Chapter 5
Do Not Trust Him
The night before her procedure, Elena asked Dante for one thing.
“Stay here for one hour.”
He looked at the suitcase beside her chair.
“You are leaving tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“I am not coming back.”
Dante’s expression tightened.
For the first time, fear reached him. He still assumed she was using her departure to force him away from Bianca.
“When Bianca’s security situation is settled, I will keep my distance from her.”
Elena did not explain.
She placed her medical file on the desk.
“At the end of the hour, I will tell you everything.”
Dante turned off his phone and dismissed his men.
“All right.”
For the first time in their marriage, they sat together without a call, a meeting, or another person between them.
Elena reached for the file.
Someone knocked.
Marco stood outside.
“Bianca needs you at the Moretti records office.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“Send a lawyer.”
“She is signing the papers that give up her claim to the Moretti name. Under the old family rules, the head of the De Luca family must witness the signature.”
“I am not going.”
Marco left.
Elena watched Dante.
This time, he had chosen her.
Five minutes later, Marco returned.
“Bianca says she will not sign.”
“Then let her keep the name.”
“She says she cannot face the family alone. If she does not sign tonight, the council will remove her by force tomorrow.”
Dante was silent.
Elena saw his expression change.
“You want to go.”
“It will take one signature.”
“Someone else can witness it.”
“The family rules do not allow that.”
“Then let the council handle it.”
Dante frowned.
“She will lose everything tied to her name.”
“And this is the last time I will ask you to stay.”
The room became quiet.
Dante looked at her.
“Do not connect these two things.”
“I did not.”
“You know this is a formal duty.”
“Then go.”
“We will finish this when I return.”
Elena shook her head.
“If you leave tonight, there will be nothing left to finish.”
Dante felt the warning.
It was the first time she had demanded a clear choice.
He moved toward her. For one moment, he was ready to stay.
Marco reminded him that the office would close in forty minutes.
Dante picked up his coat.
“I will be back as soon as the papers are signed.”
Elena stared at him.
“You are choosing her again.”
“This is not a choice.”
“You always say that.”
Irritation crossed his face.
“Elena, do not force me to prove something at a time like this.”
The last of her hope ended.
“Go.”
At the door, Dante looked back.
Elena sat under the desk lamp with her hands over the medical file.
Her stillness made him uneasy.
He still believed she would wait.
An hour later, Dante reached the De Luca private airfield.
“Elena.”
She stood in the waiting lounge and looked at him without recognition.
Dante stepped closer.
She moved back and took a card from her purse.
She checked the photograph, then looked at his face again.
The card read
Dante De Luca
Former husband
Do not trust him
Do not give him your phone or identification
Do not return to Chicago with him
He will always choose Bianca first
Dante stared at the last line.
He wanted to deny it.
The hotel, the council, the locked records room, and tonight’s signature flashed through his mind.
He could not name one moment that proved the card wrong.
“Elena.”
For the first time, he was afraid to move closer.
“I can explain.”
She gripped her passport.
“My notes say you explain first, then choose her anyway.”
The color left his face.
Being forgotten was not the worst part.
She had forgotten his face, but she had remembered that she could not trust him.
Fourteen days until Elena forgot Dante completely.