Chapter 9 - The Last War
Bennett House opened the following spring.
Within three months, weekends were booked solid.
Sophia employed twenty-four people.
Mrs. Gable attended opening night wearing pearls.
Paulie cried during Sophia's speech and threatened anyone who mentioned it.
Dante stood at the back.
He didn't interrupt.
He didn't take credit.
Sophia noticed.
Afterward, she found him alone in the garden.
“You hid.”
“It was your night.”
She slipped her hand into his.
“Our night can come later.”
Dante looked at her.
“Is that a promise?”
“Maybe.”
Then Marco appeared.
And one look at his face ended the celebration.
“Carlo escaped federal transport.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“How?”
“Inside help.”
Sophia squeezed his hand.
“When?”
“Forty minutes ago.”
Dante immediately ordered Bennett House locked down.
This time Sophia didn't argue.
There was a difference between control and sensible protection.
At 2:13 a.m., the power failed.
Emergency lights illuminated the hallway.
Sophia woke instantly.
Dante was already standing.
“Stay behind me.”
“Reasonable request.”
He glanced at her.
“Thank you.”
“Don't get used to it.”
Glass shattered downstairs.
Dante moved toward the door.
Sophia caught his hand.
“Come back.”
He looked at her.
Not obey.
Not win.
Come back.
“I will.”
Downstairs, Carlo Conti entered through the kitchen.
He wanted Dante.
But more than that, he wanted revenge.
Marco intercepted him near the dining room.
Shots cracked through the hotel.
Guests were evacuated through the garden exits.
Sophia helped an elderly couple down the rear staircase.
Then she heard a child crying.
Room seven.
Everyone else was outside.
She ran back.
Dante saw her from the lobby.
“Sophia!”
“There’s a child!”
Of course there was.
Of course she was going toward danger.
Dante followed.
Sophia reached room seven and found eight-year-old Caleb hiding beneath the bed.
She pulled him free.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
Footsteps sounded.
Carlo appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Gun raised.
Dante came from the opposite staircase.
Everything stopped.
Carlo smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Dante positioned himself between Carlo and Sophia.
Carlo laughed.
“She made you weak.”
Dante looked back at Sophia holding the terrified child.
“No.”
He turned toward Carlo.
“She gave me something worth surviving for.”
Carlo raised the gun.
Dante didn't reach for his own.
Police flooded the corridor from behind.
Marco had triggered the silent alarm minutes earlier.
Carlo spun.
Sophia covered Caleb's head.
A single shot sounded.
Carlo collapsed.
Alive.
Wounded in the shoulder.
Handcuffed.
Finished.
Dante turned immediately.
“Sophia?”
“I'm okay.”
“Caleb?”
The boy peeked out.
“I'm okay.”
Only then did Dante breathe.
Carlo screamed while officers carried him away.
“You should have killed me!”
Dante looked at him.
Once, he would have.
Everyone in that hallway knew it.
“That's the difference between us now,” Dante said.
Carlo disappeared down the stairs.
Hours later, Sophia and Dante sat on the front steps of Bennett House.
Dawn painted the Hudson pale gold.
The windows behind them were damaged.
Glass covered part of the lobby.
Sophia leaned against Dante.
“My hotel survived three months.”
“I'll pay for everything.”
“Our insurance will pay.”
“Sophia.”
“No.”
He sighed.
She smiled.
Then Dante reached into his coat.
Sophia immediately narrowed her eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I've been trying not to do at an inappropriate time.”
He held out the iron key.
Not a ring.
The same key Sophia had left on her pillow.
She stared.
Dante had polished it.
A small silver band had been attached through its top.
Engraved on it were four words.
YOU ARE ALWAYS FREE.
Sophia's eyes filled.
Dante didn't kneel.
Not yet.
“This is not a proposal.”
“Good, because we're sitting beside broken glass at five in the morning.”
“I wanted you to have this first.”
She took it.
“I spent most of my life believing love meant keeping people close enough that they couldn't leave.”
His voice roughened.
“You taught me that love means leaving the door unlocked and hoping they choose to stay.”
Sophia began crying.
Dante wiped one tear away.
“I'm going to ask you something someday.”
“Someday?”
“When there aren't police cars outside.”
“Very romantic.”
“I have standards.”
Sophia laughed.
Then kissed him.
Behind them, Marco stepped outside.
“Are you two finished? Because we have six detectives asking questions.”
Dante sighed against Sophia's forehead.
“Someday.”
Sophia smiled.
“Ask me tomorrow.”
Dante froze.
“What?”
She stood and walked inside.
Dante followed.
“Sophia.”
She kept walking.
“Sophia, was that literal?”
May you like
She laughed.
For the first time in years, Dante Romano ran after someone without fear that she was escaping.
