Chapter 3
She turned her head toward the sofa. It was empty.
The velvet cushions were slightly depressed where Dante’s broad frame had rested, and the spare blanket was folded neatly across the armrest. A faint scent of sandalwood and rain still lingered in the air, but he was gone. Panic spiked sharply in her chest. Had he gone out alone? Had the Morellos tracked him here? Had she slept through a warning?
Tessa threw off the duvet, her bare feet hitting the cool floor as she rushed toward the small sitting area. Before she could grab her phone from the nightstand, the bathroom door clicked open. Dante stepped out, freshly showered, wearing a crisp white dress shirt with the top two buttons undone and his dark hair slightly damp at the edges. He looked completely revitalized, carrying none of the exhausted, battered aura he had worn the night before, though a faint purple bruise still shadowed his left jawline.
“You’re up early,” Dante remarked calmly, picking up his suit jacket from the chair.
“Where were you?” Tessa demanded, her professional composure momentarily cracking as she crossed her arms over her blouse. “You can’t just wander around the hotel hallway when the Morello family knows—”
“I wasn’t wandering,” Dante interrupted, a faint, amused smirk touching the corner of his lips. “I was down in the lobby handling security arrangements and ordering room service. And before you start hyperventilating about protocol, I used an encrypted burner phone.”
Tessa let out a long, shaky breath, releasing the tension in her shoulders. “You gave me a heart attack. In my profession, sudden disappearances usually mean someone is disposing of evidence.”
“If I were disposing of evidence, you’d be the first to know, seeing as you’re my chief compliance officer,” Dante replied smoothly, walking over to the small round table where a silver tray had been left by housekeeping. He lifted the lid, revealing a spread of steaming black coffee, fresh fruit, and pastries. “Eat something, Tessa. We have a chopper waiting at a private pad in twenty minutes. The storm has cleared, and the airspace over Lake Michigan is open.”
“A chopper?” Tessa raised an eyebrow, walking over to pour herself a cup of coffee. “I thought Midway and O’Hare were grounded.”
“Commercial traffic is grounded. Private aviation with federal clearance is a different story,” Dante poured his own coffee, his dark eyes meeting hers across the table. The playful edge in his demeanor vanished, replaced by a steady, intense focus that made her breath hitch. “About last night... and everything we discussed.”
“Last night was a logistical anomaly caused by meteorological failure,” Tessa recited instantly, throwing up her corporate shield with practiced speed. “It never happened, Mr. Costa.”
Dante set his coffee cup down with a soft click, closing the distance between them with slow, deliberate steps until he stood just inches away. Up close, the sheer presence of him was overwhelming—the quiet strength of a man who ruled empires from the shadows, yet looked at her as if she were the only real thing in his world.
“Stop hiding behind titles, Tessa,” he said quietly, his voice dropping into a register that sent a shiver straight down her spine. “We both know the rules changed the second you picked up that phone in the bathroom and called me instead of the police.”
“I called you because you were the only person who could fix it,” she whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
“You called me because you trusted me,” Dante corrected gently. He reached out, his warm fingers brushing gently against her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw with a tenderness that completely dismantled every defense she had spent four years constructing. “I’m done pretending you’re just an employee, Tessa. And I’m done pretending I only view you as a secretary. When we get back to New York, my corporate restructuring goes live. You’re stepping up to partner, and I’m taking you out to dinner—a real dinner, outside of a diner or an office.”
Tessa stared up at him, the weight of the last four years melting away under the undeniable truth in his gaze. The danger hadn't vanished; the syndicate wars were still raging, and federal investigators were still circling like hawks. But standing there in the sunlit Chicago suite, wrapped in the quiet aftermath of a storm, she realized she didn't care about the risk anymore.
She leaned slightly into his touch, a genuine, rare smile breaking across her face. “Does the promotion come with a company car and a raise, Mr. Costa?”
May you like
Dante chuckled, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her securely against his chest as the distant morning sirens of Chicago faded into the background. “It comes with whatever you want, Tessa. Absolutely whatever you want.”
And as they walked out of the Drake hotel together into the brilliant Chicago sunshine, boarding the private chopper that would carry them back to their empire, the shadows of the past finally gave way to a blindingly bright, unstoppable future.
