Chapter 7 - The Choice Dante Made
The gunshot shattered a wineglass.
Maya screamed.
Dante hit Carlo before he could fire again.
Both men crashed into a table.
Tony pulled Maya behind the bar.
Dante's security team poured through the rear entrance seconds later, but Carlo had planned his escape.
Smoke flooded the dining room.
A motorcycle waited outside.
By the time visibility returned, he was gone.
Dante had blood on his collar.
"Are you hit?" Maya demanded.
"No."
"You're bleeding."
"Not mine."
That answer should have frightened her.
Instead, she slapped him.
The entire restaurant froze.
Even Tony.
Dante stared at her.
"You disappeared for three days," Maya said, shaking. "Then a man points a gun at me because of your family, and you think 'not mine' is enough explanation?"
"Maya—"
"You don't get to protect me by abandoning me."
Something broke through his control.
"I don't know how to do this!"
Silence.
Dante lowered his voice.
"I know how to stop threats. I know how to make people afraid. I know how to bury problems so deeply they never return."
He looked at her.
"But I don't know how to care about someone without immediately seeing every way they can be taken from me."
Maya's anger softened.
Dante continued.
"My mother was killed when I was twelve. My father taught me grief was a weakness other men could exploit. Then Elena disappeared. Sophia stopped speaking."
His voice roughened.
"And then my daughter fell asleep in your arms."
Maya's eyes filled.
"I looked at you holding her and realized there was suddenly another person I couldn't afford to lose."
Maya crossed the space between them.
This time, she kissed him.
No hesitation.
No apology.
Tony cleared his throat loudly.
"I am happy for everybody, but perhaps romance after we remove broken glass?"
Maya laughed against Dante's chest.
Even Dante smiled.
But Carlo was still free.
And the ledger remained incomplete.
The answer arrived from the least expected person.
Sophia.
When Maya returned to the Russo house, the little girl ran into her arms.
"You came back!"
Maya hugged her tightly.
"I came back."
Sophia dragged Maya upstairs.
"I need to show you."
She opened her dollhouse.
Behind a miniature kitchen wall was a folded piece of paper.
Dante recognized his father's handwriting.
"Where did you get this?"
"Grandpa gave it to me."
Alessandro had died when Sophia was three.
"He said it was treasure."
The paper contained coordinates.
A storage unit in Brooklyn.
Inside they found Alessandro's half of the ledger.
Carlo's entire operation was now documented.
Dante could destroy him.
But the old Dante would have handled it privately.
The man Maya was beginning to know made another choice.
He called federal investigators.
Marco stared at him.
"You're giving them everything?"
"Everything involving Carlo."
"Some of this touches our old operations."
"I know."
"You could lose companies."
"I know."
"Money."
"I know."
"People could go to prison."
Dante looked toward the room where Sophia was playing with Maya.
"Then they shouldn't have committed crimes."
Marco stared at his boss.
Then smiled.
"Your father would have liked her."
Dante glanced at Maya.
"Yes."
The investigation moved quickly.
Carlo's accounts were frozen.
Three officials were arrested.
Two warehouses were seized.
Dante publicly announced a restructuring of Russo Holdings.
For the first time, the family's legitimate businesses would be separated entirely from the shadow network built by previous generations.
But Carlo vanished.
For two weeks, there was no sign of him.
Life almost became normal.
Elena recovered and began spending afternoons with Sophia.
The divorce conversation between her and Dante was strangely peaceful.
Maya found herself liking Elena, which seemed absurd until Elena laughed about it.
"I promise I'm not competing for my ex-husband."
"Technically he's still your husband."
"Give the lawyers another week."
Maya nearly choked on her coffee.
Then Elena's expression softened.
"He looks at you differently."
Maya looked away.
"How?"
"Like home scares him."
That night, Dante took Maya to the rooftop.
Manhattan glittered below them.
"I bought something," he said.
Maya stared suspiciously.
"If that's jewelry, I'm throwing you off this roof."
"It's not."
He handed her a folder.
Inside was a commercial lease.
A small storefront in Greenwich Village.
Perfect kitchen.
Street-facing windows.
Upstairs office.
Maya's dream bakery.
Her eyes widened.
"No."
"It's yours."
"No."
"I expected this reaction."
"Then why did you do it?"
"Because—"
"I won't be kept, Dante."
"I'm not keeping you."
"You bought my dream."
"No."
He removed another paper.
A loan agreement.
Commercial interest.
Repayment schedule.
Maya blinked.
Dante looked almost smug.
"You can repay every cent."
She stared at him.
"You made me a business loan?"
"At an offensively reasonable interest rate."
Maya laughed.
Then kissed him.
His arms wrapped around her.
For one beautiful minute, the world seemed simple.
Then Dante's phone rang.
Marco.
Dante answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
Maya felt the warmth disappear.
Dante turned toward the stairwell.
"Where's Sophia?"
Maya's heart stopped.
May you like
Marco's voice was loud enough for her to hear.
"She's gone."
