Chapter 7 - The Woman He Had Never Asked
Serena read the letter twice.
Her father had made her the explanation.
If Dante died, she would inherit suspicion along with grief.
If investigators asked questions, Vincent could point to her name and call himself another betrayed parent.
Dante took the page before she could read it a third time.
“He won’t get away with this.”
“Don’t promise that.”
He looked at her.
“Promise you won’t shut me out.”
The request struck a place he hadn’t expected.
“You shut me out for three years.”
“I know.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She sat on the edge of the workbench.
“At first, I thought you would confront him.
I thought someone would die because I opened my mouth.”
“Someone nearly died because you didn’t.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know that too.”
He leaned against the opposite bench.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Serena said, “The first night, I was scared of everything.
My father.
Your name.
The wedding.
What being your wife was supposed to mean.”
Dante looked down.
“And then you left the bedroom because I was shaking.”
“I didn’t want you afraid.”
“That was when I started wanting things I couldn’t have.”
His jaw tightened.
“You could have had me.”
“I thought staying distant was the only useful thing I could do.
Then every month I waited made telling you harder.”
She rubbed her palms against her robe.
“After a while, I wasn’t just protecting you.
I was hiding from what I’d already done to us.”
He let the truth sit between them.
It was messier than a noble sacrifice.
It was also the first honest thing their marriage had been allowed to hold.
“I heard you cry,” he said.
Her face crumpled.
“Why didn’t you knock?”
“I thought I was the reason.”
“You were.
Just not the way you thought.”
Across the garage, Elias quietly took Arthur outside.
Dante moved closer.
“Can I hold your hand?”
Serena nodded.
Her fingers were cold.
This time, when he touched her, she didn’t flinch.
Patricia’s phone rang from the table.
Vincent again.
Serena reached for it.
Dante watched her face.
She answered in a thin, frightened voice he now knew she could choose.
“Dad?”
“Where are you?”
“With Mom.”
“Is Dante alive?”
Serena looked straight at her husband.
“Yes.”
Vincent exhaled.
May you like
“Then listen carefully.
If you want to keep him that way, you’ll come home before six.”
