CHAPTER 6 The Safe House He Built for Her #3
Sofia smiled through tears.
Then she touched his face.
Dante froze.
Her hand rested against his cheek.
Three years.
She had imagined this touch too many times.
His skin was warm.
Real.
Dante’s eyes darkened.
“Sofia.”
“I don’t know what happens after this.”
“Neither do I.”
“I still don’t trust your world.”
“Good.”
She frowned.
“Good?”
“You shouldn’t.”
His hand covered hers.
“But trust me.”
Her heart stumbled.
“I’m trying.”
That was all it took.
Dante lowered his forehead to hers.
Not a kiss.
Almost worse.
His breath touched her mouth.
Sofia closed her eyes.
Every memory came back.
The night before everything shattered.
His hands.
Her fear.
His tenderness.
His name against her lips.
Dante whispered, “Tell me to stop.”
The exact words from years ago.
Her eyes opened.
He remembered.
Of course he remembered.
Sofia’s fingers tightened against his face.
She should stop.
This was dangerous.
They were hunted.
Their son was sleeping ten feet away.
Their lives had been manipulated by people they barely understood.
But perhaps that was exactly why she could no longer tolerate another unsaid thing.
“Don’t stop.”
Dante kissed her.
Three years disappeared.
The kiss was not gentle.
Not at first.
It was anger.
Relief.
Punishment.
Grief.
Every question neither had answered.
Sofia grabbed his shirt.
Dante’s hands caught her waist.
He kissed her as though he had spent three years starving.
Maybe he had.
She had too.
Then Dante suddenly stopped.
He pulled away.
Both were breathing hard.
Sofia stared at him.
“What?”
He looked toward Matteo.
Of course.
The boy was still asleep.
Dante stepped back.
“I’m not doing this like that.”
She frowned.
“Like what?”
“Because we’re afraid.”
Her expression softened.
“We are afraid.”
“I know.”
“And?”
“And I’ve waited three years.”
His eyes held hers.
“I can wait until you know you’re choosing me.”
The words hit harder than the kiss.
Sofia swallowed.
“Dante.”
“What?”
“I kissed you back.”
“I noticed.”
She almost laughed.
“You’re impossible.”
“Yes.”
Before she could respond, Luca entered.
He stopped.
Looked at Sofia.
Looked at Dante.
Looked at the distance between them.
“I’m going to assume I interrupted absolutely nothing.”
“You did,” Sofia said.
“You didn’t,” Dante said.
They looked at each other.
Luca sighed.
“I preferred the explosions.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“What happened?”
Luca held up a phone.
A basic device.
No network connection except a secure satellite system.
“I got a message through the emergency channel.”
“From whom?”
“That’s the problem.”
“Who?”
Luca looked at Sofia.
“Carlo Bellini.”
Her blood went cold.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Luca handed Dante the phone.
One message.
**IF SOFIA IS WITH YOU, DO NOT TAKE HER TO THE SAFE HOUSE.**
Sofia stared.
Her heart stopped.
Dante’s face emptied.
Another message arrived.
**THEY KNOW ABOUT IT.**
Silence.
Then a third.
**I AM SORRY. I BUILT THE TRAP YEARS AGO.**
Sofia looked at Dante.
“What does that mean?”
He was already moving.
“Luca.”
“Checking perimeter.”
The house lights went out.
Sofia froze.
No.
Not again.
Dante pulled his gun.
“Get Matteo.”
She ran.
Matteo woke as she lifted him.
“Mama?”
“I’m here.”
Outside, something moved across the garden.
Dante looked through the window.
Nothing.
Then a low mechanical sound came from beneath the floor.
Luca’s face changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“The bunker.”
“What about it?”
“It just unlocked.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“No one should be able to do that remotely.”
The floor beneath the kitchen shifted.
A hidden door began opening.
Slowly.
Matteo buried his face against Sofia.
Dante moved in front of them.
Gun raised.
Dark stairs appeared beneath the house.
A light flickered below.
Then a speaker came alive.
Sofia’s stomach dropped.
A familiar voice filled the room.
Not distorted this time.
Dr. Mercer.
Or whatever his real name was.
“Good evening, M-04.”
Dante’s finger tightened against the trigger.
The voice continued.
“And welcome home, S-17.”
Sofia held Matteo tighter.
Dante stepped backward until he was beside her.
“You said they didn’t know this place.”
“I was wrong.”
The speaker crackled.
Then Mercer laughed softly.
“You were not wrong, Dante.”
Dante went still.
“We have always known.”
Sofia’s blood chilled.
The next sentence destroyed what little safety remained.
“After all, we are the ones who convinced you to buy it.”
Silence.
Dante stared into the open bunker.
For the first time, Sofia saw genuine disbelief on his face.
The house.
The books.
The piano.
The escape plan.
The place Dante believed he had chosen freely.
The Circle had touched this too.
Mercer’s voice continued.
“You still don’t understand.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Understand what?”
A pause.
Then:
“None of your choices were ever entirely yours.”
The speaker went silent.
And Sofia realized that the question was no longer whether the Circle had manipulated their marriage.
The question was whether Dante and Sofia had ever made a single choice about each other that the Circle had not already anticipated.