Page 141 of The Wrong Man

“What is it?”

“I spoke to Ginni this afternoon, while you were in the kitchen.” He pauses, and I can feel something shift in him. Something settling. “I’ve officially handed over the reins. The training is complete. He’s ready to take over.”

It takes me a moment to understand what he’s saying. “You mean...”

“I mean I’m done.” His arms tighten around me. “No more butcher work. No more interrogations. No more any of it. Ginni is the family’s new specialist, and I’m...” He hesitates, like he’s trying the words on for size. “I’m a bakery assistant. Apparently.”

I twist in his arms to look at him properly. “You’re serious? You’re really done?”

“I’m really done.” His dark eyes are soft, certain. “I told you I wanted to be part of your life. Your real life. I can’t do that if I’m still disappearing to hurt people. So I’m not going to disappear anymore.”

Something cracks open in my chest. I think of everything he’s giving up. Not just the work, but the identity. He’s been the butcher for years. It’s who he was, how the family knew him, what made him valuable. And he’s walking away from all of it.

For me.

“Dante.” My voice comes out rough. “Are you sure? That’s... that’s everything you were.”

“No.” He shakes his head slowly. “It’s everything I did. It was never who I was. I think I’m only just figuring out who I actually am.” His almost-smile appears. “Turns out I’m someone who’s very bad at customer service but willing to learn.”

I laugh, even as my eyes sting with tears. “You’re getting better. That customer only looked mildly terrified today.”

“Progress.”

I reach up to touch his face, marveling at this man. This former monster who’s choosing to become something else. For me. With me.

“Happy?” he asks quietly.

“So happy.” I lean back into him, letting myself be held. “I got my bakery back. I have my friends, my aunt, you. And for the first time in weeks, I don’t feel like I’m hiding anything. I can just... be.”

“You can just be,” he agrees. “That’s all I ever wanted for you.”

I turn fully in his arms, looping my hands behind his neck. “What if I want more than that?”

His almost-smile appears, crinkling the corners of his eyes. “What did you have in mind?”

“Forever.” The word comes out steady, certain. “I want forever with you, Dante. This flat, this life, this feeling of being home when I’m with you. I want all of it, for as long as you’ll have me.”

“For as long as I’ll have you?” He pulls me closer, his dark eyes soft. “Dylan, I want to have you forever and then some. You’re everything I never knew I wanted. Everything I never thought I could have.”

I kiss him. Soft at first, then deeper, pouring everything I feel into it. Gratitude and joy and relief and the kind of love I never thought I’d find.

“I love you,” I say against his lips.

“I love you too.” His hands are warm on my back, holding me close.

It’s perfect. The perfect end to a perfect day. And the beginning of a perfect life.

Chapter forty-one

Dante

Six months after claiming Dylan back from his brother, I find myself standing in front of a mirror, adjusting a tie that he picked for me.

The man looking back at me is almost unrecognizable. The tailored suit and freshly cut hair are not new, but the happy look in my eyes certainly is. Six months ago, I was the butcher. The monster in the basement. The man who hurt people for a living and told himself it was just a job.

Now I’m a bakery assistant who can almost make a decent scone.

Strange how life turns out.