordering me around.”
“Shut up.”
His hand covered hers.
“Elena.”
“No.”
“If—”
“No.”
“Elena.”
She leaned closer, furious tears filling her eyes.
“You do not get to make me listen to your last words after everything else you’ve made me listen to this week.”
His mouth almost curved.
Then his eyes closed.
“Dante!”
Matteo reached them.
“Ambulance is coming.”
“Help me keep pressure.”
Together they held the wound.
Across the warehouse, Vanessa had reached Dr. Reeves.
Victor Bellandi was gone.
Again.
He had escaped through a service tunnel before Dante’s men sealed the building.
But Elena no longer cared.
Not in that moment.
Dante opened his eyes.
“Baby?”
“She’s okay.”
“You?”
“I’m okay.”
He relaxed.
That angered her.
“You should be asking about yourself.”
“I know the answer.”
“What answer?”
“You’ll save me.”
Elena stared at him.
Four years ago, he had trusted a stranger in blue scrubs.
Now he trusted the wife whose heart he had broken.
“Don’t make that romantic,” she whispered.
“I’m not.”
His voice weakened.
“I know saving me doesn’t mean forgiving me.”
Something inside her cracked.
Because that was the first truly selfless thing he had said to her since she found Vanessa in his arms.
The ambulance arrived.
Dante was taken into surgery.
Elena refused to leave the hospital.
Her obstetrician eventually surrendered and arranged a room nearby.
Three hours later, the surgeon appeared.
Dante would live.
Elena sat down and cried.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
She cried for her parents.
For the marriage she thought she had.
For the child arriving into a family built from secrets.
And, against her better judgment, for Dante.
Vanessa found her later.
“I’m leaving Philadelphia.”
Elena looked up.
“Running?”
“Maybe.”
Vanessa sat opposite her.
“My brother is being transferred into protective custody. The evidence from your father’s box connected Victor to people inside the prison system.”
“You saved Sam.”
“I helped.”
“You also kissed my husband.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
Elena appreciated that she didn’t ask forgiveness.
“Did you love him?”
Vanessa thought about it.
“No.”
Elena frowned.
“I wanted what he represented.”
“What?”
“A man powerful enough that I didn’t have to be afraid.”
Vanessa smiled sadly.
“Turns out he was afraid too.”
Elena looked toward Dante’s room.
“Yes.”
“He talked about you.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Not like that.”
Elena remained silent.
Vanessa continued.
“The first time he kissed me, he stopped and said your name.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“I know.”
“The second?”
“He apologized to me.”
“The third?”
“He was drunk.”
“And the fourth?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“The night you found us.”
Elena opened her eyes.
“He wasn’t drunk.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Vanessa looked toward the window.
“Because I told him Victor’s people had threatened your baby.”
Elena went still.
“What?”
“I received a photograph from your ultrasound appointment. Dante saw it. He panicked. I told him I could make the problem disappear if he trusted me.”
“And then?”
“He kissed me.”
Elena’s face hardened.
Vanessa nodded.
“I’m not defending him. I think he was trying to disappear inside somebody else for thirty seconds.”
Elena looked away.
It explained something.
It excused nothing.
That distinction mattered.
Later, Elena entered Dante’s recovery room.
He was awake.
Weak.
Pale.
When he saw her, his expression softened.
“You stayed.”
“Your surgeon needed medical history.”
“Of course.”
He knew she was lying.
She knew he knew.
Neither mentioned it.
After a long silence, Dante said, “I’m releasing you from everything.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“The marriage contract. Estate protections. Security agreements. Anything that requires my permission has been changed.”
“You already called the lawyers?”
“Before the warehouse.”
“Why?”
“Because you were right.”
She waited.
“I turned protection into control.”
Dante swallowed painfully.
“And I turned fear into an excuse for betrayal.”
Elena stared at him.
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I know.”
“I might never.”
“I know.”
“I still love you.”
That hurt most.
Dante closed his eyes.
A tear slipped toward his temple.
“I know.”
She almost smiled bitterly.
“Arrogant.”
“No.”
He opened his eyes.
“I know because I still love you too, and right now that feels more painful than being shot.”
Elena stood.
She touched his hand once.
Then left.
At the doorway, a contraction seized her.
She stopped.
Breathed.
Waited.
Another came three minutes later.
Then warmth ran down her legs.
Elena stared at the floor.
Dante saw her expression.
“What?”
She looked at him.
May you like
“My water just broke.”
His heart monitor immediately began screaming.
