He stands, moving toward the door. "Besides, you're Rina's sister. And Rina taught me that love without choice isn't love at all—it's just another kind of prison."
"Will you tell Dante for me?" I ask, hating how small my voice sounds. "I don't think I can face him right now."
"I'll tell him." Vito pauses at the door. "For what it's worth, Sofia, I think you're exactly what he needs. Someone strong enough to choose him, not just accept him."
After he leaves, I pick up the keys, feeling their weight in my palm. A week. Seven days to figure out if I can love Dante enough to live in his world, or if I need to love him enough to let him go.
For the first time since this whole nightmare began, the choice is completely mine.
I close my eyes and try to imagine what that freedom might feel like.
CHAPTER 36
Dante
Sunlight streamingthrough the windows jerks me awake, and the first thing I register is that I'm still in the chair outside the guestroom where Sofia slept. My neck aches from the awkward angle, my shirt is wrinkled, and there's a crick in my back that feels like someone drove a spike between my shoulder blades.
I force myself up and crack the door open to her room and that's when reality slams into me.
The bed is empty.
"Sofia?" I call out, thinking maybe she's in the bathroom. But the door is open, and I can see the space is vacant. The covers are pulled up neatly, like she made the bed before leaving, and there's no sign of the bloodstained wedding dress from yesterday.
Panic hits me like a freight train. My heart starts hammering against my ribs as I check under the bed, in the closet, behind the curtains—anywhere she might be hiding. Nothing.
"Sofia!" I shout, louder this time, not giving a damn who I wake up.
I bolt from the room, taking the stairs two at a time as my mind races through possibilities. Did she run again? Did someone take her? Are the Costellos already mobilizing for revenge? How the fuck did I fall asleep when I was supposed to be watching her?
The main living area comes into view, and I see Vito sitting at the dining table with a newspaper spread in front of him, reading like it's any other morning. Rina sits across from him with a cup of coffee, still in her silk pajamas, looking perfectly calm.
Too calm.
"She's gone," I announce, my voice cracking slightly on the words. "Sofia's gone. We need to?—"
"Sit down, Dante," Vito says without looking up from his paper.
"Sit down?" I stare at him incredulously. "Did you hear what I just said? She's missing. We need to get the men together, start searching?—"
"I said sit down." This time Vito's voice carries that note of authority that's made grown men piss themselves. He folds the newspaper carefully and sets it aside, finally meeting my eyes. "She's not missing. She's somewhere safe, under my protection."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means she needed some time away from all of this. Away from us. Away from you."
The last part cuts deeper than any knife Kieran could have used. "Away from me?"
Rina sets down her coffee cup, her expression sympathetic but firm. "She's been through hell, Dante. She needs space to process everything that's happened."
"Space?" I feel my voice rising, but I can't control it. "She needs space from the person who just saved her life? From the person who loves her?"
"She knows you love her," Vito says calmly. "That's not in question. But she also knows that loving you means accepting this life, this family, everything that comes with it. She needs to decide if she can do that without feeling like she has no other choice."
"Where is she?" I demand, stepping closer to the table. "Tell me where she is, and I'll go explain?—"
"No."
The single word stops me cold. Vito's expression is implacable, showing no sign that he's going to budge on this.
