Chapter 8 - THE HOUSE WITH NO CAMERAS
Federal agents did not arrest Dante at Saint Agnes.
They placed him under investigative supervision while prosecutors reviewed the records. He surrendered his passport, weapons, and control of the Calvetti organization.
For the first time in twenty years, Dante entered a house without armed men behind him.
Sofia chose a rehabilitation residence near the lakeside estate. She needed surgery, physical therapy, and months of medical care after prolonged confinement.
Tommy visited every day.
Their first reunion happened without cameras.
Dante carried him into Sofia’s room, then stopped several feet from the bed.
Tommy stared at the woman he remembered only through scent, songs, and fragments of dreams.
Sofia held out one trembling hand.
“Firefly.”
Tommy crossed the room slowly.
“Are you Mommy?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
Sofia’s face broke.
“Bad people kept me away.”
“Did you try?”
“Every day.”
Tommy climbed into her arms.
Dante turned toward the window, but I saw tears on his face.
He did not hide them quickly enough.
The other children remained at the lakeside estate while courts reviewed their cases. With Ward arrested, every placement order connected to her office was suspended.
That did not automatically make me their legal guardian.
I still faced charges for removing them from state custody.
The prosecutor offered a plea agreement: one year of supervised probation in exchange for evidence and acknowledgment of falsifying documents.
I accepted.
I had broken laws.
My reasons mattered, but pretending the laws did not apply would repeat the same arrogance I condemned in Dante.
The children’s attorneys petitioned to keep the group together under temporary joint guardianship shared by me and a licensed independent agency.
Dante funded the agency but had no control over its decisions.
He complained about that arrangement until Lily told him, “Not being the boss is good practice.”
Sofia laughed for almost a minute.
Life began settling into a fragile routine.
At 3:17 every afternoon, I left the temporary office where I helped federal investigators decode Ruth’s records. I no longer needed to conceal my destination.
Dante noticed the time anyway.
One Friday, he followed me to the lakeside kitchen.
The children were making pizza.
Flour covered the floor. Isabelle and Sophie argued about cheese distribution. Jonah measured every ingredient with scientific precision. Marcus pretended not to enjoy himself.
Tommy stood on a stool beside Dante.
“Daddy, you put the sauce wrong.”
“There is no wrong way.”
“There is.”
Dante looked at me.
“This family has excessive opinions.”
“You fit perfectly.”
Our eyes held.
Something warm and dangerous moved between us.
Then Sofia entered using a walker.
The moment vanished, but not entirely.
Dante and Sofia had once loved each other. Their reunion did not restore that relationship. Six years, trauma, and secrets separated them.
They attended counseling to learn how to parent Tommy together.
Sofia saw the way Dante looked at me before I allowed myself to admit it.
“You love him,” she said one evening.
I nearly dropped the case file in my hands.
“No.”
“You lied more convincingly when you worked for him.”
“He is Tommy’s father. You are Tommy’s mother.”
“And Dante and I are not resuming a romance that ended before I knew I was pregnant.”
“That is not the only issue.”
“He is a criminal.”
“Yes.”
“He is also trying to accept consequences.”
“Yes.”
“You distrust yourself for seeing both truths.”
I looked away.
Sofia touched my arm.
“I did not survive Vincent so other people could turn me into an obstacle in their love story. Dante and I will always be family. That does not make us a couple.”
Nothing happened between Dante and me that night.
Or the next.
He had hearings, asset seizures, and prosecutors circling his organization. I had children healing from repeated trauma. Desire did not outrank responsibility.
Then Vincent escaped federal transport.
The convoy was struck near an underpass. Two agents were injured. Vincent disappeared with help from remaining Carbone soldiers.
His first target was not Dante.
It was the lakeside estate.
The attack came at 3:17 PM.
Power failed while the children were in the kitchen. Security alarms did not activate because Dante had transferred control to federal monitors, and someone inside that network had been compromised.
The windows shattered.
Smoke filled the hall.
I moved the children toward the cellar, but armed men entered through the rear corridor.
Marcus fought until a rifle stock struck his shoulder.
Dante, unarmed under the terms of his release, used a cast-iron skillet to disable the first attacker. Lily later described it as “Mrs. Gable style.”
We reached the cellar entrance.
The door locked remotely.
Vincent’s voice came through the house speakers.
“You wanted a home without cameras, Dante. Now no one can see what happens inside it.”
Carbone’s men surrounded us.
Dante stepped in front of the children.
“Take me.”
Vincent entered through the smoke.
“I already owned you for twenty years.”
His gaze settled on me.
“Olivia is the reason you surrendered.”
Dante’s body went still.
Vincent smiled.
“So she is the thing I take.”
He raised the gun toward my chest.
Tommy ran between us.
“Don’t hurt Liv!”
The weapon shifted toward the child.
Dante moved faster than anyone.
The shot cracked through the kitchen.
May you like
Dante fell.
And Vincent dragged all six children into the smoke.
