Chapter 406: Will he come looking for me?

Forty steps. Fifty. The darkness was getting deeper. She could barely see the path now. She was moving on instinct, on faith, on the memory of Dante’s voice telling her exactly what to do.

And then, suddenly, the trees opened up.

The clearing was there.

Small and secluded and perfect. And parked in the center of it, engine running, headlights off, was Dante’s car.

Dante was in the driver’s seat.

When he saw Isabella emerge from the trees, their eyes locked across the distance of the clearing.

She saw him take in her appearance, confirming she was unharmed, confirming she’d made it through the extraction successfully. She saw something like relief flash across his face, quickly replaced by focus and control.

Isabella walked toward the car, and her legs felt unsteady. The adrenaline from the walk, from the escape, from the enormity of what she’d just done was making everything feel dreamlike.

Dante reached over and opened the passenger door from the inside.

Isabella got in.

The door closed with a soft click.

"Are you okay?" Dante asked, his voice absolutely calm despite the circumstances.

"Yes," Isabella said, though her voice was shaking. "Yes, I’m okay."

"Good," Dante said. "Hold on."

He put the car in gear and began driving.

Not fast. Not panicked. Just a smooth, controlled acceleration away from the clearing and toward the access roads that would take them away from the Russo estate.

Isabella looked out the window and watched the trees blur past.

She was in a car with a man her father had forbidden her to see. She was fleeing her family home. She was making a choice that could never be unmade.

And somehow, despite the fear and the uncertainty and the knowledge of what was coming, she felt more like herself than she ever had before.

***

Dante drove with the precision of someone who’d orchestrated this route a hundred times in his mind.

He took back roads away from the main Russo estate perimeter. He avoided highways that might have cameras. He navigated through the countryside with the kind of knowledge that suggested he’d been planning this for far longer than just the past few hours.

After fifteen minutes of driving in silence, Dante finally spoke.

"Your father will discover you’re missing at approximately 7:15 PM," Dante said, his eyes never leaving the road. "He’ll search the gardens first. Then he’ll realize you’ve left the property. He’ll notify security. He’ll probably contact some associates."

"Will he come looking for me?" Isabella asked.

"Yes," Dante said simply. "But not tonight. Tonight, he’ll search the immediate area. Tonight, he’ll think you either ran away or were kidnapped after leaving the property. It will take him time to figure out that I’m involved."

"And when he does?" Isabella asked.

"Then we’ll deal with that when it comes," Dante said. "For now, we focus on getting you to safety."

They drove in silence for another few minutes.

"Why did you do this?" Isabella asked quietly. "Why did you orchestrate all of this?"

Dante was quiet for a long moment. His hands were steady on the steering wheel, but she could see the tension in his shoulders.

"Because you asked me to," Dante finally said. "Because you said yes when I offered you a way out. Because you deserve better than being a pawn in your father’s game."

"Is that the only reason?" Isabella pressed.

Dante glanced at her briefly, and in that glance, Isabella saw something raw and honest and vulnerable.

"No," Dante said. "The other reason is because I wanted you with me. Because when you texted me, something in me that I thought was dead came back to life. Because you matter to me in a way that I didn’t expect and haven’t been able to control."

Isabella felt tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"But you lied to me," Isabella said. "You targeted me to hurt Dimitri. I was never your real objective."

"That’s true," Dante said. "But somewhere in the middle of all those lies, something real happened. Something genuine. And I’m not going to apologize for that."

They drove through the gathering darkness, and Isabella watched the world pass by outside the window.

She was no longer at the Russo estate. She was no longer bound by her father’s expectations. She was no longer waiting for Dimitri to arrive and claim her as part of some political arrangement.

She was with Dante. She’d chosen him. And he’d chosen her.

It was terrifying and intoxicating and completely irreversible.

***

7:15 PM — THE RUSSO ESTATE

In her absence, no alarms had been raised yet.

She’d been gone for forty-five minutes. Her evening walk typically lasted twenty to thirty minutes, but extended walks were not unknown. Her mother was occupied with estate business. Her father was in his study reviewing documents. The staff was accustomed to her solitary routines.

But at 7:15 PM exactly, Paolo the guard approached Camilla with concern.

"Signora, I’m wondering if we should check on Isabella," Paolo said respectfully. "She’s been in the gardens for nearly an hour."

Camilla’s expression shifted from casual to alert.

"That’s not typical," Camilla said. "Let’s go look for her."

They walked to the gardens together, expecting to find Isabella on one of the paths, perhaps sitting alone somewhere, lost in thought.

They found nothing.

***

7:20 PM — THE SAFE HOUSE

Dante pulled the car into a secluded property approximately thirty kilometers from Rome.

The villa was dark and appeared abandoned, but Dante moved through it with confidence, turning on lights, showing Isabella the spaces that would be her home for the next few days.

It was modest but comfortable. Safe. Secure.

In the main room, there was food and water and everything they’d need.

Isabella stood in the center of the space and finally let herself process what had happened.

She’d left her family. She’d left her father’s control. She’d left her old life completely behind.

Dante stood nearby, giving her space to absorb the reality of her choice.

"What happens now?" Isabella asked.

"Now, we wait," Dante said. "We let your father’s search for you begin. We let him come to his own conclusions. And we let everything else that’s been set in motion play out."

"Dimitri is coming to Rome," Isabella said. "He’ll arrive and find that I’m gone."

"Yes," Dante said.

"That’s going to complicate things for your war with him," Isabella said.

"It will," Dante agreed. "But that’s not your concern anymore. Your concern is understanding that you’ve made a choice. And you’re going to live with the consequences of that choice. With me."

Isabella moved closer to Dante.

"I don’t regret it," Isabella said. "I don’t regret leaving. I don’t regret choosing you. I regret that I had to lie to my family. I regret that I had to hurt my mother. But I don’t regret this."

Dante reached out and pulled her into his arms.

And for the first time in her life, Isabella felt like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.