Chapter 23
ANGELICA
Isit at the table in what Dante calls the command room.
It's a smaller den adjacent to his main office with a long table covered in papers and maps of Rome, photographs of buildings, and notes written in shorthand that mean nothing to me.
Rico, Enzo, and Luca are already here when Dante brings me in.
They look surprised to see me and I feel a bit out of place in my night robe, but his men don't comment.
Dante pulls out a chair and gestures for me to sit.
"Angelica provided the information about the tunnels," he says. "She'll sit in on the planning."
Rico raises an eyebrow but nods. I sit down and fold my hands in my lap.
My heart's still racing from Dante's confession.
Love is a very strong word, something I never thought I'd hear from him.
The words keep echoing in my head, changing everything I thought I understood about this situation.
Nobody's ever looked at me the way he did when he said it.
Like I was something precious.
The memory makes my chest tight and my thoughts scattered.
Part of me wonders if he's just manipulating me, but another part of me believes him.
Dante spreads a map across the table.
"Based on Angelica's information, the tunnel runs from the club in Trastevere to somewhere near the warehouses along the Tiber. Forty minutes to traverse on foot, three choke points where the passage narrows, and safe pauses timed to street sweepers and church bells."
Dante points at a map I can't see, and I watch the men's skeptical expressions.
They don't trust my plan, but they'll have to. It's their only way.
Rico leans forward.
"The garbage trucks come through between ten and eleven. Last pickup's at eleven thirty. After that, the streets are quiet until morning."
"And the church?" Enzo asks.
"Santa Cecilia," Dante says. "First rehearsal's at six in the morning. That gives us a window between eleven thirty and six—seven hours."
"We'd need less than that," Luca adds. "Two hours to pack the shipment and access the tunnel. Forty minutes to traverse it. Another hour to load and transport from the exit. We could be done by two in the morning."
"Assuming nothing goes wrong," Rico says skeptically.
He's right. If Gerard's men intercept them, it would be a blood bath.
My hands wring in my lap.
What if I'm setting them up and I don't realize it?
Will Dante still feel the same way about me?
Will his men respect me?
Can I live with his soldiers' blood on my hands?
They continue discussing logistics, entry points, exit strategies, how to disable the camera Dante found monitoring the tunnel access, and I sit and listen.
My hands are shaking and the room feels too hot too.
Especially when they pick the men who will take the shipment.
I don’t want to know their names because if this goes wrong, I'm going to have nightmares about it.
The conversation moves fast and I catch maybe half of what they're saying.
Technical terms I don't understand.
References to people and places I've never heard of.
But I don't interrupt.
I just listen and try to absorb it all.
Dante glances at me occasionally, checking to make sure I'm alright.
Making sure I'm not overwhelmed.
His attention makes my heart race even faster.
Everything's different now that he's told me he loves me.
Every look, every gesture, every word carries weight it didn't before.
I yawn without meaning to.
The exhaustion from the past few days is catching up with me.
I'm exhausted by it all.
I've cycled through so many emotions, I don't know which one I feel anymore except that I don't feel like running now.
I feel like waiting to find out how this goes down and whether Dante can be victorious.
Dante notices my yawn immediately, and he stands and walks around the table.
"You can go to bed. We'll finish here."
"Are you sure you don't need me?"
"I'm sure. You've done enough." He takes my hand and kisses my forehead. "Come, let me get you to bed."
The other men don't look up from the map.
I stand and Dante walks me to the door.
He steps into the hallway with me and closes the door behind us.
"Thank you," he says quietly.
"I didn't do anything. I just sat there."
"You gave us the information we needed and if this is successful, it will be because of you."
I want to say something about what he told me earlier, but those words are still ringing in my ears and I don't know how to start.
He must see the conflict on my face because he steps closer and cups my cheek.
"Get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be difficult."
I nod and turn toward the stairs, but I can't make myself walk up them.
I stand at the bottom and stare at the steps.
My chest feels tight, and my hands won't stop shaking.
I don’t want to lie down without him.
I know I won't get to sleep, so I stand there feeling stuck and afraid.
Dante walks to the stairs and stands next to me with his hand on my lower back as he calls for Marta. She appears looking concerned.
"Help Angelica to bed," he says. "Make sure she rests."
Marta nods and walks over to me.
She wraps an arm around my shoulders and says, "Come, Cara. Let's get you upstairs."
I let her guide me up the stairs to Dante's room, where I guess she assumes I've been sleeping, and she helps me into bed.
She pulls the blanket over me and sits on the edge of the mattress in a very motherly way.
"He'll be alright," she says softly. "Dante always finds a way."
"How do you know?"
"Because I've worked for him for ten years. I've seen him survive things that would've killed other men."
She pats my hand and stands, then turns off the light and closes the door.
I lie in the darkness and stare at the ceiling.
But even long after she leaves and all I can hear is the faint vibration of male voices from downstairs, I still lie there awake.
My brain is too overloaded to think about much.
Dante loves me, and still he's going to put himself in danger and walk into that trap like he doesn't see it coming.
And then what?
When he doesn't come home and I have to explain to Sofia why Papa can't read to her anymore and…
I love him.
I'm lying here stewing in anxiety because I love the man who's held me captive for two months now and I don’t want him to die.
Not for Sofia’s sake, and not for mine.
I want him to come home to me and warm this bed and protect us.
And most of all, I want him to know I love him.
His confession changed something in me.
Hearing him say those words unlocked feelings I've been trying to suppress for weeks.
And the idea of having a family with him and Sofia feels like it's being threatened by forces I can't control.
And now I know what he's feeling, that drive and the commitment to end this all to protect what's ours. Because I feel it.
If he let me go in, I'd do it for him, and I'd fight like hell to make sure I come out alive.
For him.
For Sofia, and for the family we'll have when this is all over.