Chapter 10 - The Safehouse in the Catskills
Within two hours of the Plaza attack, Dante moved his entire immediate family to a fortified estate in the Catskill Mountains.
The stone lodge sat on five hundred acres of dense forest, protected by high electric fences and armed patrols.
Sophia sat by the massive stone fireplace in the main lodge, wrapped in a wool blanket, sipping hot tea.
The adrenaline from the shooting was finally fading, leaving her exhausted and deeply shaken to her core.
Elena was fast asleep in an upstairs bedroom, heavily guarded by two of Enzo’s most trusted men.
The heavy wooden door opened, and Dante walked into the great room, smelling of rain, gunpowder, and cold wind.
He stripped off his tactical vest, tossing it onto a leather chair before walking over to stand by the fire.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly, looking down at Sophia with genuine concern in his dark eyes.
"I've never been shot at before, Dante," Sophia answered truthfully, looking up into his rugged face.
"Welcome to my world," he replied with a bitter, heavy sigh, sitting down on the hearth beside her.
"I tried to keep my mother away from this life, but the past always finds a way to bleed into the present."
"Why are they attacking now?" Sophia asked, leaning slightly closer to the warmth of his body.
Dante stayed quiet for a long moment, watching the orange flames crackle against the black iron grate.
"They know my father left a hole in our logistics empire," Dante revealed softly.
"And they think there's a ledger hidden in Brooklyn that can destroy us completely."
Sophia’s heart skipped a beat as she remembered the conversation she had overheard in the basement corridor.
"A ledger written by Matteo Rossi?" she asked quietly.
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Dante turned his head instantly, his eyes narrowing as he locked his gaze onto her face.
"How do you know that name, Sophia?"
