Page 38 of Beautiful Vows

Dante sighs, his shoulders slumping slightly, but I don't push. It's his own internal war. “I never wanted him to marry your stepmother.”

“You feel betrayed?” I ask.

He nods. "I did."

“Me too.”

"At first. Then Dad told me his plan."

The words hang heavily in the air as I gaze at Dante, and the pieces fit together.

We’ve got so much to discuss and I change the subject. "I know it was you who saved me. You killed another first son for me," I utter, the truth finally escaping my lips. I had suspected it deep down, but the thought was too terrifying to fully embrace. "And you used to stalk me."

Finally, it all makes sense.

He never wanted me to see his face that night as he asked me to face the wall. He knew I’d remember him from the cafe a few days earlier.

Dante's nod confirms my realization, his eyes never wavering from mine. "It was the day I could no longer hide in the shadows."

A laugh escapes my lips as I playfully push his chest. "How long were you following me?"

"Since I found out about you," he admits, with not one ounce of regret in his tone. His hand finds mine, intertwining our fingers. "I needed to watch over you, protect you from a distance."

Memories of those instances when I felt someone's presence trailing me flood my mind. "Always in black and wearing a baseball cap?" I double check my suspicions, raising an eyebrow.

Dante's smile has a hint of mischief. Twinkling eyes. "I knew you realized it was happening."

"I was trying to find you at the party before…" I swallow as I think back to that time, my hand involuntarily tightening in his.

I can't go there and change the subject. "What changed? Why did you stop?"

"Before I killed Nico," Dante begins, his voice steady, "he made a call to his brother, revealing that he had found you. He wanted them to claim you, to make you theirs. I only discovered this after I took his life. After, I tried to find you again, but you'd disappeared."

My head spins with the implications of his words. "So Ricardo Bianchi knows about me?" The realization sends a chill down my spine, and I wrap my arms around myself.

"We believe he knows Aurelia Moretti is alive. Not who Lia Bailey is," Dante says, rubbing my arms soothingly.

Bile skates up my throat as I think about how the now mafia boss is not only aware of my existence, he wants me to be his mistress. Not that I would ever have agreed.

Instinctively, my hand rests protectively over my growing stomach as my babies stir within me. Dante's gaze locks onto the movement, a hint of longing flickers in his eyes.

"Can I feel my babies?" he asks, his voice laden with hope as his hand hovers just above my belly.

I hesitate for a moment, then gently take his hand and place it on my stomach.

My body shivers as his touch connects with the life growing inside me, the lives we created.

Dante's eyes soften with tenderness as he responds to my question. "And so you know, Cade has Ricardo’s home permanently bugged, so if he suddenly gets wind of who you are, we'll be alerted. Right now, he's more focused on finding his father and his brother's killers than searching for you." He clears his throat, his expression shifting. "How did you do it?"

I shake my head, not understanding.

"How did you poison the cigar?" he presses, his eyes studying me intently.

I clear my throat, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. "I'd like to say that my plan went without a hitch, but the cigar was meant for Eduardo Gallo. It was his cigar box."

Dante laughs. "You took a cigar from his box and poisoned it?"

"No!" I exclaim, waving my hands. "Rafe had one. I unraveled it, made it lethal, and then swapped it out for one in the box when nobody was in the office." The words are so matter-of-fact, Dante doesn't react with anything but a smile. "Eduardo hired a hitman to kill me. My only regret is he didn't smoke the cigar."

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