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Chapter 76
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Dante?” I call out weakly. I’m at his side now, stroking his bruised face as gently as I can. “Hang on.”
Ricci has fallen to the ground after I shot him, hand flying to his stomach where the bullet had found its home. His pained howling fades into the background because I can’t be bothered to pay attention to that pig right now. Dante needs me.
Gently, I take out all the syringes that were jammed into his arm. Luckily, not all of the liquid has been injected. Carefully, I pull each syringe out, finding caps on the trays and closing them, hoping that Luca can find more about them.
“They’ll be here any second now,
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Escaping that stronghold was a blur. I vaguely remember Daveed barking orders, telling our men to retreat. I remember hearing the gunshots. I remember stumbling forward but Luca was there to haul me back up on my feet. And I remember being shoved into the back of the SUV, with Dante beside me, thrashing in pain. His eyes were closed but I could tell he was conscious.“Keep the pressure here. Don’t let go.” Daveed instructs, pressing my palms harder against Dante’s wound. “We’re busting out of here. Try to stay low.”“H-He’s—Dante’s--”“Dante will be alright, Jean. Focus.”
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I spend an hour like that. Staring openly at the ceiling, doing everything I can to not close my eyes for too long, because then, I’ll start to see their faces again. I’ll start to see how their faces contort in pain before their bodies drop dead to the ground with a heavy thud. My mind is so fucked up, maybe I should have asked for sleeping pills. “Please just go away,” I mutter under my breath, eyes squeezing shut. “Please leave me alone. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Please go away. I’m sorry--” I choke on the last word, as a sob leaves my lips. “I-
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“I’m coming for you, my sweet, Jean.”“You look so much like her… so much like your mother…”The voice filters into my head like hot lava, heavy and dreadful. It sears into my brain and invades all of my senses leaving me scratching at my head, my face, my ears, and even my eyes for any kind of reprieve from the pain.“You grew up to be so strong… so murderous.”No!
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I leave that room with Natalie calling after me but I don’t spare her another glance or another word. Her words may mean something but I’m not in the mood nor in the right state of mind to dwell on it.Time to find Luca, my original goal before getting sidetracked.“How is he? Is Dante well enough to travel?” I ask Luca once I’ve flagged him down outside the infirmary. I’m grateful for how attentive he’s being towards Dante, especially now when I’m too hurt and confused to stand by his side.Luca looks at me with a bewildered expression, one eyebrow quirking in question. “He’ll be alright as long as w
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Never in my life had I thought I’d be running away from my savior, but here I am running away from Dante.“So, it’s just us?” I ask Adeline after a while of spending the car ride in comfortable silence. I realize that it’s nice like this, that somehow, I could pretend that Adeline and I are just two friends going on a road trip. That for a moment, I could forget about what awaited me.Adeline offers me a sheepish smile. “For now, Miss,” she replies softly. “The boss needs more security, and we have the boys back at the estate.”Right. The men we left behind. I still feel iffy about that. When we escaped in the dark of the night, we left eight men—eight! Had our enemies launched an attack, they would have all perished. That has never sat right with me, but maybe I can at least make amends.“Adeline,” I start, not knowing how to impose more work onto Adeline. She’s done so much for me already. But there are things regarding the research that I cannot do on my own. “I need your help with
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Two weeks pass like that. With Adeline and I passing information back and forth, with her on the outside, I operate from within the walls of the estate.Every person Adeline needs to contact, I was on it. Every reservation she needed, every resource, I was there to provide it for her.Because as much as I want to be out in the field with her, it’s still too dangerous. With the estate being closely monitored by Serafino, there’s not really an option but to stay here. Despite our lack of guards, the estate itself is a stronghold with accessible escape routes—something that Adeline and I discussed with the men before we decided to camp out here while Dante’s recovering.“I think we have everything we need, Miss Jean,” Adeline tells me over the phone, “With this confirmation, the only thing left to do is go there and talk to them personally.”“That’s true, come back to the estate, Adeline. It’s time to figure out our next step.”But I already know what my next step is going to be and it’s
