Chapter 28 Cristian
CRISTIAN
I’m a fucking mess.
There are moments when I blame Valentina for it.
For making me love. For making me want a life with her and our child.
But I know she’s as much of a victim as I am.
There is no going against the rules of our world.
I know she’s right in that running would only lead to a life of always looking over our shoulder, our child never knowing a stable home.
She’s asked me to respect her wishes, and so I’m doing my damnedest, but it feels so fucking wrong.
I’ve done many difficult things in my life, but this, this is the hardest.
Being forced to stand in the shadows of the Dante estate, watching as wedding plans move forward knowing that Valentina and my child will live a life of misery.
There’s no greater tragedy.
My child grows inside her.
The thought sends equal waves of pride and terror through me.
What kind of father would Maksim be?
A man who sees women as property to be acquired and controlled?
What happens when our baby cries too much, or defies him, or simply reminds him too much of Valentina?
What if the child is a girl?
I see Valentina in the distance, taking a walk in the garden. I want to go to her.
I could grab her now.
Take her far away.
Protect her and our baby with every breath in my body.
But that's the fantasy talking again. The reality is we'd likely never make it out of New York. Alessandro's reach is long, but Maksim's is longer. And crueler.
"Cristian." Alessandro's voice breaks through my thoughts. "I need you to check the perimeter again."
I nod stiffly, allowing myself one last glance at Valentina.
Our eyes meet, and for a moment, the world falls away.
Then she looks down, breaking the connection.
This is how it has to be.
I will remain at my post.
I will serve the Dante family loyally.
I will stay close enough to watch over her and the baby from a distance.
I will be the shadow guardian neither of them knows they have.
That's all that's left for me now.
Love without acknowledgment.
Fatherhood without recognition.
It's not enough.
But it's something.
And something is better than the alternative of life without them entirely.
I turn and walk away, leaving my heart behind with the woman I could never have.
That afternoon, I’m getting ready to call it a day when I receive a call to Alessandro's office. The summons isn't unusual. There are countless security details to go over daily.
As I walk the long corridor, I straighten my shoulders, slipping back into the role I've played my entire life.
A loyal soldier who follows orders without question.
The good dog who serves his master faithfully.
It's the only version of myself that might survive whatever waits behind that heavy oak door.
I knock once.
"Enter."
The moment I push the door open, I know something is wrong.
The air feels thick, charged with the kind of tension that precedes bloodshed.
Alessandro stands behind his desk, his posture rigid, face hard.
But it's the other figure in the room that makes my heart stutter.
Valentina sits in one of the leather chairs, her back to me.
Even so, I get the sense that she’s been crying.
"Close the door.” Alessandro’s voice makes the hairs on my neck stand on end.
I obey, closing the door while my mind races through possibilities.
Has Maksim discovered something?
Has the wedding been called off?
Is there a security threat?
"Do you take me for a fool, Cristian?"
The question hangs between us. Alessandro's dark eyes bore into me with cold fury.
Clearly, I’m in trouble.
And the only thing I’ve done wrong is love his sister, which means he must know about us.
Does he know about the baby too?
"No, Don Dante," I answer carefully.
"Then why would you think I wouldn't ever find out?" He slams his palm against the desk. "Did you think the walls of my own house wouldn't have eyes and ears?"
My blood turns to ice. Valentina's shoulders hunch further, but she doesn't turn.
"A servant saw you," Alessandro continues. "Kissing my sister like she belongs to you. My sister, who is promised to another man. My sister, whose marriage secures peace for our family."
I remain silent, knowing there is nothing I can say that won't make this worse.
Nothing that will save me now.
"How long?" he demands. "How long have you been betraying my trust?"
I feel exposed.
Not just my actions, but my very soul laid bare for Alessandro to see.
My training abandons me.
I've faced death countless times without flinching, but never like this.
I’m caught between honor, duty, and the woman I love.
"It's not his fault," Valentina finally speaks, her voice thick with tears. "I—"
"Silence!" Alessandro roars, making her flinch, and for a moment, I consider drawing on him. He turns back to me. "Answer me, Cristian."
"It began after the ambush," I admit, seeing no point in lies. "When Maksim's men tried to take her."
Alessandro's jaw tightens. “What… you felt that since you saved her, you had the right to fuck her?”
My jaw tightens, hating that he’s characterized what Valentina and I have as something sordid. “It’s not like that, I love—”
"You've compromised everything. Do you understand what you've done? If Maksim finds out my sister has been with another man, with one of my own soldiers, he won't just call off the wedding. He'll declare war."
I’ve known all along how this could all go sideways.
But now I’m faced with the fact that I'm the threat that could destroy them.
Alessandro's voice drops lower. "How many of our men would you sacrifice for a few nights with my sister? How many innocent people caught in the crossfire when the Bratva burns our territory to the ground?"
I don’t respond.
"And what about Valentina?" he continues. "Do you think Maksim would simply let her go? Or would he make an example of her? Make her suffer before he kills her, to show everyone what happens when you cross him?"
Fear wraps around my heart. I've seen Maksim's handiwork.
