LOGINElena’s POV
“You don’t need to know what happened to me, Dante. All I just want is for you to sign the divorce papers, and then I am not going to ruin your life again.”
He stands up and walks towards the door, alternately walking around. I can’t see any reaction on his face right now.
“Just please, sign it,” I begged him.
“No,” he said and held his hair like he was about to burst out.
“How the fuck will I let you go, Elena, when all I just needed was you? I want you beside me,” he said while his voice was cracking.
This is the first time I heard him crack while talking to me.
He then knelt and looked at me there. I saw a little tear in his eyes that gave a new effect to my body. He kept begging me not to leave, but I just want to keep Jade away from this dangerous life.
“She’s in the UK with my cousin, Jenny,” I said.
I don’t know why I told him where Jade is. I just feel like he should have the right to know because he is her father.
“She’s four years old and is starting preschool,” I continued.
Dante’s expression softened after hearing what I said about Jade.
Four years.
Four years of a little girl growing up without knowing all about Dante. I feel so sorry when she asks me where her daddy is.
“Her name is Jade, you know already,” I said and laughed softly.
“Does she know about me?” he asked me.
My heart is hurting because of what he asked.
“She asked about you… I told her that her daddy is far away working,” I said to him.
“I’m sorry, Dante, but I can’t let you see her for now. It’s too dangerous here. I don’t want to make my daughter suffer what happened to me in the past,” I said.
I can’t hold my tears, and I just can’t stop sobbing in front of him, while he is just looking at me softly.
A knock on the door made us stop talking. He looked at the door and then looked back at me.
“I’ll be back,” he said and kissed my forehead.
“Please… don’t tell anyone that I am here,” I begged him.
He looked at me for a few seconds before nodding to me.
“I won’t.”
He then went out and slowly closed the door, and before he completely walked out, he looked at me one last time.
He made his expression look serious.
The door closed and left me alone inside the room. I immediately wiped my tears, trying to calm myself down.
My hands were still shaking.
I couldn’t believe what I had just done, telling Dante about Jade.
I picked up my phone and called Jenny. I just waited for a couple of rings until she picked up my call.
“Hello, Jenny, how are you guys there?” I asked her with a happy tone. I heard a little noise in the background, and then I knew it was my Jade.
“Auntie, is that Mommy?” she asked my cousin.
“Yes, baby, come.”
“Mommy!” she happily said to me. I miss her so much.
“Are you a good girl?”
“Yes, Mommy,” she said with a happy tone in her voice.
I just talked to her and Jenny for a couple of hours before I hung up our call.
I slowly placed my phone on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t help but smile upon remembering Jade’s cute voice.
I just closed my eyes for a moment as his face suddenly appeared in my mind.
The way he looked at me earlier. The way his voice cracked when he begged me not to leave again.
And the way he reacted when I told him about Jade.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching the room, which made my heart immediately start beating.
The door then opened, and I stood up. I thought it was Dante who was approaching.
But it was the guy who was talking to Dante earlier. He then looked at me before looking around the room.
“Madam, the Boss instructed me to make you stay here.”
My eyebrows furrowed.
“Why?”
“He said it’s not safe for you to leave the room.”
“Is something going on?” I asked him.
He didn’t answer me immediately.
That made me nervous about what was going on outside.
“What happened?”
“There might be someone inside the building who shouldn’t be here.”
My heart dropped.
“What?”
He looked at me seriously.
“But the Boss is handling it,” he said to me.
I immediately thought about Dante.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I breathed a little easier.
“Then why am I not allowed to leave?”
“He doesn’t want you to get involved.”
I nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
The man closed the door again.
I slowly walked toward the window and looked outside. I couldn’t see anything unusual from where I was standing.
I then heard a gunshot outside, which made my whole world panic. I immediately got out and panicked, finding Dante.
What if something happened to him?
What if he got shot?
I don’t want it to happen. He still needs to meet Jade. Her daughter needs to see him alive.
My tears started to fall down my cheeks.
Different kinds of scenarios were running through my head because of that gunshot. I saw some of his men running towards the entrance door of the mansion.
I hurriedly walked fast just to see what was happening there. As I walked down the stairs, I saw them circling around someone while the others went out to get whoever fired the gun.
“Call the doctor! Faster!” someone shouted.
As I walked slowly, I could now see who was lying on the ground with a gunshot in the chest.
I gasped as I saw who it was. I hurriedly approached and cried.
“Oh God, D-Dante,” I shockingly said and knelt down. He wasn’t waking up or answering every time I called his name.
“Call the doctor! Fucking faster!”
