Chapter 2: The Name I Buried
I should have walked away.
That was what every instinct inside me screamed.
Walk away from the VIP booth.
Walk away from Dante Rosselli.
Walk away from the tattoo that had dragged memories I had buried deep for years.
But Leo still held my finger.
And for some reason, leaving him felt impossible.
“I need to get back to work,” I said.
Dante didn’t stop me.
Not immediately.
He just watched me.
Like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
“Alina.””
I stopped.
Nobody had said my name like that before.
Not with suspicion.
Not with curiosity.
With recognition.
“I asked you a question.””
I forced myself to look at him.
“And I didn’t answer.””
One of his guards stepped forward.
“Sir—”
Dante lifted a hand.
The guard immediately stopped.
That was when I understood something.
Everyone in that room feared Dante.
But Dante listened to almost nobody.
Except maybe his son.
Leo reached toward me again.
Dante looked down.
“Why does he trust you?””
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.””
That was the truth.
I had never seen Leo before.
I had never met his father.
Yet the child acted like he had known me forever.
Dante studied my face.
Then his eyes dropped to my wrist.
A small bracelet.
Old.
Simple.
The only thing I had left from my mother.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?””
I covered it with my hand.
“It was my mother’s.””
The air around the table changed.
Dante leaned back slowly.
“Your mother’s name?””
I didn’t answer.
Because I already knew where this was going.
And I didn’t want to open that door.
“Sir,” one of the guards interrupted quietly.
“We should leave.””
Dante ignored him.
“What was her name?””
My heart started beating faster.
“Maria.””
The color disappeared slightly from Dante’s face.
Not fear.
Something worse.
Pain.
“You’re Maria Valdez’s daughter?””
I stared at him.
“How do you know my mother?””
Nobody spoke.
The restaurant continued around us, but suddenly it felt like we were standing inside a different world.
Dante looked at Leo.
Then back at me.
“Your mother never told you about me?””
I laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“My mother didn’t tell me much about anyone.””
That was the truth.
She died when I was nineteen.
She left behind a small apartment, a box of old photographs, and hundreds of unanswered questions.
Especially about my father.
A father she refused to name.
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Your father’s name?””
I looked away.
“I don’t know.””
His silence was the answer.
Something about that silence scared me more than words.
Leo suddenly made a happy sound and reached toward my face.
I instinctively leaned closer.
The baby touched my cheek.
Dante watched carefully.
“You look like her.””
I froze.
“Like who?””
“Your mother.””
The words hit harder than I expected.
Nobody had said that in years.
For a moment, I forgot who Dante Rosselli was.
I forgot the guards.
I forgot the rumors.
I only remembered being a little girl watching my mother stare out the window at night, waiting for someone who never came.
“You knew her,” I whispered.
Dante didn’t deny it.
“Yes.””
My stomach dropped.
“How?””
He looked toward the empty chair beside him.
Then he said something I never expected.
“She saved my life.””
I stared at him.
“My mother?””
Dante nodded.
“And I promised her I would protect her family if anything ever happened.””
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Protect?””
His eyes hardened.
“Because the people who wanted me dead never forgot her.””
I stepped back.
This was no longer a strange encounter with a baby.
This was my mother’s past coming back.
And it had a name.
“Why now?”” I asked.
Dante looked down at Leo.
The baby was still holding onto me.
“I don’t know.””
Then he looked at my face.
“But my son has spent nine months refusing every stranger who tried to hold him.””
A pause.
“And tonight, he reached for you.””
Before I could respond, one of the guards suddenly approached with a small envelope.
“Boss.””
Dante took it.
His expression changed when he saw what was inside.
“What is it?”” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
He only turned the photograph inside the envelope toward me.
And the moment I saw the picture, my entire body went cold.
Because it showed my mother.
Standing beside Dante Rosselli.
Holding a newborn baby.
May you like
And written on the back were four words:
*She was never alone.*
