Chapter 3: Home
Chapter 3: Home
Three days later they stood on a private airstrip in Montana.
Wind tore across the mountains.
A small plane sat waiting.
Ellie's hands trembled.
Dante noticed immediately.
Without speaking, he reached for her hand.
She didn't pull away.
Not anymore.
The last seventy-two hours had changed everything.
The attacks.
The lies.
The secrets.
The long nights spent talking.
The moments she discovered the feared Dante Russo wasn't cruel.
Just lonely.
As lonely as she was.
A figure emerged from the plane.
Ellie's breath stopped.
The man was older.
Thinner.
Scarred.
But his eyes were the same.
"Dad?"
The word broke apart as it left her.
The man froze.
Then tears filled his eyes.
"Eleanor."
She ran.
For nine years she'd believed he was dead.
For nine years he'd believed staying away was the only way to keep her alive.
Now neither of them cared.
Father and daughter collided in an embrace that shattered years of grief.
Ellie cried.
He cried.
Even the mountain wind seemed to stop.
When she finally stepped back, her father looked at Dante.
"I owe you my life."
Dante shook his head.
"You owe me nothing."
The older man smiled.
"Then I'll thank you for hers."
His gaze shifted between them.
A knowing smile appeared.
Ellie immediately blushed.
"Dad."
"What?"
"Stop."
He laughed for the first time in almost a decade.
And somehow everything felt lighter.
Safer.
Whole.
Six months later.
Chicago.
Sunlight spilled through the penthouse windows.
Ellie sat at her desk finishing the final chapter of her first novel.
The story wasn't about heartbreak anymore.
It was about survival.
About second chances.
About finding home in unexpected places.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist.
She smiled before turning around.
Dante.
Still dangerous.
Still powerful.
Still terrifying to everyone except her.
"You've been staring at me for five minutes."
"I know."
"Why?"
His forehead touched hers.
"Making sure you're real."
Emotion tightened her throat.
Because once upon a time, she'd been the woman abandoned at Table 19.
The woman everyone thought was disposable.
Now she knew better.
Dante brushed a kiss against her forehead.
Then another.
Then one on her lips.
Slow.
Certain.
Like a promise.
"Marry me," he said.
Ellie laughed.
"You've been pretending I'm your wife for six months."
"I prefer accuracy."
She looked into his eyes.
The eyes that had found her on the worst night of her life.
The eyes that had never looked away.
"Yes."
The answer came without hesitation.
Dante smiled.
A rare smile.
One meant only for her.
Outside, Chicago glittered beneath a golden sunset.
Inside, Ellie finally understood something heartbreak had once hidden from her.
Daniel had not been the love of her life.
He had only been the road that led her there.
And as Dante pulled her into his arms, Ellie Sullivan realized she had found the one thing she never expected to recover.
Not revenge.
Not answers.
Not even her past.
She had found her future.
And this time—
May you like
she was finally home.
THE END ❤️
