Chapter 4 - Marcus continued pacing her with the car.
“He’s waiting.”
Elena stopped.
“He knows Thorne came to the hospital.”
She turned.
“He knows?”
Anger sharpened her face.
“Of course.”
She laughed once without humor.
“He knows everything.”
Marcus watched her.
“He wants to explain.”
“There’s nothing to explain.”
Elena struck the bag containing the report.
“His signature is on it.”
“If you walk away now…”
Marcus’s expression became serious.
“…Thorne wins.”
Elena stared.
“And if Thorne wins, Toby is exposed.”
She glanced toward the hospital.
“Security around your brother exists because Mr. Vanel placed it there.”
Marcus did not need to finish.
Lucas had entered a supposedly private room easily.
If Elena severed every connection to Dante now, Toby remained accessible.
Defeated, Elena opened the rear door.
She climbed inside soaked and shivering.
The shaking came more from rage than cold.
When the elevator opened inside Dante’s penthouse, he was waiting.
No suit jacket.
White shirt.
Sleeves rolled to his elbows.
Top buttons open.
A whiskey glass in 1 hand.
He looked exhausted.
Dante saw Elena.
Wet hair against her face.
Red eyes.
Hatred.
He set down the glass.
“You’re soaked.”
“Water washes off.”
Her voice shook.
“Blood doesn’t.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
He stayed behind the marble island.
“Lucas showed you the report.”
“He showed me the truth.”
Elena removed the damp paper from her bag.
She threw it at him.
It fell between them.
“Did you sign it?”
Dante looked down.
Then up.
“Yes.”
The answer hit harder than anything Lucas had said.
“Did you order the crane overloaded?”
“Yes.”
Elena made a broken sound.
“Why?”
Tears ran down her face.
“My father was a good man.”
She stepped forward.
“He was doing his job.”
Her voice rose.
“And you killed him for a deadline?”
Dante stood completely still.
“A bonus?”
“I was 22.”
His voice became empty.
“I was arrogant.”
He looked toward the rain-covered windows.
“I was heir to the Vanel empire.”
His mouth tightened.
“And I wanted to prove to my father that I could move freight faster than the older men.”
Elena listened.
“I pushed the crew.”
Dante continued.
“I pushed the machinery.”
His expression twisted.
“I believed safety margins existed because insurance companies were cautious.”
He looked at Elena.
“I didn’t know the cable was compromised.”
A pause.
“But I should have known.”
His voice dropped.
“That was my responsibility.”
Dante stepped around the island.
“The cable failed.”
His face hardened against pain.
“3 men died.”
Elena stared.
“Not only your father.”
“And you walked away.”
Her anger returned.
“We lost everything.”
Elena’s breathing became ragged.
“Our home.”
“My mother worked herself into the ground trying to keep us alive.”
She pointed toward him.
“Toby got sick while we spent 2 years in a mold-infested basement.”
Her voice broke.
“You did that.”
“I know.”
Dante’s control finally shattered.
The roar made Elena jump.
“I know.”
He paced away.
“You think I forgot their faces?”
He dragged a hand through his hair.
“You think I sleep without seeing them?”
Elena remained still.
“I tried to send money to your mother.”
Dante looked toward her.
“Anonymous payments.”
“She returned them.”
A painful smile touched his mouth.
“Every envelope without a return address.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“When she died…”
Dante continued.
“…I tracked you and Toby.”
A pause.
“The experimental drug trial last year?”
Elena stared.
“Who do you think made sure Toby got admitted?”
“The state.”
Dante said nothing.
Elena’s expression hardened again.
“You don’t get credit for repairing damage you caused.”
Her voice rose.
“You do not get to become a hero because guilt hurts.”
“I’m not a hero.”
Dante moved toward her.
“I’m serving a sentence.”
Elena’s breathing slowed.
“Every day I wake up inside this empire…”
He gestured toward the penthouse.
“…and none of it means anything.”
His voice became rough.
“I saw you at the Velvet Lounge.”
Elena stared.
“I didn’t plan to approach.”
He looked away briefly.
“I wanted to see that you were alive.”
A pause.
“Then Greg touched you.”
Dante’s jaw clenched.
“He treated you like something disposable.”
His eyes returned to hers.
“I couldn’t watch.”
“So you bought me.”
Elena’s voice was quiet.
“Like you bought the police 11 years ago.”
“I bought your shift because I wanted to remove you from a life I helped create.”
Dante’s composure was gone.
“I meant to give you the money.”
“Dance once.”
“Send you home.”
He looked at her as if the admission itself hurt.
“Then you looked at me.”
“You danced with me.”
His voice softened.
“For the first time in 10 years, I did not feel like a dead man walking through my own life.”
Elena saw the regret in him.
Real.
Raw.
She also saw her father in the kitchen.
“I can’t.”
She backed toward the elevator.
“I can’t stay here.”
Her eyes filled again.
“I cannot look at you right now.”
Then:
“I want to leave.”
Dante closed his eyes.
He breathed once.
“Okay.”
The answer surprised her.
He took a key card from his pocket.
“Tribeca.”
Dante placed it in her hand.
“Safe house.”
“Fully stocked.”
“No one outside my direct control knows it exists.”
A pause.
“Not Lucas.”
Elena stared at the card.
“You stay there until I finish this with Thorne.”
His expression became painfully controlled.
“After that, you never need to see me again.”
Dante continued.
“I’ll transfer $10 million to you and Toby.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“You can leave New York.”
“The country.”
“Anywhere.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
Dante answered without hesitation.
“Because I love you.”
Elena went still.
The words hung between them.
“You don’t even know me.”
“I’ve known about you for 11 years.”
His voice softened.
“I watched from a distance.”
“Your strength.”
“Your resilience.”
He took a step back.
“You are the only clean thing I can still see in my world.”
Dante looked toward the elevator.
“Go.”
“Marcus will take you.”
Elena pressed the button.
Her emotions pulled in opposite directions.
Part of her wanted to forgive him.
Another wanted to destroy everything around him.
The doors opened.
She entered.
As they began to close, Elena saw Dante turn toward the windows.
He poured another whiskey.
A king alone in a tower that suddenly looked like ice.
Then the elevator stopped.
Not at the lobby.
Between floors.
The lights flickered.
Darkness.
Red emergency illumination followed.
Elena pressed the controls.
Nothing.
A speaker crackled overhead.
“Going somewhere, sweetheart?”
Elena froze.
Lucas.
“Dante has impressive security.”
Lucas Thorne’s voice filled the elevator.
“But I helped him build it.”
Elena backed against the wall.
“I still have the override codes.”
The elevator jolted.
Then began moving upward.
Fast.
“Change of plans.”
Lucas laughed through the speaker.
“You’re not leaving.”
A pause.
“You’re the guest of honor.”
The elevator raced toward the roof.
When the doors opened, wind and rain struck Elena.
She stumbled onto the Obsidian Tower helipad.
Lucas stood near the edge.
Marcus was kneeling in front of him, bloodied and bruised.
A pistol was pressed against Marcus’s head.
Behind Lucas stood 2 men carrying submachine guns.
“Welcome to the roof of the world!”
Lucas shouted over the wind.
May you like
Then he smiled.
“Let’s see if your boyfriend can fly.”
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