Your doctor’s office.
Your home.
Another bakery, if the croissants are beyond repair.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped me.
Dante looked down at the crushed bag.
“That bad?”
“Completely destroyed.”
“I will accept responsibility for the doors.
Your former boyfriend is responsible for the rest.”
We went to a quiet restaurant two blocks away and sat in a rear booth where no one could overhear us.
Dante ordered tea for me only after asking whether I still drank it.
For several minutes, neither of us knew where to begin.
The night we met had happened three days after Derek left me.
I had been working an event at the Viper Room, checking guest lists and fixing problems no wealthy guest ever noticed.
Dante arrived late, surrounded by people who feared disappointing him.
He found me in a service corridor after I had gone there to cry.
He did not ask why.
He simply stood beside me until I stopped.
Later, we talked on the penthouse balcony until dawn.
I told him only my first name.
He told me his full name, but at the time it meant nothing to me.
I left while he slept because I was ashamed of how much comfort I had taken from a stranger.
Two weeks later, when I learned who he was, the club refused to connect my calls.
I sent letters.
I returned twice and was turned away both times.
“I thought you had decided the night meant nothing,” I said.
Dante’s fingers closed around his untouched coffee.
“I woke up and you were gone.
There was no number.
No surname.
Then I had to leave the country because of a crisis involving my organization.
When I returned, I began searching.”
“You could have searched faster.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No anger.
Just agreement.
“I should have,” he said.
I took the ultrasound photograph from my purse and placed it between us.
Dante stared at the grainy image.
For the first time, the controlled mask slipped completely from his face.
He did not look powerful.
He looked afraid to breathe.
“That is the baby?”
“Yes.”
His thumb moved toward the photograph, then stopped before touching it.
“May I?”
I nodded.
He lifted it with both hands.
The gesture was so careful that my throat tightened.
“We will do the test,” I said.
“Until then, nothing changes.
You do not move me into some guarded house.
You do not send people to follow me without telling me.
You do not make decisions about my body.”
Dante placed the scan down.
