Chapter 9 - THE KING WHO LOST HIS CROWN
Dante arrived at the neonatal center six days later.
Not with bodyguards.
Not with a convoy of black SUVs.
Alone.
He had obtained permission through the court and the children's medical team for a supervised visit.
I watched him through the nursery window.
He stood before Grace's incubator, his hands at his sides.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then Dr. Foster showed him how to place his hand gently against the baby's back.
Dante's shoulders began shaking.
I had never seen him cry.
Not at his father's funeral.
Not when his closest friend was killed.
Not when he learned that his business partner had betrayed him.
But he cried for a daughter who weighed less than four pounds.
I felt no satisfaction.
Only sadness.
Because this was the man I had wanted him to be from the beginning.
After the visit, he approached me in the family consultation room.
“You look better,” he said.
“I am.”
He nodded.
“I'm glad.”
We sat opposite each other.
A small table separated us.
It felt appropriate.
“I've been cooperating with investigators,” he said.
“I heard.”
“I gave them everything I have on Carlo.”
“Good.”
Dante looked down.
“I also stepped away from the organization.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“I appointed independent legal counsel to handle the legitimate businesses. The rest is being investigated.”
“Dante, you spent your entire life building that empire.”
“No. I spent my entire life maintaining what my father built.”
He looked at me.
“And I nearly destroyed my family doing it.”
I didn't answer.
He continued.
“I thought control was the same thing as protection. I thought if I made every decision, nothing could hurt the people I loved.”
“You hurt me.”
“I know.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You tried to take my babies.”
His eyes filled.
“I know.”
I looked away.
There was something unbearable about hearing him acknowledge everything I had once begged him to see.
“Why did you do it?” I asked.
He was silent for a long time.
“Carlo told me you were planning to leave.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He showed me messages. Bank transfers. Documents suggesting you were preparing to take the children overseas.”
“Those were fake.”
“I know that now.”
“You didn't ask me.”
“No.”
“You didn't give me a chance to explain.”
“No.”
“You just decided I was your enemy.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“And Isabella?”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Carlo told me she was helping gather evidence against you. Then she convinced me she cared about me.”
“Did you sleep with her?”
He opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
The word struck harder than I expected.
I had already known.
But hearing him admit it made the betrayal real in a new way.
“How long?”
“Four months.”
I nodded slowly.
“Thank you for telling me.”
He looked surprised.
“That's all?”
“What else do you want me to say?”
“I don't know.”
I stood carefully, bracing one hand against the table.
“You cheated on me. You believed lies about me. You tried to separate me from our children hours after I nearly died.”
His face crumpled.
“I'm sorry.”
“I believe you.”
Hope flashed in his eyes.
I shook my head.
“But believing you're sorry doesn't mean I can be your wife.”
The hope disappeared.
“I know.”
I walked toward the door.
“Sophia?”
I stopped.
“Can you ever forgive me?”
I considered the question.
“Maybe.”
He looked at me.
“But forgiveness isn't a promise that we'll be together again.”
He nodded.
“I understand.”
I left him sitting there.
For the first time in three years, I wasn't the one waiting for him to come home.
That evening, Luca arrived with news.
“Carlo's accounts have been frozen.”
I smiled faintly.
“Finally.”
“There's more.”
I looked up.
“Isabella has agreed to testify.”
“Against Carlo?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Luca hesitated.
“But she says Carlo has one final plan.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What plan?”
“He's going to claim Dante is mentally unfit to lead the family.”
I frowned.
“Why would that matter now?”
“Because if Dante is removed, Carlo can try to take control of the remaining businesses.”
“And the babies?”
Luca looked at me.
“He's still trying to make them part of the settlement.”
I stared through the nursery window.
My children were sleeping.
Small.
Innocent.
Unaware of the fortune attached to their names.
Then I made a decision.
“I'm going to take away the one thing Carlo wants most.”
Luca frowned.
May you like
“What?”
“His reason to keep coming after them.”
