Chapter 5 - The Cream Envelope
From the corner of the room, Sofia quietly stood up.
She didn't look at Dante. She walked straight toward the medical cabinet beside the window, opened her designer tote bag, and removed a large, heavy cream envelope.
Dante saw the embossed gold letterhead as she approached him. His expression changed immediately, the color draining rapidly from his olive skin.
Elizabeth Warren & Chase
Matrimonial and Family Law
It was one of Manhattan’s most prestigious, bloodthirsty, and aggressive divorce firms.
Sofia didn't say a word. She simply placed the envelope directly against Dante's chest until his hand instinctively came up to take it.
“What is this?” Dante asked quietly, staring at the paper as if it were a bomb.
“You know what it is,” Sofia replied, stepping back to stand protectively beside my bed.
Dante’s shaking fingers tore the seal open. His dark eyes moved frantically across the heavy stock of the first page. Then, they stopped.
Divorce petition.
Temporary emergency sole custody request.
Notice of separate residence.
Emergency financial protections and asset freeze.
Dante slowly lowered the papers and looked at me. The arrogant mafia boss who controlled the city’s underground looked entirely, completely shattered. The white roses he had set on the table suddenly looked like funeral flowers.
“Isabella…” he choked out, his voice a hollow rasp. “What have you done?”
I leaned down and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to Leo’s warm forehead. For the very first time since Dante had entered the room, I smiled.
May you like
It wasn't because I was happy. It was because the invisible chains I had worn for seven years had finally fallen off. I was no longer afraid of him, of his world, or of living without him.
“I stopped waiting for you to choose us, Dante,” I whispered, looking down at my perfectly peaceful, sleeping son. “And I chose him instead.”