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Dante“What do you mean ‘He’s gone?” I’m barely hanging on to my last piece of insanity and I find myself surrounded by morons. “Who’s gone?”Daveed takes a step forward, asserting himself before speaking. “Richard, one of the men Miss Jean had problems with before, he’s gone AWOL since early today. We’re trying to track him down but he’s gone completely rogue.”“And no one thought to report about it until now?” I say through gritted teeth. Daveed visibly shrinks, this time it’s Luca who speaks. “That lack of foresight was mine. Adeline was the one keeping tabs on him, but since Jean started to work on her father’s case more actively, Adeline’s hands have been full of extra work.” Ah. I’ve truly lost Adeline’s loyalty. She serves Jean now. I won’t say I’m surprised. I should have predicted this given how close they’ve grown over the past couple of weeks.“I should have let someone else keep watch. I’m sorry. This one’s on me.”Damnright you should have. But tossing the blame around
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12 YEARS LATER. “Come on! We’re going to miss it! Hurry, Papa!” “Okay, okay. Slow down, sweetheart.” The man hastens after his daughter, weaving through a small crowd of people that had just arrived, same as them. The young girl complains, “We promised Lily we’d be on time—there!” she points to the entrance of the auditorium. “Lily!” Lily waves back frantically at her sister. “You made it, Rose!” Lily replies running up the remainder of the distance between them. “You missed the opening ceremony but the displays are out. Come on!” The twins leave their father behind, opting to rush inside the auditorium that was converted into a small gallery to display the artworks created by the students of the summer art program. The auditorium is large for a school with a population of only a few hundred, but the family decided that a private school was best for their kids. “Ah, you’ve finally arrived,” Jean greets her husband as he strides toward her. She looks as beautiful as ever with her
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Jean“Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” he asks when he notices the tear that escapes my eye. “I won’t have tears for our reunion, love.”I quickly wipe away the tears that managed to stain my cheeks and pull away from the man I used to call my husband.With my head still spinning, I manage to get out of work immediately with the promise that I would close the deal with the mysterious art donor.Dante—or rather, Gavin and I find ourselves behind the safety of my apartment doors soon enough.“Now,” I order just as the doors close behind us. “Explain yourself.”Gavin quirks an eyebrow at me, “Quite a warm welcome, love.” I sense the sarcasm in his voice which makes me roll my eyes at him.“When you explain yourself, I might reconsider.”“Why are you mad at me?” he asks almost in disbelief. “When everything I did, I did for you.”“For me?” I scoff loudly, returning the same energy and disbelief. “You left me alone for two years! Even when I asked you to come—” then shaking my he
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JeanI think it’s been three days since I learned about Dante’s death. Three days that I’ve stayed home, calling in sick for work because there’s no way I can hold myself together in public when I burst into tears every hour or so.It’s been three days since my world shattered.The television has been playing on the same news channel the whole time with me waiting for any developments. I dove into the deeper parts of the internet, looking for any information but there is none to be found.“This is it, huh?” I whisper to myself, clinging onto the fleece blanket wrapped around me as I stare out the window. The heavy rain doesn’t help my mood at all, but it gives me comfort that the sky weeps for my loss too.I go to sleep that night feeling a blackhole-sized void in my heart.~~~The next morning, I woke up with several texts from the gallery asking me to come back to work. I’ve informed them that I couldn’t come but it must be an emergency if even my head supervisor is leaving me voic
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JeanI don’t remember the bar being this stuffy, but I somehow find myself suffocating in the middle of a conversation with my colleagues. And suddenly the black dress I’m wearing is too short and too tight on my body.I shouldn’t have come tonight. It’s a full night at the club, and it doesn’t take long before I request to move to a private room. I’m met with various curious and lust-filled looks but I ignore them. Parisians know how to party, and oftentimes those parties involve more than just drinking and dancing, there’s always something more.I’m sure my colleagues assumed I was asking for more, but I simply needed to get away from the crowd.Lara invited way too many strangers, but I figured this party was more for them than it was for my work anniversary. But I go along with it. I’ll just have to find an excuse to leave a bit earlier than the rest of them.“Jean, why aren’t you dancing?” Lara pipes up hugging me from behind. I chuckle softly, she’s already buzzed. “Ditch these
