Chapter 9 - What Dante Chose
The island sat beneath a curtain of rain.
An abandoned mansion rose above the shoreline, built decades earlier by Salvatore Varga as a private retreat.
Dante remembered spending summers there.
Marco had learned to swim off that dock.
Their mother had planted roses beside the eastern wall.
Now armed men guarded the property.
Dante hated what memories could become.
Federal tactical teams approached from the north.
Dante, Paulie, and Khloe entered through an old boathouse tunnel.
“You knew this existed?” Khloe whispered.
“Marco and I used it to sneak out.”
“To do what?”
“Things teenagers do.”
Khloe glanced at him.
“You were normal once?”
“Briefly.”
Despite everything, she smiled.
They reached the basement.
Voices came from upstairs.
Victor.
Salvatore.
They were arguing.
“The accounts are frozen!”
“Not all of them,” Salvatore snapped.
“You promised me access.”
“I promised you survival.”
Dante moved toward the stairs.
Khloe caught him.
“Wait.”
Another voice.
Jared.
Khloe froze.
Impossible.
She had watched federal agents arrest him.
Then she understood.
Corrupt officers.
Again.
Jared limped into view above them.
“You left me.”
Victor turned on his son.
“You failed.”
“I spent two years with her!”
“And still couldn’t control her.”
Khloe felt something strange.
Not sympathy.
Recognition.
Jared had become the thing Victor had raised.
That did not excuse him.
But it explained the emptiness he kept trying to fill with ownership.
Dante whispered to Paulie.
“Signal the team.”
Paulie tried.
“No service.”
Jammer.
Dante looked toward Khloe.
“Back to the boat.”
“No.”
“Khloe.”
“They’re all here.”
“That’s why you leave.”
Before they could argue, the basement door opened.
A guard spotted them.
Gunfire exploded.
Dante charged upstairs.
Paulie covered Khloe.
Within seconds, the mansion descended into chaos.
Victor’s men scattered.
Salvatore ran toward the study.
Jared saw Khloe.
Of course he did.
He always found her.
He grabbed her from behind and pressed a knife against her throat.
Dante stopped.
Jared dragged Khloe toward the terrace.
“Drop it.”
Dante lowered his weapon.
“Kick it away.”
He did.
Khloe felt Jared trembling.
Not power.
Panic.
“You ruined my life,” Jared whispered.
“No.”
Her voice remained steady.
“You ruined mine for two years.”
She looked at Dante.
Then back toward Jared.
“But you don’t get the rest.”
Khloe drove her heel into Jared’s damaged knee.
He screamed.
Dante lunged.
The knife fell.
Jared struck Dante’s healing wound.
Dante staggered.
Jared reached for the gun.
Khloe reached it first.
She pointed it at him.
Everything stopped.
Jared stared.
“Go ahead.”
Khloe’s hands shook.
He smiled.
“You want to.”
Maybe once she had.
Not anymore.
She lowered the weapon slightly.
“No.”
Jared lunged.
A gunshot thundered.
Jared collapsed.
Khloe gasped.
Dante had fired Paulie’s backup pistol.
The bullet struck Jared’s shoulder.
Alive.
Disabled.
Dante approached and kicked away the knife.
“You don’t get to make her a killer just because you became one.”
Jared stared up at him.
For once, he had nothing to say.
Outside, federal teams finally reached the mansion.
Victor surrendered.
Salvatore did not.
He stood on the western balcony with a pistol.
Dante approached alone.
“Come home, son.”
Dante almost laughed.
“You tried to kill me.”
“And failed.”
“You killed Marco.”
“Victor killed Marco.”
“You gave him the road.”
Salvatore’s face hardened.
“You were weak.”
“No.”
Dante stepped closer.
“I was becoming better than you.”
Salvatore raised his weapon.
Khloe saw it from inside.
“Dante!”
The gun fired.
Dante moved.
Salvatore’s bullet missed.
Dante had a clean shot.
He did not take it.
Federal agents tackled Salvatore seconds later.
Khloe ran to Dante.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
She touched his face, shoulders, chest.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Then she punched him lightly.
“What was that?”
“You scared me.”
“I’m noticing violence is your primary love language.”
Khloe stopped.
“Love?”
Dante realized his mistake.
For the first time, the feared Dante Varga looked genuinely trapped.
Paulie appeared behind them.
“This should be good.”
“Go away,” Dante said.
Paulie did not.
Khloe folded her arms.
“You said love.”
“I said love language.”
“Which contains love.”
“Technically.”
“Dante.”
He sighed.
Then the mask disappeared.
“I love you.”
Khloe forgot every clever response.
Dante looked almost irritated by his own vulnerability.
“I didn’t plan it.”
“That makes two of us.”
“I tried not to.”
“That’s romantic.”
“I’m bad at this.”
“Terrible.”
She kissed him.
Paulie applauded.
Dante raised one hand without turning.
“Paulie.”
“Leaving.”
Khloe laughed against Dante’s mouth.
Hours later, Victor Kane and Salvatore Varga were transported separately under federal guard.
Jared went to the hospital in custody.
Evergreen was finished.
Khloe stood on the dock watching dawn break across the water.
Dante joined her.
“It’s over.”
Khloe looked at him.
“No.”
He frowned.
She took his hand.
“This part is.”
For once, the future did not frighten her.
Then Paulie approached carrying a sealed evidence envelope.
“Khloe.”
Something in his voice changed the moment.
“What?”
“This was found in Salvatore’s safe.”
He handed it to her.
Her name was written across the front.
Not in Salvatore’s handwriting.
In her father’s.
Khloe opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Her father stood beside a much younger Dante Varga.
On the back were nine words.
If anything happens to me, Dante already knows why.
Khloe slowly raised her eyes.
Dante had gone pale.
May you like
“You knew my father?”
And his silence told her the answer was yes.
