Chapter 5 - The Guard Dogs of Manhattan
Three days after the basement incident, the high-rise penthouse was quieter than usual. Paulie Russo had permanently relocated out of state—or rather, beneath it—and Marcus Vance had been quietly dismissed with a warning that if he ever looked at a security log again, he would lose both eyes.
Emma Harper stood outside the walnut library door, her hands trembling as she clutched a stack of freshly laundered linens. She had been summoned by Dante Valenti himself, and every instinct told her she was about to be fired, cast out into the cold streets of New York with no money and nowhere to run. She knocked softly and pushed the door open.
Dante sat behind his massive desk, looking up from a stack of financial reports. Standing beside him, leaning against the edge of the shelf, was Lily, holding her stuffed rabbit with the missing button eye.
“Emma,” Dante said, his voice measured.
“Mr. Valenti, I... I’m so sorry,” Emma blurted out, tears springing to her eyes. “Whatever happened, whatever rules I broke—please don’t take Lily away from me. We’ll leave today. I swear we won't bother you ever again.”
Dante stood up, walking slowly around the desk. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a clean, crisp document, laying it flat on the walnut surface.
“Your debt to Paulie Russo has been settled in full,” Dante said calmly. “Permanently. The service entrance will never see him again, nor anyone like him. Furthermore, your salary has been doubled, effective immediately, and Julian has installed a direct security panic button inside your staff quarters.”
Emma stared at him, stunned into total silence, the words refusing to form on her lips.
Lily stepped forward from the desk, wearing her yellow dress with the strawberry juice stain. She looked up at Dante, studying his broad shoulders and his rolled-up sleeves with critical, evaluating eyes.
“Are you strong now?” Lily asked him seriously.
Dante looked down at the child, a faint, rare ghost of a smile touching the corners of his mouth. He knelt down so he was eye-level with her.
“Strong enough,” Dante said, placing a heavy, protective hand on her small shoulder. “And from now on, nobody touches your mommy. That’s an order from the boss.”
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Lily nodded with deep satisfaction, satisfied that her training consultant was up to standard, before turning to her mother and tugging on her uniform skirt. “See, Mommy? I told you Mr. Dante knew how to handle the bad guys.”
Emma covered her mouth, finally breaking down into tears of absolute relief, while Dante Valenti—the most feared man in Manhattan—realized with a strange, quiet shock that for the first time in his life, his fortress finally felt like a home.
