Chapter 166

Chapter 166
Dante’s POV

We walked back toward the house with our fingers loosely intertwined, neither of us in any hurry to let go.

The garden path seemed shorter than I remembered. Maybe because I wasn’t walking it alone.

Elena glanced at me once, a small smile lingering on her lips before she looked away again. 

The back door opened just as we reached the patio. Mrs. Peters stepped outside, wiping her hands on her apron.

“There you two are,” she said, pretending not to notice our joined hands. “Bella’s school bus should be here any minute.”

“We lost track of time,” Elena replied.

“I can see that.”

There was a knowing warmth in Mrs. Peters’ smile, but she spared us any teasing and disappeared back inside.

I let out a quiet breath. 

“What?” Elena asked. 

I shook my head. “I forgot what it feels like for a house to be… peaceful.”

Before Elena could answer, the sound of a horn echoed from the front gate.

A second later, the front door burst open. “Daddy!”
Bella came running toward me with her backpack bouncing wildly against her shoulders. I barely had time to brace myself before she launched into my arms.

“I miss you all day!”

I laughed, lifting her effortlessly against my chest. “I missed you too, Princess.”

She cupped my face with both hands as though checking I was still there.
“You still here.”

“I’m still here.”

Those three words settled somewhere deep inside me. They didn’t feel like a promise I was afraid I couldn’t keep..

Dinner that evening was louder than the house had been in months.
Bella insisted on telling us every single thing that had happened at school, somehow managing to finish her meal and talk without ever seeming to pause for breath.

“And then Miss Carter say I draw very nice.”

“She did?” Elena asked, smiling.

Bella nodded proudly. “I draw our family.”

I looked up from my plate. “Our family?”

“Mhm.” She pointed at me with her fork. “You.” Then at Elena. “Mama.” Then she pointed at herself. “Me.”

“And Teddy?”

Bella gasped as though the very thought had offended her.
“Teddy there too.”

Mrs. Peters laughed softly, setting another bowl of vegetables on the table. “I should have known.”

“He family,” Bella declared.

Adam chuckled. “I don’t think anyone’s arguing with you.”

She grinned before turning back to me.
“And you know what?”

“What?”

“I tell everybody my daddy come home.”

The room fell quiet, then she smiled as though she’d announced the most ordinary thing in the world.

“My daddy not gone anymore.”

I swallowed against the sudden tightness in my throat.
“No,” I managed quietly. “I’m not.”

Bella seemed satisfied with that answer and immediately launched into another story about a classmate who had accidentally spilled paint over his own shoes.

After dinner, Bella yawned so dramatically that even she laughed at herself.

Mrs. Peters smiled. “I think someone’s had a very busy day.”

Bella rubbed her eyes stubbornly. “I not sleepy.”

“You’ve yawned five times in two minutes,” Elena teased.

“That because…” Bella thought hard before deciding, “…I practicing.”

Adam laughed as he pushed back his chair. “I’ll leave you all to it. I’ve got a few contracts to finish reviewing before tomorrow.”

He looked at me for a moment. “It’s good to have you back, Boss.”

Before I could respond, he gave a small nod and quietly disappeared toward his office.

Mrs. Peters gathered the empty dishes. “I’ll clean up. You two enjoy the evening.”

Elena and I finally found ourselves alone again, the comfortable silence between us no longer filled with uncertainty, but with the quiet promise of everything we were still learning to rebuild.

Elena wandered into the living room, a few minutes after excusing herself, carrying two mugs.
“I made tea.”

I accepted one with a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

We settled onto opposite ends of the sofa, the warm mugs resting between our palms. 

Elena smiled into her cup. “You know… if someone had told me three years ago that I’d end up married to a mafia boss, I would’ve laughed in their face.”

I laughed softly. “Only laughed?”

“I might have called security.”

“I would’ve deserved it.”

She looked at me over the rim of her mug. “You really were impossible.”

“I still am.”

She shook her head. “No. You’re different.”

I lowered my cup onto the table. “I hope that’s a good thing.”

“It is.” She smiled gently. “The old Dante thought he had to carry the whole world alone.”

“And this one?”

“This one asks for help.”

Her words settled somewhere deep inside me. I hadn’t noticed the difference myself until she said it aloud.

“I think prison taught me how to survive,” I admitted quietly.

“And therapy?”

A small smile tugged at my lips. “It taught me how to live again.”

Elena’s eyes softened. “I’m really proud of you.”

No one had said those words to me in a very long time. I reached for her hand, and this time, when our fingers intertwined, neither of us felt like we were holding on because we were afraid of losing the other.

We held on because we’d finally found our way back.

Elena rested her head lightly against my shoulder, and I found myself wondering why something so simple had once felt impossible.

“I don’t know what tomorrow looks like,” I admitted. “I still have bad days. I probably always will.”

She squeezed my hand gently. “Then we’ll face the bad days together.”

I held her gaze, letting those words settle deep inside me.

Together.

The future suddenly no longer felt like something I hoped for. It felt like something I could finally believe in.

We remained there for a while, saying very little.
The silence between us no longer needed to be filled. It breathed as naturally as we did, carrying the comfort of two people who had finally stopped fighting the same storm from opposite sides.

Elena slowly stood and held out her hand. “Come with me.”

I looked up at her, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. “Where?”

“You’ll see.”

I slipped my hand into hers without another question.

She led me upstairs, her fingers wrapped securely around mine, past Bella’s room where a soft night light glowed beneath the half closed door, past the family photographs lining the hallway, until we stopped outside our bedroom.

She rested her hand on the doorknob but didn’t turn it immediately.
Instead, she looked at me.

“I used to stand here every night after Bella fell asleep.”

A small crease formed between my brows.

“I’d look at this door and wonder what it would feel like to have you walk through it again.”

My chest tightened.

“I stopped wondering after a while,” she admitted quietly. “Not because I’d given up on you… but because hoping hurt too much.”

I reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head gently. “Don’t apologize tonight.”

She opened the door. Moonlight spilled across the room, bathing it in the same soft silver I remembered from the night I left.

And in that moment, I realized tomorrow wasn’t waiting for us with another battle.

It was waiting with a question neither of us had answered yet. How do two people who have found each other all over again… begin forever?