Chapter 2 - Shadows at the Door

"You always were a terrible liar, Lena," Dante said, stepping out from the dim shadows of the hallway. He looked stripped of his usual invincible majesty—his dark designer suit was rumpled, the top buttons of his shirt undone, and dark circles bruised the skin beneath his sharp, obsidian eyes. The terrifying titan of Chicago’s underworld looked hollowed out, but the raw power radiating from him still pinned me to the floor.
My heart slammed against my ribs as I backed against the wooden doorframe. "Get out of my house, Dante. You have no power here." He didn't move toward me; instead, his gaze dropped to the white envelope sticking out of my coat pocket—the medical file stamped with the local clinic’s logo. In one swift, fluid movement, he intercepted my hand as I tried to shield it, slipping the paper from my grasp.
I watched his face transform from cold composure to absolute, shatterproof shock as his eyes swept over the medical summary. Gestation: 10 weeks. Fetal count: 2. The paper trembled in his hand—a hand that had signed execution orders without a single twitch. He looked up at me, his voice stripped of all mafia authority, cracking under the weight of sudden realization. "Twins? You ran from me carrying my children?"