Chapter 13
Late that afternoon, the rain had completely cleared from the sky, leaving the shores of Lake Michigan bathed in the warm, amber glow of early summer.
At the sprawling estate in Lake Forest, the wide lawns rolled down toward the blue water like a green carpet. The century-old oaks rustled in the gentle lake breeze, their shadows stretching long across the stone terrace.
Dante sat in a wide teak armchair on the terrace, wearing a soft white linen shirt and dark trousers, a glass of iced mineral water resting on the small table beside him.
On a blanket spread across the grass ten feet away, little Lily was sitting upright, giggling wildly as a large, gentle golden retriever—brought to the estate two weeks prior—lazily wagged its tail against her bare feet. A nurse sat nearby on the grass, smiling as she peeled fresh peaches into a small porcelain bowl.
The glass doors of the terrace slid open.
Mia walked out onto the stone, holding a small brass watering can. She had spent the last hour helping the head gardener plant rose bushes along the southern pergola. Her hands were slightly smudged with dark, rich soil, and a streak of dirt crossed her forehead like a badge of honor.
She walked over to Dante’s chair and stopped.
"Dante?" she asked.
"Yes, Mia?"
She looked down at her muddy sneakers, then out at the lawn, where her sister was laughing in the sunshine.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Why did you stop in the lobby?" she asked, her gray-green eyes searching his face with that fierce, brilliant intelligence that had kept two children alive in the dark. "There were hundreds of people in that building. Big people. Important people with briefcases. Why did you listen to me?"
Dante looked at her for a long time.
He reached out, his thumb gently wiping the smudge of soil from her temple, his touch carrying that same infinite, reverent gentleness he had discovered in himself six weeks ago.
"Because, Mia," Dante said softly, his voice carrying the deep, clean weight of a man who had finally found the purpose he had spent forty-five years searching for in the shadows. "Most people in this world spend their whole lives looking for someone to save them. They cry, they bargain, they make excuses. But you didn't ask for a handout. You stood in the rain, you held your sister, and you offered everything you had just to keep her safe."