Siena POV

"We do not need him, Leo."

I crouched down to his eye level and smoothed a stray curl away from his forehead.

"We only need each other."

I took my son’s hand and led him out of the portrait studio. We bypassed the waiting photographer, whose expectant smile faltered as we walked straight past him and toward the armored SUV idling at the curb.

The official Family Portrait was dead. Just like everything else between us.

As soon as we returned to the penthouse, I retrieved our tactical go-bags from a hidden compartment behind a false wall in my closet. Their contents had been assembled piecemeal over the last thirty days: every essential item, every untraceable document, every component of our new identity, secured inside.

My phone buzzed on the vanity.

It was a secure message from an unknown number, but I knew exactly who it was.

I opened the encrypted video file.

Valeria’s face filled the screen. She was sitting on a plush velvet sofa, dabbing at her perfectly dry eyes with a tissue. Dante was pacing in the background, barking orders into his radio, organizing a perimeter sweep for a threat that did not exist. Mateo was sitting on the floor, playing with a toy Dante had bought him.

"We are so lucky Dante is here to protect us," Valeria whispered into the camera, a wicked, gloating smile pulling at her lips. "I do not know what Mateo and I would do without him."

She ended the video.

I stared at the black screen. A year ago, this would have sent me into a rage. I would have thrown the phone against the mirror. I would have screamed until my throat was raw.

Now, I felt only a profound and settled coldness, as peaceful as it was complete.

The phone was tossed onto the bedspread, its screen quickly going dark. I picked up the satellite device; its hard, angular casing felt unforgiving in my palm. My most loyal Consigliere—the only man in the Syndicate who answered to my bloodline, not Dante’s—answered on the third ring.

"Charter the private jet," I ordered, my voice steady. "Neutral territory. We leave tomorrow afternoon."

It was done.

Two hours later, the tumblers of the reinforced penthouse door clicked open.

Dante walked in. His security detail fanned out into the hallway, securing the perimeter before the door sealed shut behind him.

He was holding a large, expensive bakery box.

"I bought a cake," Dante announced, his deep voice laboring to project a normalcy that felt utterly false.

He set the box on the marble kitchen island and flipped the lid open. A pristine, elaborate strawberry cake sat inside, covered in fresh glaze and spun sugar.

"A peace offering," he said, loosening his silk tie. "Mateo was terrified. A stray cat set off the motion sensors, but I had to stay to calm him down. I saw this bakery on the way back."

I stared at the red fruit.

Dante hated strawberries. He despised the taste.

And Leo was mildly allergic to them.

My son preferred dark chocolate. He had preferred dark chocolate since he was three years old. The man who commanded the most powerful Family in the city had forgotten the simple physical aversions of his own son.

I did not point it out. It was no longer my job to correct his blindness.

Dante’s dark eyes scanned the room. He stopped. His gaze locked onto the three large tactical bags sitting by the entryway.

His posture instantly shifted. The relaxed husband vanished, replaced by the lethal vigilance of the Boss.

"What is that?" Dante asked, his voice dropping an octave.

"Luggage," I replied evenly.

Dante took a slow step toward me. His dark eyes narrowed, sweeping over my calm demeanor. "Are we going on a vacation?"

"Just a trip," I said, keeping my tone vague and icy.

He stared at me for a long moment, trying to read the utter stillness in my eyes. He found nothing.

"I will reschedule the official Family Portrait for tomorrow," Dante said, taking another step closer until his chest was inches from me. "I swear on my life, Siena. I will not break this vow. Tomorrow, we take the photo."

Leo walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.

He heard the promise. I saw a desperate, fugitive spark of hope ignite in my son’s eyes. He wanted to believe his father. He wanted his hero back.

I gave Leo a subtle, imperceptible nod. The spark died instantly, replaced by the cold discipline I had instilled in him.

Dante turned his attention to Leo. His jaw tightened.

"Now," Dante said, his voice a low, demanding growl. "Tell me why my Heir addressed me as 'Sir'."

Siena POV

It felt as if an invisible hand were closing around my lungs, slowly pressing the air from them.

I looked up at the immense, dangerous man I called my husband. The faint scent of Valeria’s floral perfume clung to his lapel, a cloying note against the sharper, metallic tang of gunpowder and his expensive cologne.

Dante pushed the strawberry cake aside, the cardboard box scraping harshly against the marble counter.

"I understand your resentment, Siena," Dante said, his tone softening as he tried to bridge the physical gap between us. "I know Valeria’s presence in our territory makes you uncomfortable."

Uncomfortable.

He had reduced the slow disintegration of my marriage and his blatant betrayal to a mere social inconvenience.

"My involvement with Valeria is purely out of sympathy," Dante continued, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intense, unwavering sincerity. "It is my duty to a dead Capo. Her husband died taking a bullet meant for my underboss. I owe her my protection."

He reached out and took my hand, his large, rough fingers enveloping mine. He pressed my palm flat against the solid, warm expanse of his chest, right over his steadily beating heart.

"I will permanently reassign her security detail soon," Dante vowed solemnly. "I will step back. I swear to you, Siena, I will never let my wife or my son suffer again. You are my only priority."

The warmth of his skin seeped through the fabric of his crisp shirt.

For a terrifying second, I was haunted by the memory of our wedding day. I remembered how he had knelt before me, his hands still bearing the traces of his enemies' blood, swearing a sacred oath that his violent world would never touch me. I remembered how he had held Leo in the delivery room, weeping as he had promised to set the world on fire just to keep our son safe.

He actually believed his own lies. That was the true tragedy of it all.

I pulled my hand away from his chest, and the sudden loss of contact made him frown.

I resolved to tell him the truth. I decided to spare him the blindside. I opened my mouth to tell him that the severance papers were real, that the thirty-day window was rapidly closing, and that our extraction was imminent.

"Dante—" I started.

"Where is the replica?" Dante abruptly cut me off.

I blinked, the confession dying on my tongue before it could take shape. "What?"

"Leo’s custom firearm replica," Dante said, his gaze sweeping around the living room. "The one I had my armorer build for him. Where is it?"

"It is in his room," I said slowly, a knot forming in my stomach. "Why?"

Dante checked the platinum timepiece on his wrist. "I need to take it to Mateo."

The casual words struck me with the force of a bucket of ice water.

"Mateo is still crying over the security scare," Dante explained casually, completely oblivious to the fresh wound he was inflicting. "He saw a picture of Leo’s replica on my phone and begged for one. I will just take Leo’s to calm the boy’s nerves tonight and have the armorer make Leo a new one next week."

"That was Leo’s birthday gift," I whispered, my voice trembling with a low, primal rage I could barely contain.

Dante waved a dismissive hand. "Leo is strong. He understands duty. Mateo is fragile."

Before I could say another word, Dante turned, walked down the hall, and entered Leo’s bedroom. He emerged a minute later holding the pristine, custom-engraved replica.

Leo had been waiting for three agonizing weeks for Dante to have a free evening so they could assemble the final pieces together.

"I will be back before midnight," Dante said, grabbing the keys to his armored SUV from the console.

He did not look at me. He did not even look at Leo, who was now standing quietly in the shadows of the hallway, watching his father take his most cherished possession, only to give it to another boy.

The reinforced door clicked shut, its heavy bolts sealing the penthouse like a vault.

I stood frozen in the profound quiet of our home. I looked at the empty space where my husband had just been standing.

"Actually," I whispered to the empty room, finally finishing my interrupted sentence. "Your son and I no longer require you."