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Jean I fumble with my coat as I reach for my phone in my purse. The rain hasn’t let up once since December rolled in. I would have preferred to stay in the office today, but the statement for Bianca’s tuition came in my email last night.I tried to call her, but Bianca’s phone seems to be turned off and I went straight to voice mail.“Hey, Bub. I’m on my way to the bank now to pay for your tuition and other fees. Let me know if you need anything else— Oh! And as usual, do you want me to release your trust yet or not? That’s all bye! Call me back!”The answer has always been the same. Bianca doesn’t want to touch the money our parents left us until she was making her own. And I took it upon myself to pay for her education despite her protests.But I still figured I’d ask her every four months or so. Bianca was sustaining herself by working part-time and getting free lessons by volunteering for every camp and workshop. But she grew up sheltered and pampered. As her big sister, I still
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DanteIn the end, Jean leaves like a thief in the night. She left no note except for the signed divorce papers on top of the living room center table. I watch from the balcony as Jean shoulders a small carry-on bag with only her essentials. Despite the thundering protests I feel stirring in my chest, I know that tonight is the night I lose her. From the corner of my eye, I spot a few men with guns trained at her, ready to fire at my command. Their previous orders were to not allow Jean out of their sight, which includes having to injure her if she gets taken away by enemies again. But this time is different.Luca stands beside me, watching the same scene unfold. “Dante, are you sure about letting her get away?”I understand his sentiments. The amount of time, money, and effort I’d put into making her mine, only to watch her walk away in the end.And I was sure. But as I watch her walk away, I find out that letting her go is the single hardest thing I’ve done in my life.“Yes, tell m
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DanteI let Jean cry in my arms. The contract was a way to keep us both tethered to each other, and now that it’s gone, there’s nothing officially tying us together. In a way, we both lost someone tonight.“What happens now?” Jean asks with the softest voice. She sniffles a bit before sitting up, but she doesn’t leave my lap.With us finally being at eye level, I can see how red Jean’s nose is, her cheeks are tinted pink as well. She’s beautiful, and I make sure to tell her just that.“Will you stay?” I ask instead, even though I know full well that Jean’s already made up her mind about this long ago.Her eyes soften as she takes me in fully. One of Jean’s hands comes up to cup my cheek, and she smiles ever so softly as she whispers my name.“Dante… I love you,” Jean starts and it’s the saddest I’ve ever heard her utter those words. I know there’s a but coming up. “I never asked for this life, and I—I don’t want any part of it.”Jean finishes talking, shaking her head from side to sid
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DanteThe day I’ve been dreading has finally come. The day that I let her go.I watch Jean silently as she stares out of the wall windows. With the rain softly pattering outside, it reflects my mood perfectly. Jean looks stunning even in sleep shorts and a pullover she stole from my closet. She looks so perfect in my clothes, in my penthouse… and in my life.Suddenly the folder in my hand feels heavier than it should be.I ground myself before approaching Jean, needing to be a hundred percent sure I can handle this conversation. Because once I start, there’s no going back.“Hey,” I whisper in her ear as I wrap my arms around her from behind. Jean leans into my touch, resting her head against my shoulder.“What is it?” she asks, a frown on her face as she turns in my arms to face me. She must have noticed my agitation. “Is everything okay?” Jean reaches forward and cups my cheek.“Yeah,” I reply simply, offering her a reassuring smile—at least I tried to. “Come here for a sec.”“Dante,
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JeanUpon hearing those words, I notice that Dante had made himself scarce. Now that I think about it, he didn’t enter the living room with me and Bianca. He most likely left the penthouse to talk to Noah. How do I know that? Because there is no way in hell that Dante would have allowed Bianca to travel alone right when the investigation for the Regis family is about to start.But there’s something in the air that doesn’t quite feel like home.The woman in front of me may look like my little sister, Bianca, but she’s different. The last time I saw her she still had her baby cheeks and that wanderlust look in her eyes, but now that’s all gone.Her eyes no longer hold wonder in them but wisdom that only hardship and experience can mold. Her features look more angled, more mature.It makes me wonder if I somehow look the same to her or if I’ve changed in her eyes as she has changed in mine.I smile at my sister, albeit a little sad that I missed out on an entire year of her life. My baby