The thought of Valentina at his mercy…
"I'll disappear," I offer with a desperation to fix this. "Tell Maksim I acted alone. That I was obsessed with her. He already thinks she’s afraid of me. Tell him you executed me for touching what wasn't mine."
“Is that how it was? You were obsessed?”
“Alessandro—”
“I said be quiet,” he barks at Valentina.
I roll my shoulders to keep from responding.
To keep from doing my job of protecting her.
“Is that why you kept calling me a coward and not stopping the wedding? Because you thought you could have her? Like there is any chance of that.”
I realize now that I’m a dead man walking.
It’s confirmed when Alessandro’s hand moves to his waistband where I know he keeps his gun.
This is it. I've served the Dantes faithfully my entire life, and this is how it ends.
Executed in this office for the crime of loving Valentina.
I straighten my shoulders, preparing to meet death with dignity.
At least I'll have known real love, even if only briefly.
"No!" Valentina springs from her chair, moving to block me from Alessandro.
I’d admire her fierceness if it didn’t put her at risk.
"You can't kill him, Alessandro.”
“He has to, Valentina,” I say, knowing it’s true. I betrayed him. Disrespected him. I put him and his family at risk.
“No. If you do this, you're no better than Maksim,” she says to Alessandro.
“I am no better than Maksim,” Alessandro retorts. “Do you think your beloved Luca wouldn’t do the same? He’s defiled you and put our family at risk. I have no choice. And as I’ve been told by you and Cristian, when I let things go, I look weak. I won’t be weak now.”
He’s not wrong.
"Please," she continues. "Cristian has protected our family for years. He saved my life in that ambush. He's been loyal when others would have run."
I’ve been hurt by her pushing me away, so it’s an odd pleasantness I feel that she’s fighting for my life.
“Nothing has changed. I’m marrying Maksim. He’ll never know. I’ll be the perfect Bratva wife. Just let Cristian live.”
“That’s right, little sister, you’re marrying Maksim, and you'd better hope he thinks you’re a virgin.”
Again, I want to kill Alessandro, but I stay still, knowing Valentina and our baby could end up in the crosshairs.
Valentina seems to grow taller, her shoulders pulled back, her chin lifted. “If you kill him, you'll have to drag me down the aisle, and I’ll tell Maksim that I’m not a virgin. That I happily gave myself to Cristian because I couldn’t stand the idea of Maksim’s touch.”
Holy shit.
“Valentina—” I start but stop when she sends me a fierce glare.
“He’d kill you,” Alessandro says.
“I’m already dead. I’ve known that since the beginning. How you don’t is beyond me.”
I’m in awe of this woman.
Alessandro’s jaw tightens.
I see a tug-of-war going on in his eyes.
I can’t imagine that the side in which I’m not killed wins, but I wait.
"You'll go through with the wedding? No more tricks, no more games?"
"Yes.” She nods curtly. "Just spare him."
Alessandro studies his sister, then me.
I can’t decipher what he’s going to choose.
But then he takes a breath and holsters his gun.
His dark eyes settle on me. "You will leave New York tonight. You will not contact my sister again. You will not return to this city. If you are seen within a hundred miles of here after midnight, I will consider it an act of war against the Dante family."
The sentence of exile crashes over me.
Banishment.
Complete separation from everything I've known.
From the family I've served my entire life.
From Valentina.
From my child.
"Alessandro, please—" Valentina starts, but he silences her with a raised hand.
"I’m giving you his life, Valentina. It’s far more than he deserves." His eyes lock with mine. "You have until midnight to disappear. After that, you're dead to us."
Dead to us.
The finality of those words echoes in my ears.
My entire identity has been bound to the Dante family since I was a boy.
To be cast out is to become a ghost.
I wonder if this is how Luca felt.
No, it was worse for him.
He was a Dante.
"I'll have someone escort you to collect your things," Alessandro continues. "You'll surrender your weapons and any identification connecting you to this family."
I feel Valentina's eyes on me, but I can't look at her. If I do, I'll break. I'll beg. I'll fight. And we'll both end up dead.
"Do you understand, Cristian?" he demands, eyes narrowed.
"Yes, Don Dante." I risk a glance at Valentina. Her face is pale, eyes wide, but she gives me the smallest nod, a silent communication telling me this is the only way. Take this chance. Live.
"Then get out of my sight." Alessandro dismisses me with a wave.
I turn to leave, each step away from Valentina feeling like I’m leaving bits of my heart behind.
As I reach the door, I allow myself one final look over my shoulder.
She stands straight-backed and proud, chin lifted in defiance of her brother.
God, I love her. More than my life. More than my honor. More than anything I've ever known.
Outside the office, the ramifications of what’s happening fully hits. Exile. Separated from Valentina.
From our child.
Forever.
No. Not forever.
I will find a way back to them.
I will protect them, even from the shadows. I will watch over Valentina and our child.
Maksim Vasiliev may think he's won.
Alessandro may believe he's solved the problem.
But they've made one critical mistake.
They've left me alive.
And for Valentina and our child, I will tear apart heaven and earth to find my way back to them.