Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Wouldn't Be Bought
Three weeks later, I returned to La Stella.
Dante was furious.
“You don't need this job.”
We stood outside the restaurant.
“I know.”
“I can give you anything.”
“I know.”
“A house.”
“No.”
“A car.”
“No.”
“Your own restaurant.”
I stopped.
He noticed.
“That got your attention.”
“I don't know how to run a restaurant.”
“You could learn.”
I shook my head.
“This is exactly what I don't want.”
“What?”
“You fixing my life with money.”
Dante studied me.
“So what do you want?”
“A choice.”
He became quiet.
“I spent years living for my father. Then one night I saved you, and suddenly I'm living inside your world.”
I took his hand.
“I need something that belongs to me.”
Dante nodded slowly.
“Then choose.”
So I returned to work.
Not because I needed to.
Because I wanted to.
Dante visited almost every evening.
Always Table Seven.
Always requesting Eleanor.
Monica found the situation hilarious.
“The terrifying Dante Russo waits twenty minutes for your section.”
“He likes the wine.”
“He owns vineyards.”
“Maybe he likes the appetizers.”
“He owns three restaurants.”
I sighed.
“Monica.”
“He likes you.”
I looked toward Table Seven.
Dante was watching me.
“I know.”
But our story wasn't finished.
One evening, Vincent arrived instead.
His expression told me immediately something was wrong.
“Where's Dante?”
“Missing.”
The tray slipped slightly in my hands.
“What?”
“He left a meeting two hours ago. His driver was found unconscious.”
My stomach dropped.
“Bellini?”
“In custody.”
“Robert Kane?”
Vincent looked at me.
“We never found him.”
I untied my apron.
“Where was Dante last seen?”
“Eleanor—”
“Where?”
Vincent told me.
An old warehouse near the harbor.
I knew it.
My father had worked there years earlier.
“There are tunnels underneath.”
Vincent frowned.
“What?”
“Old shipping tunnels.”
I grabbed my coat.
“Come on.”
Twenty minutes later, we entered through an abandoned maintenance entrance.
We found Dante in an underground storage room.
Alive.
His hands were restrained, but he was conscious.
Robert Kane stood nearby.
Kane turned when we entered.
His face went pale.
“You.”
Dante looked at me.
For perhaps the first time since I'd met him, he looked genuinely furious.
“Eleanor.”
“Hi.”
“I told you to stay safe.”
“You were kidnapped.”
“That doesn't change the instruction.”
Vincent's men surrounded Kane.
Within seconds, it was over.
I hurried to Dante.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
I loosened his restraints.
He stared at me.
“You came into a tunnel after me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked at him.
“Because apparently saving your life has become a hobby.”
Dante laughed.
Then pulled me against him.
His voice became quiet.
“Don't ever do that again.”
May you like
“You first.”
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