CHAPTER 6 The Safe House He Built for Her
The first thing Dante did was turn off every light in the tunnel.
Darkness swallowed them.
Sofia nearly cried out.
Then Dante’s hand found her wrist.
“Stay with me.”
His voice was low enough that only she could hear.
Matteo clung to her neck.
Somewhere above them, another explosion shook the Moretti estate.
Dust fell from the stone ceiling.
Luca lifted a small tactical flashlight but kept it pointed toward the ground.
“No network,” he whispered. “No cameras. No smart locks.”
Dante nodded.
“Manual route.”
Sofia looked into the darkness ahead.
“How many people know this route?”
“Four.”
“Who?”
“Me. Luca. My father did.”
Her stomach tightened.
“And the fourth?”
Dante paused.
“My mother.”
Dead.
Both of them.
That should have made Sofia feel better.
It did not.
Someone had already used his mother’s security credentials.
Dead people were apparently no longer reassuring.
“Where does it go?”
she asked.
“Outside the perimeter.”
“How far?”
“About a mile.”
“And then?”
Dante looked at her.
“We disappear.”
The irony was almost enough to make her laugh.
Almost.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Dante Moretti disappears?”
“When necessary.”
“You spent three years hunting me because I did exactly that.”
“This is different.”
“Of course it is.”
Even in the dark, she could feel his irritation.
Luca muttered, “I’m going to pretend I can’t hear either of you.”
Sofia might have smiled if Matteo were not trembling in her arms.
She kissed his temple.
“It’s okay, baby.”
“Boom.”
“I know.”
“House broken?”
Her throat tightened.
“No.”
Dante answered before she could.
“The house is strong.”
Matteo turned his head toward his voice.
“Castle strong?”
“Yes.”
“Very?”
“Very.”
Another blast echoed above.
Matteo frowned.
“Not strong.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
Luca coughed suspiciously.
Dante said nothing for several seconds.
Then, very seriously, “It is experiencing technical difficulties.”
Sofia stared at him.
“You did not just say that to a two-year-old.”
“He asked.”
Despite the terror, a laugh escaped her.
Small.
Broken.
Real.
Dante’s fingers tightened around her wrist for a second.
Then released.
“Move.”
They continued.
The passage was narrow, carved beneath the oldest part of the estate. Sofia could barely see the stone walls, but she felt the cold radiating from them.
Luca led.
Dante stayed behind her.
Not beside.
Behind.
Protecting the rear.
Sofia understood what that meant.
If anyone followed, Dante would be between them and her son.
She hated how much that knowledge calmed her.
After several minutes, Luca stopped.
A metal gate blocked the passage.
“No electronic lock?”
Sofia whispered.
“No.”
Dante stepped past her.
He reached beneath a stone ledge and removed an old iron key.
Sofia blinked.
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
“You have biometric elevators and armored windows, but this uses a medieval key?”
“My grandfather trusted metal.”
“Your grandfather might have had a point.”
Dante opened the gate.
Cold night air rushed toward them.
The tunnel continued upward.
Sofia could smell rain.
Freedom.
Or another trap.
Dante seemed to think the same thing.
He drew his gun.
“Luca.”
“Clear.”
They emerged beneath an abandoned stone structure hidden inside dense woodland.
Sofia looked back.
Through the trees, she could see a faint orange glow above the estate.
Fire.
Her stomach dropped.
“Your house.”
Dante did not look.
“It’s replaceable.”
The answer came too quickly.
She looked at him.
“That was your family home.”
“My family is standing here.”
Silence.
Sofia could not answer.
Dante looked toward Matteo.
Then at her.
The meaning was unmistakable.
Her chest tightened.
Luca walked toward an old wooden shed.
Inside was a vehicle covered beneath a gray tarp.
He pulled it away.
Sofia stared.
An ordinary SUV.
Old enough not to attract attention.
No armored windows.
No Moretti plates.
Nothing luxurious.
Dante opened the rear door.
“Get in.”
Sofia hesitated.
“No security convoy?”
“That is the point.”
“You’re leaving everyone?”
“Most of them.”
“And your men?”
“Those who are loyal will survive without me for a night.”
“A night?”
Dante’s expression revealed nothing.
“Possibly longer.”
Luca climbed into the driver’s seat.
Sofia secured Matteo in a child seat that, somehow, had already been installed.
She noticed.
Of course she noticed.
“You had a child seat here?”
Dante looked at it.
“No.”
“Then?”
“Luca put it in.”
“When?”
“Today.”
She looked at Luca.
He shrugged.
“Boss told me every evacuation vehicle needed one.”
Sofia slowly turned toward Dante.
“You ordered that after meeting Matteo?”
“Yes.”
Her heart did something annoying.
“Stop doing that.”
Dante frowned.
“Doing what?”
“Being unexpectedly thoughtful.”
“That sounds like a personal problem.”
She glared.
He almost smiled.
Then the smile vanished as gunfire cracked somewhere in the distance.
Dante climbed in.
“Drive.”
Luca did.
No headlights for the first half mile.
The forest swallowed them.
Sofia held Matteo’s hand.
Dante sat beside her.
