Chapter 15 - THE RETURN OF THE WIFE
Dante received Emma's message at 10:12 a.m.
Meet me at the old courthouse at noon. Come alone. If you bring security, I leave.
He arrived twenty minutes early.
The courthouse had been closed for renovations, leaving the marble corridors quiet and cold. Dante stood near a tall window, hands clasped behind his back, and tried to prepare himself for the possibility that Emma would never forgive him.
When she entered, he almost forgot how to breathe.
She wore a dark coat over her maternity dress. Her face was pale, but her steps were steady. One hand rested against her stomach.
He moved toward her.
"Emma."
"Don't touch me."
He stopped immediately.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Dante lowered his head.
"I am sorry."
Emma's expression did not change.
"You hit me."
"I know."
"You hit your pregnant wife because your mistress was upset."
"I know."
"You made me afraid of the person who was supposed to love me."
His voice broke.
"I know."
Emma took a folder from her bag and placed it on the bench between them.
"Then you need to understand what you actually did."
She showed him the hospital records, the photographs, and the letter from Michael Hayes.
Dante read in silence.
When he reached the document identifying Emma as Sofia's daughter, he gripped the bench so tightly his knuckles whitened.
"No."
Emma watched him.
"That's what I said."
"My father told me my sister died."
"Your mother says she suspected the truth."
Dante looked up at her.
"We're twins?"
"According to the records."
He stepped away as though the floor had shifted beneath him.
For a moment, Emma saw the frightened nineteen-year-old boy described in the documents rather than the powerful man who had raised an empire.
Then he looked at the photograph of Michael Hayes.
"I was at that warehouse," he whispered. "I didn't kill your father, Emma. But I helped my father hide what happened."
"I know."
"I was young."
"So was I when I trusted you."
He had no answer.
Emma gathered the documents.
"I didn't come here to comfort you. I came to tell you that I'm protecting my child and myself. You will not use your money, your men, or your name to control us."
Dante nodded slowly.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Tell the truth."
"And if it destroys the family?"
Emma looked at him.
May you like
"Then perhaps the family deserves to be destroyed."
She walked away, leaving him alone with the evidence of everything he had failed to protect.
