Dante had been drinking, so naturally, I was the one driving. I took the wheel without a word. He slipped into the back seat instead of sitting beside me, putting that familiar, invisible distance between us.
In the rearview mirror, I caught a glimpse of him.
His usually immaculate appearance was gone. His hair, always styled to perfection, was now messy and unkempt. His crisp shirt was wrinkled, the collar torn slightly as if someone had grabbed him in the scuffle. One of his hands rested loosely against his lap, bruised and wrapped in a hastily applied bandage. The signet ring on his right hand caught the passing streetlight, and for once he wasn't rolling it. It just sat there, still against his knuckle.
Dante had always been the type to maintain control over every detail, especially his image. He never allowed himself to appear anything less than flawless. Even among made men, where violence was currency, he carried himself as though the blood never touched him.
And yet, here he was. Disheveled, injured, reduced to this state.
All because of a new courier.
The thought settled heavily in my chest.
Just then, his phone rang, the sound cutting through the silence of the car. He picked it up almost immediately.
"Hello?"
The change in his voice was instant.
Soft. Gentle. Warm in a way I hadn't heard in years.
"It's nothing. Don't worry, I'm fine," he said, his tone soothing, almost tender.
A pause.
"It's late. You should sleep. No need to wait up."
The words themselves were simple, ordinary even. But the affection woven into them was unmistakable, impossible to ignore.
My grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel. My thumb found the small silver rosary bracelet at my wrist and pressed against it, hard.
I lifted my eyes to the rearview mirror, just in time to catch the faint smile that lingered on his lips as he ended the call. It was small, almost unnoticeable, but it was real. Unforced.
Something inside me twisted.
Keeping my voice light, almost casual, I asked, "Was that the fight over Liliana?"
"Adriana, don't start." Dante didn't even hesitate. His tone hardened instantly, the warmth from moments ago vanishing without a trace. "She's my courier. If someone disrespects her and I do nothing, what do you think that says about me in front of the Family?"
I said nothing.
He continued, his voice edged with irritation now. "You're a Falcone. You don't have to deal with this kind of crap. But she's not you."
It had been a simple question. Nothing more than that.
And yet, somehow, it had still managed to provoke him.
I fell silent, letting the words settle between us like something heavy and unspoken.
Even so, the tension lingered. He was still annoyed.
After a moment, he spoke again, more curt this time. "Take me to the club. I've got business to finish."
I glanced at him through the mirror once more.
There had been a time when I would have worried. I would have told him to go home, to rest, to stop pushing himself so hard. I would have reached for him, tried to bridge the distance.
But now, those words felt foreign, as if they no longer belonged to me. They rose to my throat, only to dissolve before they could be spoken.
Without another word, I made a U-turn and headed toward the social club.
The drive passed in silence.
When we arrived, I pulled over smoothly beneath the faded awning. Dante opened the door, stepping out without hesitation. Before closing it, he said what he always did, his tone automatic, almost rehearsed.
"Thanks for tonight."
The same words. Every time.
Then the door slammed shut.
He walked away without looking back, his figure disappearing through the unmarked side entrance as if I were no longer part of his world the moment he stepped out of the car.
I sat there for a moment longer, staring ahead.
It wasn't until I shifted to put the car in gear that I noticed it.
His phone.
Left behind on the seat.
I picked up Dante's phone from the seat, the screen still faintly warm from his touch, and headed upstairs to his office in the social club. The building was quiet at this hour, the kind of silence that made every footstep echo off marble floors that had been paid for with laundered money. The elevator ride felt longer than usual, each passing second stretching thin with something heavy pressing against my chest.
Before I even reached the door, voices slipped through the crack. Soft, intimate, unmistakable.
Liliana.
"Mr. Falcone, thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done without you today." Her voice trembled slightly, laced with tears, fragile in a way that invited comfort.
I froze just outside. My thumb found the silver rosary bracelet at my wrist and held it there.
Through the narrow gap, I saw Dante step closer to her, his movements unhurried, natural. He pulled her into his arms as if it were the most instinctive thing in the world, as if he had done it a thousand times before.
"I'm here. Don't be afraid," he murmured, his voice low and gentle.
The softness in his tone struck harder than anything else.
