Chapter 2 - The Ghost of the Past
The sound of her terrified, trembling voice completely shattered what remained of Dante’s legendary composure.
He had expected her to be shocked, perhaps even angry about the years they had lost to this horrible tragedy.
He had never, in his wildest nightmares, expected the woman he loved more than life itself to look at him with pure, agonizing fear.
"Elena," Dante whispered, his voice cracking as he took a slow, careful step into the freezing room.
"I am not going to hurt you, and I would never, ever hurt these beautiful children."
Sofia, Lily, and Chloe instantly ran to their mother's side, forming a tiny, brave wall of protection around the mattress.
Elena pulled her daughters close, wrapping her thin, trembling arms around their small shoulders.
"You found us," she choked out, tears spilling over her dark eyelashes and running down her pale, sunken cheeks.
"I did everything I could to hide them from your world, Dante."
"I changed my name, I lived in the shadows, I starved just to make sure you would never find them."
Dante dropped heavily to his knees on the filthy wooden floor, completely ignoring the dirt staining his expensive tailored suit.
"Why would you hide from me, Elena?" he pleaded, his chest tightening with an unbearable, suffocating pain.
"I mourned you every single day for seven years."
"I stood in the pouring rain and buried a casket that I thought held my entire future."
Elena stared at him, her chest heaving as another violent, rattling cough shook her fragile frame.
"You tried to kill me, Dante," she stated, her voice filled with absolute, heartbroken conviction.
"You ordered your men to run my car off the interstate because you found out I was pregnant."
The words echoed in the small, damp room like a series of deafening, explosive gunshots.
Dante felt as though the entire building was collapsing directly on top of him.
"I never ordered anyone to hurt you," Dante swore, his voice rising in desperate, frantic denial.
"Elena, I loved you more than my own life, and I would have burned the world down to protect our children."
"Who told you that I wanted you dead?"
Elena closed her eyes, exhausted by the confrontation and the severe illness ravaging her body.
"Your underboss, Marcus, came to my apartment the night before the crash," Elena whispered weakly.
"He told me that a mafia king could not afford the weakness of a family."
"He said you had ordered my execution to keep the bloodline clean, but he offered to let me run if I disappeared forever."
"He gave me a stolen car, and when I drove away, another vehicle rammed me off the road into the ditch."
"I barely managed to crawl out of the wreckage before the gas tank exploded into flames."
"I knew that if I ever came back to Boston, you would finish the job, so I stayed dead."
Dante's hands balled into tight, white-knuckled fists at his sides.
Marcus had been his most trusted friend, his right-hand man, the person who had managed his entire security detail.
Marcus had also been killed in a mysterious shootout with a rival gang just three days after Elena's supposed death.
The entire tragedy had been a meticulously planned, flawlessly executed conspiracy to destroy Dante from the inside out.
"Marcus lied to you, Elena," Dante said softly, reaching out a shaking hand, stopping just inches from her face.
"He was working for someone else, someone who wanted to break my spirit so they could take my empire."
Elena opened her eyes, searching Dante’s face for any sign of deception or malice.
She had spent seven years running from a monster, only to realize the monster might have been a victim himself.
"You truly didn't know about the babies?" she asked, her voice softening slightly.
"I didn't even know you were pregnant until I saw three little girls with your beautiful eyes on Newbury Street today," Dante confessed.
He looked at Sofia, Lily, and Chloe, his heart swelling with an overwhelming, terrifying amount of love.
They were his daughters.
He was the father of three incredibly brave, beautiful little girls who had been living in absolute poverty.
"I have missed seven years of their lives, Elena, and I will hate myself forever for not protecting you better," Dante vowed.
"But I am here now, and I swear to God, you will never spend another night in the cold."
Before Elena could respond, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed completely against the mattress.
"Mommy!" Sofia screamed, grabbing her mother's limp, burning hand.
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"Nico!" Dante roared, jumping to his feet and sprinting toward the open doorway.
"Get the medical extraction team up here right now!"
