She laughs, the vibration rumbling through my chest. "Think he'll be scandalized?"
"I think he'll be proud that we finally figured our shit out." I press a kiss to the top of her head. "Though maybe we don't mention the specifics."
"Probably wise." She shifts slightly, looking up at me. "Dante?"
"Yeah, princess?"
"I love you. Not because you saved me, not because I don't have other choices. Because you make me want to be brave enough to choose happiness."
The words steal my breath. "I love you too. More than I thought it was possible to love anyone."
She smiles, brilliant and beautiful, and settles back against my chest. "Good. Because I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise?"
"I promise. You're stuck with me now, Dante Mancini."
I tighten my arms around her, this incredible woman who walked naked into freezing water just to prove she could choose her own path. Who chose me, chose us, chose a life that won't always be easy but will always be ours.
"Best news I've heard all week," I murmur, and mean every word.
CHAPTER 44
Sofia
The driveback feels different this time. Dante's hand rests on my thigh as he navigates the winding roads, his thumb tracing absent patterns on my jeans. There's a lightness to him I haven't seen since before all this started—like some weight he'd been carrying has finally lifted.
"You nervous?" he asks, glancing over at me.
"A little." I adjust the sleeves of the sweater he insisted I borrow from Vito's closet. "It's been a week. Feels longer."
"Rina's probably going to cry," he warns with a smile. "She's been driving everyone crazy, asking Vito every five minutes if he'd heard from you."
The thought of my sister worrying makes my chest tight with guilt. "I needed the time."
"I know." He squeezes my thigh gently. "And everyone else will understand too, once they see you."
The new safehouse comes into view—a sprawling colonial tucked away behind tall trees and wrought iron gates. It looks peaceful, normal even, like the kind of place where families go on vacation instead of hide from rival crime families.
Dante parks next to Marco's familiar black sedan, and I can see movement through the windows. Someone must have heard us arrive.
The front door flies open before we're even out of the car, and Rina comes running down the steps in bare feet and an oversized sweater, her dark hair flying behind her.
"Sofia!" She crashes into me the moment I'm standing, her arms wrapping around me so tightly I can barely breathe. "Don't you ever do that again. Do you hear me? Don't you ever leave like that without saying goodbye."
I hug her back just as fiercely, tears I didn't expect burning my eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Rina."
"I was so scared," she whispers against my hair, and I can hear the tears in her voice. "When Vito told me you needed space, I understood, but I was terrified you wouldn't come back."
"Hold up," Dante interjects, raising his hands with an incredulous expression. "You're the one who told me to give her space in the first place. You literally said, and I quote, 'she needs time to think without you hovering.'"
Rina pulls back from me just enough to glare at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Yeah, well, that was before I had to spend a week not knowing if my sister was okay! Do you know how many worst-case scenarios I imagined? She could have been kidnapped, or hurt, or decided to move to Tibet and become a monk!"
"A monk?" Dante's eyebrows shoot up. "Princess, you didn't tell me you were considering the monastery life."
"Oh, shut up," Rina says, but she's half-laughing through her tears now. "You know what I mean."
"I think what Rina's trying to say," I interrupt, squeezing her hands, "is that logical decisions and emotional reactions don't always line up."
