Chapter 4 - Arrival in Rome
The descent into Rome’s Fiumicino Airport was breathtaking. As the massive Boeing cut through the violet dawn clouds, the golden light of the Italian morning spilled across the rolling hills of Lazio, catching the terracotta rooftops and winding Tiber river like scattered gold leaf.
For Clare, the beauty of the landscape was entirely overshadowed by the knot of anxiety tightening in her stomach.
She had two hundred seventy-four euros, a battered suitcase, a three-year-old daughter, and a vague promise from a distant cousin named Sofia who lived in a cramped apartment near Trastevere and hadn't answered a WhatsApp message in three days.
And now, she was stepping off a private-tier first-class section accompanied by Dante Moretti—a man whose arrival at the airport was clearly going to be anything but ordinary.
As the plane kissed the tarmac and taxied toward a private VIP hangar rather than the main terminal gate, Viktor appeared at Dante’s elbow.
“Everything is secured, Mr. Moretti,” Viktor reported quietly in Italian, his eyes scanning the tarmac where three black Mercedes SUVs and a contingent of men in dark suits waited in the crisp morning air. “The perimeter is locked down. Local authorities have been... managed.”
Dante nodded once. He turned to Clare, who was helping Maya lace up her small pink sneakers.
“Clare,” Dante said gently, placing a hand on her arm. The heat of his palm burned right through her sleeve. “You’re not taking a bus to Trastevere.”
Clare looked up, her defensive instincts flaring instantly. “Mr. Moretti, we’ve talked about this. I’m grateful for the help with Leo, truly I am. But my cousin Sofia is meeting me—or she will be, once I find a working phone—and we’re going to start our new life. Independently.”
“Your cousin Sofia’s apartment was flooded three weeks ago, and she’s currently staying with a boyfriend in Florence,” Dante said flatly, as if reading from a dossier he had compiled in his sleep.
Clare’s jaw dropped. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because people who disappear don't do it blindly, Clare. And neither do I,” Dante said, his voice dropping into a tone of absolute, immovable authority. “You have two hundred seventy-four euros, a child who needs stability, and zero contacts in a city where tourists get fleeced before they clear baggage claim. You are coming with me.”
“I can’t!” Clare whispered fiercely, standing up so fast she bumped the tray table. “I’m running from a monster, Dante! I don't need to walk straight into the arms of another one!”
The word hung in the air between them, sharp and jagged.
Dante didn't flinch. He didn't raise his voice. But the air around him seemed to pressure-seal the cabin.
“Richard Vance,” Dante said softly.
Clare froze. The blood drained from her face so fast she felt faint. “How... how do you know that name?”
“Richard Vance is a mid-level venture capitalist in Chicago with heavy debts to offshore syndicates connected to my shipping lines,” Dante said, his grey eyes flashing with cold steel. “He thinks he owns you because he holds the lease and the bank accounts. He’s a coward who hits women when his stocks tank. And as of four days ago, when he filed a missing persons report claiming you abducted his child, he became a liability I am uniquely qualified to handle.”
Clare trembled, tears springing hot and fast to her eyes. “He’s looking for us? He filed a report?”
“He’s looking,” Dante agreed, stepping closer, his large frame shielding her from the rest of the cabin. “Which is why, when you walk out of this plane, you do it under the protection of the Moretti name. Nobody touches you in Rome. Nobody finds you. Not Richard, not the police, not ghosts.”
May you like
Maya tugged on the hem of Clare’s jacket, her big blue eyes blinking sleepily. “Mommy? Are we going to a castle?”
Clare looked down at her daughter, then up at Dante. The realization washed over her with terrifying clarity: she had traded one cage for another. But looking into Dante’s fierce, protective eyes, she knew this cage had iron bars forged in fire—and right now, it was the only thing standing between her and a man who would destroy them both.
