Chapter 8 - The Breach
The silence inside the estate was deafening. Beatrice was escorted off the property at gunpoint, but the damage was done.
Clara sat in her bedroom, her bags half-packed on the bed. She was weeping quietly, her head in her hands. The weight of her family’s secret felt like a mountain crushing her chest. She couldn't blame Dante if he threw her out—in his world, blood debts were never forgotten.
The door opened, and Dante stepped inside. He looked exhausted, his expression unreadable.
"Dante," Clara stood up, wiping her face frantically. "I can leave. I’ll sign whatever non-disclosure agreement your lawyers want. I’ll disappear. Just please... don't let Sophia think I abandoned her."
Dante walked across the room, ignoring her packed suitcases. He stopped right in front of her, reaching out to take both of her trembling hands in his.
"You think I care about what your father did twenty years ago?" Dante asked softly.
Clara blinked through her tears. "He... he ruined your family."
"His choices were his own," Dante said firmly, pulling her against his chest. "You are not your father, Clara. You saved my daughter. You saved me. Do you really think I’m going to let twenty-year-old mob history stand between us?"
Clara sobbed with relief, burying her face into the crook of his neck. "I love you, Dante. I was so scared..."
"I love you, Clara," Dante whispered into her hair, holding her tight. "More than this empire. More than my own life."
Suddenly, the estate’s emergency alarms blared. Red lights flashed across the ceiling, and the deafening sound of automatic gunfire erupted from the front gates downstairs.
Dante pulled back instantly, pulling his custom Kimber .45 pistol from his shoulder holster.
"Moretti," Dante growled, his eyes turning to ice. "Beatrice’s visit was just a distraction to locate our security blind spots."
The bedroom doors crashed open, and Marco ran in, bleeding from a wound on his arm. "Boss! They blew the perimeter wall! There are twenty heavily armed mercenaries coming up the main staircase!"
Dante grabbed Clara’s shoulders, his voice absolute. "Take Sophia into the panic room behind my study. Lock the steel door from the inside. Do not open it for anyone except me."
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"Dante, no!" Clara cried out as he pushed her toward the hallway. "Come with us!"
"I end this tonight," Dante said, pulling her in for a hard, passionate kiss. "Protect our daughter."
