29. Dante
Chapter 29
Dante
E nzo gets in the driver’s seat, his grip tight and confident as he navigates the winding roads. I settle into the plush leather seat beside him, glancing at Adalina through the mirror in my sun visor. She sits with her back straight and her eyes fixed on the floor lost in thought. The soft curves of her face are etched with worry lines as she bites her lip in concentration. The dull hum of the engine fills the silence between us, amplifying the tension in the air.
“Is she okay?” Enzo’s hushed voice is strained and filled with concern.
My head bobs with a forced nod, but I’m not convinced. “Adalina?”
Her gaze slowly rises, but the look in her eyes is distant and unfocused. When I don’t say anything, she fixates on something in the distance.
Enzo casts me a weary glance as we come to a halt at a red light. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Adalina’s voice breaks through the heavy silence, sharp and unexpected, startling Enzo and me.
I shift in my seat to face her. “What do you need? Tell me, and I’ll get it. I don’t care what it costs.”
She meets my gaze, her eyes a haunting resemblance of my own. “I don’t need anything.”
I am patient with her because I believe she thinks she doesn’t need anything. She was raised in a cold, sterile environment where her needs were never given a second thought. Adalina likely believes that as long as there’s a sturdy roof over her head and food on the table, all her needs are met. Her past has molded her into someone content with the bare minimum, never daring to dream of more. It’s heartbreaking to see her potential go untapped, buried under layers of neglect and abuse. She deserves so much more than this life to which she has resigned herself. But until she realizes it for herself, I will continue to be patient and gentle, hoping to show her that there is so much more to life than mere survival.
“What would you want, then?” I ask gently. “If you could have anything.”
Her eyes shift from a state of confusion to deep contemplation. She chews on her lower lip, lost in thought for a moment before answering. “I feel okay a lot of the time,” Adalina begins. “But sometimes, when I don’t, I get the encyclopedias from my father’s study, crawl under a blanket, and put them on my chest. The pressure,” she frowns, her words dropping off. Adalina opens her mouth to speak, then snaps it closed real quick. It takes her another minute, but she eventually answers with an indecipherable shrug. “It’s just what I need sometimes.”
We’ve already passed the off-ramp for Target, or else I would have Enzo pull off the highway and take us to the store. Adalina needs a weighted blanket. I’ve heard about them but never used one myself. “We’ll figure something out,” I tell her because I would do anything to take that grim look off her face.
The remainder of the drive takes less than ten minutes. Adalina sits calmly in the backseat, her posture poised and her thoughts unknown. When Enzo pulls in, I lean over and whisper, “Go into town and find a weighted blanket.” He nods discreetly and waits with the car idling as I help Adalina out of the vehicle.
She tentatively interlocks her fingers with mine, and I lead her into the house. “What bothered you so much back there?” I venture to ask.
“What’s always bothered me,” she responds immediately. “My father isn’t very cunning or very smart. He doesn’t have a strategic military mind and is very short-sighted. Which is why he was going to send his men to kill you and your bodyguard in broad daylight.”
I frown, lines crossing my forehead as I direct her to the stairs. “You really think they would have tried to kill us?”
Adalina nods quickly, her hair swaying with the motion. “My father is impulsive and destructive. He won’t think long-term about how to get back at you for what you’re doing to him. He’s only going to consider what he can do now to make you regret kidnapping his daughter and forcing him to pay his debt.”
“It’s a debt that would have been paid one way or another,” I explain.
She dismisses my concerns with a shake of her head. “It doesn’t matter. I told you. Tommaso Martinelli isn’t very intelligent. All he thinks about is what he can do in this moment. And back there, in that moment, he was thinking that the easiest way to end this was to kill you and Enzo in the parking lot and take me back into his custody.”
I was wrong to assume that Adalina was ignorant of her father’s business dealings. My own father never revealed anything to my mother or sister, so I thought it would be the same in Tommaso’s household. But the more time I spend with Adalina, the more I realize she may have a deeper understanding of her father as a man. Perhaps she knows more about him than I ever could. “I underestimated you, Adalina.”
Back in her bedroom, she makes her way over to the bed and sinks down into its soft edge. “Oh?”
“Get under the blankets,” I instruct her.
Adalina’s eyes widen with a mix of confusion and fear.
I explain quickly before she gets the wrong idea. “I’m going to lie on top of the blankets. Like the books.”
The concern in her gaze dissipates. “Okay.”
As she climbs under the warm, cozy blankets, I begin to undo my tie and unbutton my crisp white shirt. I know there isn’t much I can do to alleviate her fears about her father, but I can provide some comfort until Enzo returns with the weighted blanket. It’s a small gesture, but it’s all I can do right now to show her that I care.