Chapter 5 - THE FIRST-CLASS TICKETS
The ride back to Alessandro’s estate was completely silent.
Hannah sat perfectly still, staring out the window at the passing city lights. The red dress felt heavy now, like a costume she had worn to a tragedy.
He had done it. Alessandro Vitale had sacrificed his freedom, his future, and his empire to save a bakery. To save her family.
"You shouldn't have agreed," Hannah finally whispered, unable to bear the heavy silence anymore. "You don't even know me. Not really. I'm just the woman who cleans your house."
Alessandro gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were stark white.
"You are not just the woman who cleans my house, Hannah," he said, his voice rough.
"Then what am I?" she challenged, turning to face him, the emotional dam finally breaking. "Why did you hire me? My sister just found a picture of our father standing with your uncle twenty years ago. My family owes your family money. Was this all a setup? Was I just a pawn to keep my mother quiet?"
Alessandro hit the brakes. The SUV swerved sharply, pulling into a deserted, dimly lit alleyway behind a closed restaurant. He threw the car into park and turned to her.
His eyes were blazing with an intensity that took her breath away.
"I hired you because you were desperate and freezing at a bus stop three years ago," Alessandro said, his chest heaving. "I didn't know who your father was. I didn't know about your mother’s debt to my uncle. I hired you because I looked at you and I wanted to protect you."
Hannah stared at him, her heart hammering wildly.
"I watched you for three years," Alessandro confessed, leaning closer, the scent of expensive cologne and bourbon wrapping around her. "I watched you let that pathetic accountant make you feel like you were nothing. I watched you shrink yourself down to fit into a world that didn't deserve you."
He reached out, his warm hand gently cupping her jaw. His thumb brushed against her cheekbone.
"I brought you today because I wanted to show them what I see," he whispered. "A woman who is beautiful, fierce, and entirely out of their league."
Hannah closed her eyes, a tear slipping down her cheek, instantly caught by his thumb. The walls she had built around her insecurities were crumbling into dust.
"But you're marrying someone else," she choked out.
Alessandro withdrew his hand. He looked incredibly tired.
"It's freezing in here," he muttered, deflecting. He unbuttoned his heavy charcoal suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders. "Keep it on."
Hannah pulled the jacket tight around her shivering frame. It smelled like him. As she adjusted the lapel, her hand brushed against something stiff inside the interior breast pocket.
Frowning, she reached inside.
She pulled out a sleek, white envelope. The flap was open.
"What is this?" she asked.
Alessandro didn't look at her. He stared straight ahead at the brick wall of the alley. "Open it."
Hannah slid her fingers into the envelope and pulled out two glossy pieces of cardstock.
They were airline tickets. First-class. One-way from Chicago to Florence, Italy. Departing tonight at 11:00 PM.
She read the names printed on the passes.
Alessandro Vitale.
Hannah Cooper.
Hannah gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "You... you were going to leave?"
"I was going to ask you to come with me," Alessandro said, his voice stripped of all its usual armor, leaving only raw honesty. "I have legitimate businesses in Italy. Vineyards. Real estate. I was going to hand the Chicago syndicate over to my uncle, walk away from the violence, and ask you to let me show you the world."
"Why didn't you just give him the syndicate today?" she cried. "Why agree to the marriage?"
"Because Carmine doesn't want the syndicate," Alessandro said bitterly. "He bankrupted his own accounts three years ago. He is drowning in debt to the Rossi family. The only way he survives is if I marry the Rossi girl and absorb his debts into my clean money. If I leave, they kill him. And if they kill him, he kills your family first."
Hannah looked at the tickets in her hand. A completely different life, a beautiful, peaceful life, had been waiting for her tonight. And she had lost it before she even knew it existed.
Alessandro put the SUV back into drive. "I will have my driver take you home. You will be safe, Hannah. The debt on the bakery is cleared. You never have to see my world again."
He pulled out of the alley, accelerating into the intersection.
"Alessandro, wait—" Hannah started, reaching for his arm.
May you like
She never finished the sentence.
A blinding flash of headlights filled the passenger window. A massive, matte-black utility truck ran the red light at sixty miles an hour, slamming directly into the side of their SUV.
