Page 52 of Ivory Legacy

“I see,” my dry response ricocheted off the walls, echoing back at us. A bitter laugh escaped me and Ellie winced as though I’d struck her. “Unbelievable.”

“But Jade, it...” Ellie began, but I waved her off.

“No, save it.” I said firmly, standing abruptly and shoving the chair back. It scrapped harshly against the floor and several heads turned our way. Ignoring the curious glances, I grabbed my coat from the back of the chair.

“Where are you going?” Ellie asked, but I hardly heard her.

“I can share my location with you and you can send it to Dante’s dad. How does that sound?”

Before Ellie could muster a reply, I was already at the door, the cold wind hitting my face like a splash of icy water. As I stepped onto the sidewalk, my mind swirled with thoughts and emotions. The city buzzed around me, oblivious to my turmoil.

“Jade!” Ellie called out behind me, but I quickened my pace, thrusting my hands into the pockets of my coat and blending with the teeming crowd. The trust we had once shared felt like shards of shattered glass underfoot — sharp, piercing, impossible to piece back together.

As I disappeared into the pulsating rhythm of New York City, a single thought echoed through my mind: Enzo Moretti had bought a spy in our midst, and that spy was my closest friend.

What else didn’t I know?

Chapter Twenty-Five: Jade

Ididn’t want to go home.

I found myself in Dante’s lobby…wishing I had gone home.

But I stood there, the lobby of Dante’s penthouse swallowing me in its opulence. The early evening light filtered through the high windows, but the glow did nothing to ease the chill wrapped around my heart. I was pregnant, and the father...well, he was why I was here, caught in a web I never saw coming.

My hands rested on my stomach. I thought about Ellie, my confidant turned Judas, sharing my secrets with Enzo Moretti like they were cheap currency. Betrayal stung sharper than the winter air outside.

“Evening, Dr. Bentley,” the doorman said, tipping his cap. His familiar, polite nod couldn’t mask the surprise in his eyes, seeing me stand there lost in thought.

“Evening,” I managed, my voice a ghost of itself.

His gaze lingered a moment too long, and that’s when the weight of my discovery about Ellie hit full force. Maybe I should turn back, leave before Dante could arrive and wrap me up in his world again. But my feet felt glued to the marble floor; escape wasn’t as simple as willing it.

Clearly.

The marble beneath my heels felt as cold as the realization gnawing at me; I had nowhere else to go. Then, he was there. Dante Moretti stepped in from the biting chill of the early evening, the closing door a soft click in the vast lobby.

“Jade,” he said, his voice a low thrum that always seemed to vibrate right through me. He paused just inside, his coat dusted with the beginnings of frost, dark hair slightly disheveled from the winter wind. There was no mistaking the immediate shift in his expression—from the commanding mafia don to the man who watched me with eyes that didn’t miss a thing.

“Hey,” I replied, trying to sound casual, but my voice betrayed me with its shaky delivery.

Dante closed the distance between us in a few measured strides, his presence as impactful as always. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concern etching lines around those intense eyes that now studied me with a softness reserved for our private moments.

I shrugged, an attempt to deflect his scrutiny. “It’s nothing.”

“Jade.” His hand reached out, resting lightly on my arm, a silent offer of support I hadn’t realized I craved. “Talk to me.”

His touch sparked something raw within me, and I had to remind myself to breathe. The warmth of his hand seeped through the fabric of my blouse, grounding me despite the chaos in my head. In that moment, I wished I could tell him everything. But words were dangerous things—especially when truths could cost you everything…and when the doorman could easily overhear us.

The chill from the marble floors of the lobby seeped through my soles, but it was nothing compared to the ice in my veins. I glanced at my reflection in the polished surface of the elevator doors—a pale ghost of myself—and the weight of everything bore down on me.

“Jade?” Dante’s voice cut through the fog in my head. “What can I do?”

Before I could form a single coherent thought, the dam inside me cracked. Tears welled up, and with them came an avalanche of despair and betrayal. My knees buckled, and everything inside me shattered into sharp, jagged pieces.

Dante caught me as I fell, his arms encircling me in a hold that was both a fortress and a cradle. For a brief, mad moment, I allowed myself to lean into the strength of his embrace, his warmth a stark opposite to the cold dread that had taken root in my heart.

“Please,” I managed to choke out between sobs, clinging to him like he was the only solid thing in a world gone mad. “I don’t know what to do.”

---