Chapter 212
Dante’s Pov
I stood over the stove, stirring the scrambled eggs like they had personally offended me. The bacon was already crisping in the pun beside it, the went think in the kitchen. I wasn’t really hungry. Not even a little. But Aria needed to eat, and if there was one thing I could do for her right now, it was make sure she had something warm in her stomach. Something familiar. Something safe. My hands worked automatically. My mind didn’t.
It kept going back to earlier. To the moment I walked into that room and saw her on the floor. Her blood. Her hair stuck to the side of her face. That cald stillness in her body. For a second, I had stopped breathing. I had dropped to my knees and touched her face with hands that shook more than they should have. She wasn’t dead. Thank God. But seeing her like that had flipped a switch in me. I didn’t know I still had one left.
I should have seen it coming. I should have read between the lines. She hadn’t been sleeping well. She flinched when people touched her. She spaced out. Hell, even when she smiled, there was something forced about it. Something fragile. And I had ignored all of it. We all had. We let her carry that weight like she was fine. Like she wasn’t breaking under it. I hated myself for that. For being so damn distracted. For letting her down.
The eggs were done. I turned off the heat and set the pan aside. My jaw was tight. I had been clenching it so long it started to ache. But I couldn’t retsz. Not until I figured out who hurt her. Not until I made sure it never happened again.
Footsteps approached behind me and I turned instantly, gun raised before I could even think. Enzo stood there, calm as always. He lifted his hands slowly.
“It’s me,” he said, his voice quiet.
I lowered the gun with a sharp breath and placed it on the counter beside me. “Sorry.”
He shrugged. “Don’t be. I would’ve done the same.”
Enzo walked over and leaned against the fridge. He looked like he hadn’t slept either. His eyes were dark underneath. He rubbed the back of his neck and watched me in silence for a while.
“You heard from Valentina?” I asked.
He nodded slowly. “Yeah. She cracked. Said someone threatened her family. Told her to track Aria’s movements. To report anything strange. She didn’t know they’d come for her like that. She swears.”
I gritted my teeth again. “She should’ve come to us.”
Enzo agreed with a short nod. “Fear makes people stupid.”
He wasn’t wrong. But that didn’t mean I forgave her. She made a choice and Aria paid for it. She almost died because of it. That wasn’t something I could brush off. Not easily.
“What do we do with her?” I asked.
He didn’t answer right away. Then he sighed. “I don’t know yet. She didn’t attack Aria. She’s just a link in the chain. And she’s scared. Real scared. But I haven’t ruled anything out.”
I turned back to the counter and plated the food slowly. Eggs. Toast. Bacon. I added sliced fruit even though I knew Aria might not eat it. Still, it felt like something she’d want. Something she’d try to eat if only to make us feel better.
“She’s changed us,” I said without looking at him.
Enzo didn’t argue. “Yeah. She has.”
For a second, the kitchen felt still. Quiet. Like we were both trying to remember who we were before she came into our live efore her eyes started showing up in our dreams. Before her laughter/made the house feel like more than just walls and money.
