Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Was Free to Leave
Three weeks later, Elena stood inside Matteo’s Manhattan penthouse with a suitcase beside her.
The investigation had spread across three countries.
Konstantin Volkov had been charged.
Viktor Saranov had been arrested in Vienna.
Nikolai had entered negotiations with prosecutors regarding everything he knew.
Matteo had turned over his father’s criminal network while separating the legitimate Volkov businesses from it.
And Mia was safe.
For the first time since Elena stepped onto that private jet, nobody was hunting them.
Sofia slept upstairs.
Elena looked at her suitcase.
Matteo entered.
“You’re leaving.”
“You said I could.”
“I did.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
“I’m excellent at lying.”
“Not to me.”
Silence.
Matteo walked toward the window.
“There’s a car waiting.”
“Thank you.”
“It will take you anywhere.”
“Chicago.”
He nodded.
“Of course.”
Elena expected him to say something else.
He didn’t.
That irritated her.
“So that’s it?”
Matteo turned.
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s unfortunate, because I don’t know either.”
She folded her arms.
“You threatened to keep me forever more convincingly than you’re saying goodbye.”
“I never threatened forever.”
“It felt implied.”
Matteo looked down.
“Elena, when I met you, Sofia was starving in my arms.”
“I remember.”
“I had money. Men. Aircraft. Doctors waiting on two continents.”
He looked at her.
“And none of it mattered.”
Elena said nothing.
“You walked toward me when everyone else was afraid.”
“She needed help.”
“You always say that.”
“Because it’s true.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You needed help too.”
Her expression changed.
Matteo continued.
“You had spent three months believing surviving your family made you guilty.”
“Don’t.”
“I watched you come alive every time Sofia needed you.”
“Matteo.”
“I am not saying she replaced your sons.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“She never could.”
“I know.”
“And I don’t want her to.”
“I know.”
That mattered.
More than Elena expected.
Matteo looked toward the stairs.
“Sofia gave you somewhere to put love that had nowhere to go.”
Elena wiped her cheek.
“And what did I give you?”
Matteo’s answer came immediately.
“A reason not to become my father.”
Neither spoke.
Then Sofia began crying upstairs.
Both of them looked toward the sound.
Elena laughed through her tears.
“Terrible timing.”
“She has inherited that from me.”
“You’re admitting a flaw?”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
Elena walked upstairs.
Matteo followed.
Sofia was hungry.
Elena sat in the nursery.
She picked her up.
The baby settled almost instantly.
Matteo leaned against the doorway.
“You know,” Elena said, “she takes bottles now.”
“I know.”
“So she doesn’t need me.”
Matteo looked at her.
“No.”
Elena waited.
“I do.”
She froze.
Matteo immediately shook his head.
“That sounded wrong.”
“A little.”
“I’m not asking you to stay because of Sofia.”
“Then why?”
Matteo crossed the room.
“Because when you leave a room, I notice.”
Elena’s heart beat faster.
“When you argue with me, I enjoy it more than I should.”
“That sounds unhealthy.”
“Probably.”
“And?”
“And when I imagined you going home today, the penthouse felt empty before you’d even left.”
Elena stared at him.
“You barely know me.”
“I know you talk when you’re nervous.”
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“I know you drink coffee after midnight and complain when you can’t sleep.”
“That’s unrelated.”
“I know you check every door twice.”
Elena went quiet.
“I know you still carry a photograph of your sons in your wallet.”
Her eyes filled.
Matteo’s voice softened.
“And I know loving you does not require forgetting them.”
Elena looked down at Sofia.
That sentence reached somewhere nothing else had.
She whispered, “I don’t know if I’m ready.”
“I’m not asking you to be.”
“What are you asking?”
Matteo looked at the suitcase downstairs.
“Don’t stay because you’re trapped.”
Then he looked at her.
May you like
“Stay one more day because you’re free.”
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