Elena's POV"JADE!"Dante shouted her name so loud the machine beside him started beeping like crazy.He ripped the IV out of his arm and blood came out so fast. Red blood on the white sheets. On my hands. On the floor."Dante! What are you doing! You're bleeding!" I shouted at him.He didn't listen to me. He tried to stand up but his legs failed. He fell back on the bed and his chest bandage turned red again."Marco! Get the car! Get my daughter!" he shouted to the intercom.I was frozen. My whole body was shaking. I can still hear Jade's voice in my head.*Mommy?*That small voice. My baby. She just landed and someone shot a gun at her."Dante, please, you can't go like that. You will die," I said while crying and pressing my hands on his bleeding arm."That is my daughter, Elena! My daughter is out there!" he shouted at me. His eyes were so red.I quickly grabbed my phone. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped it."Jenny! Jenny where are you!" I shouted when she picked up.
Elena's POVBlood.So much blood.It's on my hands again. Just like two nights ago when I was pressing down on his chest screaming for Marco, screaming for anyone."DANTE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" I grab his arm but he shoves me off — not hard, but with a desperation I've never seen from him. He is already swinging his legs off the bed, bare feet hitting the cold marble, his hospital gown soaked red at the sleeve where he ripped the IV out.The heart monitor is screaming. A flat, panicked beep."Dante, you're going to kill yourself! The doctor said—""I don't care what the doctor said!" he roars, and then doubles over, clutching his chest, his face white as paper. But he doesn't stop. He grabs the gun from under his pillow — because of course he has a gun under his pillow even while he's dying — and stumbles toward the door.The intercom is still crackling. Jenny is screaming. And Jade — God, Jade is crying."Mommy? Mommy where are you?"That sound breaks me.I run.I run barefoot out of
Elena's POVJade is coming.That thought has been on loop in my head for the last eighteen hours and I don't know if I want to throw up or cry. Or both.Dante fell asleep holding my hand. Actually holding it. His grip went slack at exactly 3:47 AM. I know because I stared at the clock on the wall until my eyes burned so I wouldn't stare at his face.I didn't pull away.I told myself it was because I didn't want to wake him and make him bleed again. Not because his hand was warm and familiar. Not because for the first time in four years I didn't feel like I had to run.Liar.At 6 AM, his mansion stops being a bedroom and turns into a different kind of hospital.Dr. Rossi comes in — old, bald, with hands that have seen more gunshot wounds than colds — followed by two nurses who don't speak. They peel the bandages off Dante's chest and I have to look away. I try, I really do, but I see it anyway. The hole. Angry, red, stitched shut, too close to his heart. Rossi said half an inch lower a
Elena's POVHe's alive.That's all I kept telling myself for the last two days while watching the machines beep next to his bed.Dante is alive, but he is not the same man who cornered me in the elevator. He is paler. Quieter. The doctor said the bullet pierced his lung and he needs at least two weeks of complete bed rest. No stress, no business, no getting up.He hates it. I can see it in his eyes every time his men come in to give him reports and he has to stay lying down.And he hates that I won't get back together with him even more."Elena," he said this morning, his voice still hoarse. "Stay.""I am staying," I said, fixing his blanket. I didn't look at him. "Until you're stable enough that the doctor says you won't die if I leave the room. That's it.""You told me about our daughter and now you think you can just leave again?" His jaw clenched and even that small movement made him wince in pain from his chest."I told you about her because you deserved to know you have a daught
Elena's POV"Call the doctor! Fucking faster!"My scream tears my throat but I don't care. I'm already on my knees beside him and my hands are shaking so hard I can't even touch him right.Oh God, Dante.His white shirt is now soaked in red. It spreads too fast across his chest, down to the marble floor. The smell of blood hits me and I'm suddenly back four years ago, to the night they took me."Dante! Please look at me!"His eyes are half open. He is trying to focus on me. His lips move but I can't hear him over his men shouting.Someone tries to pull me away. "Ma'am, you need to move—""Don't touch me!"I press both my hands over his chest, right over the wound. The blood is warm and seeps through my fingers. I feel his breathing, shallow and uneven."Stay with me. You have to stay with me. Not now. Not after I told you about Jade."At her name, his eyes flicker. His bloody hand finds mine and squeezes weakly."Jade..." he whispers."Yes. Our daughter needs you. You promised not to
Elena’s POV“You don’t need to know what happened to me, Dante. All I just want is for you to sign the divorce papers, and then I am not going to ruin your life again.”He stands up and walks towards the door, alternately walking around. I can’t see any reaction on his face right now.“Just please, sign it,” I begged him.“No,” he said and held his hair like he was about to burst out.“How the fuck will I let you go, Elena, when all I just needed was you? I want you beside me,” he said while his voice was cracking.This is the first time I heard him crack while talking to me.He then knelt and looked at me there. I saw a little tear in his eyes that gave a new effect to my body. He kept begging me not to leave, but I just want to keep Jade away from this dangerous life.“She’s in the UK with my cousin, Jenny,” I said.I don’t know why I told him where Jade is. I just feel like he should have the right to know because he is her father.“She’s four years old and is starting preschool,”







