Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT HE CHOSE HER
Elio did not sleep.
Janevra knew because neither did she.
At four in the morning, she found him sitting alone in the kitchen.
Not the formal dining room.
Not his study.
The kitchen.
The most feared man in Chicago sat beneath fluorescent lights eating cereal from a porcelain bowl.
Janevra stopped.
“This may be the most disturbing thing I’ve witnessed all week.”
Elio looked up.
“What?”
“You eat cereal?”
“Occasionally.”
“I assumed you consumed black coffee and the souls of your enemies.”
He stared at her.
Then laughed.
Janevra smiled before she could stop herself.
She sat across from him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Without the suit jacket, guards, and controlled expression, Elio looked younger.
Tired.
Human.
“My father used to bring me here,” he said eventually.
Janevra waited.
“When I was a kid. My mother hated us eating in the kitchen. She said it was improper.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died when I was nineteen.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So was I.”
He looked into the bowl.
“I believed my father died two years later.”
“And now?”
“Now I don’t know which memories were real.”
Janevra understood that pain.
“My mother knew.”
“Yes.”
“She tried to stop him.”
“Yes.”
“And he killed her.”
Elio’s jaw tightened.
“If the evidence proves that, I will make sure he answers for it.”
“Even though he’s your father?”
Elio looked directly at her.
“Especially because he’s my father.”
Something inside Janevra shifted.
She had spent months believing Elio valued blood and power above everything.
Perhaps she had been wrong too.
“You said something before our wedding,” she said.
His expression tightened.
“I said many things I regret.”
“You said you needed a wife you could trust.”
“Yes.”
“Do you trust me?”
The question hung between them.
Elio did not answer immediately.
That mattered.
He considered it.
“Yes.”
Janevra’s breath caught.
“Why?”
“Because you had multiple opportunities to leave me bleeding while holding a heavy metal object.”
She laughed.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
His smile disappeared.
“Because when the shooting started, you were afraid and stayed anyway. Because you could have destroyed the alliance by telling Lena what you heard at the wedding, but you didn’t. Because you discovered evidence that could destroy both our families and your first concern was the truth, not who benefited.”
He paused.
“And because you saved my life.”
Janevra looked down.
“That sounds dangerously close to respect.”
“It is.”
“Careful. Next you might discover I’m a person.”
“I discovered that months ago.”
She looked up sharply.
Elio leaned back.
“You think I didn’t notice you?”
“You barely spoke to me.”
“Because speaking to you was becoming complicated.”
“Why?”
He said nothing.
Janevra suddenly understood.
“Oh.”
“Don’t.”
“You liked me.”
“No.”
“You did.”
“I found you…”
He stopped.
“Infuriating.”
She smiled.
“You liked me.”
“You rearranged my library without asking.”
“Your organization system was criminal.”
“I am literally a criminal.”
“Even you should understand alphabetical order.”
He laughed again.
Then silence settled.
Different this time.
Warm.
Elio’s eyes dropped toward her mouth.
Janevra felt it.
He stood.
She thought he was leaving.
Instead, he walked around the table.
Stopped beside her.
“Janevra.”
Her heart accelerated.
“Yes?”
“If I kiss you now, it has nothing to do with our arrangement.”
She looked at him.
“Then why would you kiss me?”
His voice dropped.
“Because I have wanted to for weeks.”
The honesty frightened her more than the gunfire.
She stood.
They were inches apart.
“Then you’re remarkably slow for a powerful man.”
That was all the permission he needed.
His hand touched her jaw.
The kiss was gentle.
Nothing like their wedding.
No performance.
No obligation.
Janevra’s fingers curled into his shirt.
For a few seconds, there was no war.
No Carlo.
No Moretti alliance.
No blood.
Just two people who had spent months pretending indifference because wanting something real was more dangerous than wanting power.
Elio pulled away first.
His forehead rested against hers.
“I’m sorry.”
Janevra froze.
“For kissing me?”
“For the wedding.”
She opened her eyes.
“For everything I said. Everything I assumed. The way I treated you.”
He swallowed.
“You deserved better.”
Tears threatened unexpectedly.
Janevra stepped back.
“You don’t get forgiveness because you kissed me.”
“I know.”
“You’ll have to earn it.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
A phone rang.
Elio closed his eyes.
Janevra almost laughed.
He answered.
Bruno’s voice was loud enough for her to hear.
“We found Daario.”
Elio’s expression changed.
“Where?”
“Moretti warehouse. South Side.”
Janevra’s smile vanished.
“My father’s warehouse?”
Bruno confirmed it.
Twenty minutes later they were in an armored SUV.
Elio objected to Janevra coming.
Janevra ignored him.
They arrived before sunrise.
The warehouse doors stood open.
Inside, they found no Daario.
Only Victoriao.
Janevra’s father sat tied to a chair.
Blood covered one side of his face.
“Dad!”
She ran toward him.
Elio grabbed her.
“Wait.”
A red light blinked beneath the chair.
Bomb.
Bruno shouted for everyone to get back.
Victoriao opened his eyes.
“Jenny…”
Janevra struggled against Elio.
“My father!”
“We’ll get him.”
“No!”
Elio handed her to Bruno.
Then he ran forward.
“Elio!”
He ignored her.
A bomb technician followed.
Seconds became unbearable.
Janevra watched Elio kneel beside the man who had sold her into marriage.
He could have walked away.
Instead, he risked his life.
The technician cut one wire.
Then another.
The timer stopped at eight seconds.
Janevra nearly collapsed.
Elio carried Victoriao outside himself.
Paramedics took over.
Then Victoriao grabbed Janevra’s wrist.
“Listen.”
“What?”
His breathing was ragged.
“Daario wanted the files.”
“He doesn’t have them.”
“I know.”
Victoriao looked at Elio.
“He said Carlo doesn’t need them anymore.”
Elio leaned closer.
“Why?”
Victoriao’s eyes filled with terror.
“Because Carlo is coming home.”
A vehicle engine roared somewhere beyond the warehouse.
Then every phone belonging to Elio’s men rang simultaneously.
A message appeared.
May you like
One sentence.
Welcome to your last week as head of the Vieira family, son.
