Chapter 5 - The Price of Protecting a Child
Dante moved Mia into the secure family wing before breakfast.
Arya refused to let him move her without an explanation.
"She's a little girl," she said. "Not a piece of evidence."
"Someone has targeted her."
"Then tell me why."
"I don't know yet."
"That's not good enough."
Dante's temper rose, but he stopped himself when Mia appeared in the doorway clutching Mr. Buttons.
"Are we in trouble?" she asked.
Arya knelt immediately.
"No, sweetheart."
Mia glanced at Dante.
"Did I do something bad?"
The question hit him harder than any accusation.
"No," he said, his voice unexpectedly gentle. "You haven't done anything wrong."
Mia studied him, then held out her stuffed rabbit.
"Can you keep him safe while Mommy talks to you?"
Dante accepted the rabbit as though it were a fragile artifact.
"I'll do my best."
After Mia left, Arya folded her arms.
"Now you understand why I won't accept another order without an explanation."
Dante looked down at the rabbit.
"I have enemies who believe my family is vulnerable. They use fear to make people obey."
"And you think the solution is to make everyone afraid of you first?"
He didn't answer.
That afternoon, Dante received a call from a number he hadn't seen in two years.
He listened without speaking.
Then he said, "You should be dead."
A woman's voice answered through the speaker.
"So should I. We both seem to have disappointed someone."
Dante went pale.
"Who is this?"
"You know who I am."
The call ended.
He stood motionless for several seconds.
Arya, who had entered carrying a tray of sandwiches for the children, watched him.
"Was that Elena?"
"I don't know."
"You recognized the voice."
"Yes."
"Then why did you say you didn't know?"
"Because Elena is dead."
Arya set the tray down.
"What if the story you've been told isn't the whole story?"
Dante looked at her with an expression she hadn't seen before.
Hope.
Terrifying, fragile hope.
He called the number back. It was disconnected.
That evening, the children insisted on eating together in the dining room. Arya agreed, provided Dante sat with them instead of eating alone in his office.
He arrived ten minutes late.
Leo immediately asked if he could have dessert before dinner.
"No," Dante said automatically.
Mateo dropped his fork.
Enzo went silent.
Arya watched the old pattern settle over the table: a command, a frightened response, three children retreating into themselves.
Dante noticed it, too.
He drew a slow breath.
"Actually," he said, "you can have dessert after you eat something resembling dinner."
Leo blinked.
"Is that a joke?"
"I'm told I should try them occasionally."
Mia giggled.
For a few precious minutes, the dining room felt almost normal.
Then the lights flickered.
A loud bang sounded from the service corridor.
The guards moved immediately.
Dante pulled the children away from the windows while Arya gathered Mia and the triplets behind the heavy dining table.
A second bang shook the corridor.
Then silence.
Dante handed the children to Arya and ran toward the entrance hall.
She heard shouted orders, followed by a crash.
When he returned, his right sleeve was torn and a thin line of blood ran down his forearm.
"Are you hurt?" she demanded.
"It's nothing."
"Sit down."
"Arya—"
"Sit. Down."
To her surprise, he obeyed.
She cleaned the cut while he watched the children huddled together near the fireplace.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Someone threw a brick through the service window. There was a note attached."
"What did it say?"
Dante hesitated.
Then he pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.
Arya read it.
Ask your wife what happened in the hospital.
Her hands went cold.
"What hospital?"
Dante's eyes met hers.
"The night Elena died, she was taken to a hospital before her body was released. I was told she died at the scene."
"Who told you that?"
"My brother."
Arya stared at him.
"You have a brother?"
"Adrian. He handled the arrangements after the bombing."
"Where is he now?"
Dante looked toward the darkened windows.
"He's been missing for six months."
A small voice came from behind them.
"Uncle Adrian isn't missing."
Everyone turned.
May you like
Enzo stood in the doorway, holding a folded sheet of paper.
"He came to see us last week," the boy whispered. "He told us Mommy was coming home."
