Chapter Thirty-Five Bait
The plan, when it finally took shape over the following week, was Elena's idea, though Dante fought it for three days before finally, reluctantly, agreeing.
"A gala," she said, laying it out across the desk in his study.
"Public. High-profile enough that Salvatore can't resist attending, arrogant enough about his own untouchability that he won't suspect a trap until it's already closed around him.
We let it be known, quietly, that our marriage is fracturing under the pressure of his campaign — that I'm considering leaving, that you're distracted, vulnerable.
We give him exactly the opening he's been waiting six years to see. "
"And if he decides to act on that opening instead of simply gloating about it?"
"Then we're ready for him. Every exit covered, every one of your men in place before he arrives, Marco within ten feet of me at every moment.
" Elena's chin lifted, that same unshakeable resolve that had first caught Dante's attention in her father's study months ago.
"He's spent six years believing love is a weakness he can exploit.
Let's show him what it looks like when it isn't."
Dante studied her for a long moment — his wife, once quiet and uncertain, now standing in his study laying out a plan to bait a dangerous man into exposing himself, without a trace of hesitation in her voice — and something in his chest ached with a pride so fierce it startled him.
"You've changed," he said quietly, "since the night I walked into your father's study."
"So have you." She reached across the desk, covered his hand with hers. "I think we changed each other. I think that's what Salvatore can't stand — that the thing he expected to break us has only made us more dangerous, together, than either of us was alone."
Dante turned his hand over beneath hers, lacing their fingers together, and looked at her with the particular reverence of a man who had once believed himself incapable of needing anyone, now standing on the edge of risking everything for the one person who'd taught him otherwise.
"Then let's finish this," he said. "Together, exactly as you said. No more half-truths. No more locked doors." His mouth curved, sharp and certain. "Let's show Salvatore Calvetti exactly what he's about to lose."