His gun remained against his thigh.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Sofia whispered, “Where are we going?”
“A safe house.”
“Yours?”
“Yes.”
“Does the Circle know about it?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
The honesty again.
Different Dante.
Or perhaps the same Dante without the arrogance she had once mistaken for certainty.
“How long has this safe house existed?”
she asked.
His gaze shifted toward the window.
“Years.”
“How many?”
Silence.
Sofia noticed.
“Dante.”
“Seven.”
Her pulse changed.
“Seven?”
“Yes.”
“That was before our engagement.”
He said nothing.
Her instincts sharpened.
“Why did you build it?”
“It wasn’t built.”
“What?”
“I bought it.”
“Why?”
Dante remained silent.
Luca looked straight ahead.
Too straight.
Sofia saw it.
“Luca knows.”
“Unfortunately.”
Dante’s tone was flat.
Sofia leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
Luca glanced in the rearview mirror.
“Boss?”
“Keep driving.”
“That is not permission.”
“No.”
Sofia crossed her arms.
“Fine.”
Dante looked at her.
“What?”
“I’ll ask questions until you surrender.”
“You overestimate your endurance.”
“I raised Matteo alone.”
Silence.
Dante nodded once.
“Fair.”
Sofia waited.
He exhaled.
“I bought it after I realized my father intended to arrange my marriage.”
She frowned.
“To me?”
“No.”
The answer surprised her.
“There was someone else?”
“Several candidates.”
Something unpleasant twisted in her chest.
“Of course.”
Dante looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re jealous again.”
“I am not jealous.”
“You sound jealous.”
“You sound insufferable.”
“Normal, then.”
She turned away.
He waited.
Then continued.
“I wasn’t interested.”
“In any of them?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Dante gave her a look.
Sofia stared back.
Then understood.
Her.
Even then.
“You had already seen me.”
“Yes.”
Her throat tightened.
“And the safe house?”
“I knew my father would eventually force the issue.”
“So you planned to run?”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Possibly.”
Sofia almost laughed from disbelief.
“The great Dante Moretti planned to run away from an arranged marriage.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds dramatic.”
“It is dramatic.”
He looked out the window.
“I wasn’t going to marry someone I didn’t choose.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Sofia swallowed.
“Then why did you agree to marry me?”
Dante looked at her.
“I chose you.”
Silence.
The road stretched dark around them.
Sofia forgot about the gunfire.
The Circle.
The estate.
Everything.
“You never said that.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I assumed you knew.”
She stared.
“I knew our fathers made a deal.”
“I knew that too.”
“That is not choosing me.”
“It was for me.”
“How?”
“Because I could have refused.”
Her heartbeat quickened.
“I didn’t.”
The car became too small.
Matteo slept between them.
Sofia looked down at him.
“You still haven’t answered.”
“About what?”
“The safe house.”
Dante’s expression changed again.
Closed.
Careful.
She noticed immediately.
“You didn’t buy it only for yourself.”
No answer.
“Did you?”
Dante looked at Luca.
“Do you want to walk?”
Luca kept his eyes on the road.
“I have never felt more invisible.”
Sofia almost smiled.
Then she looked back at Dante.
“Who was it for?”
He remained silent.
She knew.
That was the problem.
Her chest tightened.
“Me?”
Dante closed his eyes for a second.
“Yes.”
The word landed softly.
That made it worse.
“Seven years ago?”
“No.”
“When?”
He hesitated.
“About eighteen months before the wedding.”
Sofia frowned.
“That was before we were engaged.”
“Yes.”
“You bought a secret house for a woman you had barely spoken to?”
“I had spoken to you.”
“Not enough to buy property.”
“That is subjective.”
She stared at him.
“You are insane.”
“Possibly.”
“What were you planning?”
“I wasn’t sure.”
“Dante.”
His voice lowered.
“I thought there might come a day when my world became too dangerous for you.”
Sofia went still.
He continued.
“I wanted somewhere no Moretti knew.”
“But Luca knew.”
“I needed one person.”
“Why me?”
His eyes held hers.
“I already told you.”
“No. You told me you wanted me.”
“That was enough.”
Her breath caught.
Dante looked away.
“I knew what my life was.”
His voice was quieter now.
“I knew what marrying me would make you.”
“What?”
“A target.”
Sofia stared at him.
Three years of anger shifted painfully inside her.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you still wanted me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s selfish.”
“Yes.”
The immediate answer disarmed her.
He looked at her again.
“I was selfish.”
His jaw tightened.
“But I also thought I could protect you.”
“And now?”
Dante glanced at Matteo.
“Now I know protection is not the same as control.”
Sofia said nothing.
That might have been the most important thing he had ever admitted.
The vehicle continued for almost two hours.
Matteo woke once and asked for water.
Dante opened a bag from beneath the seat.
Inside were bottles, snacks, wipes, a blanket, and a small stuffed bear.
Sofia stared.
“You packed a toddler survival kit.”
“Luca did.”
Luca raised a hand from the front.
“I would like credit.”
Matteo accepted the bear.
“Name?”
Dante looked confused.
Sofia smiled.
“He wants to name it.”