Leonardo’s little voice broke through the tension like sunlight.
“Yay! Dad is great! Daddy got us to enter the party!”
Dante bent down, his expression softening in a way it rarely did.
“Yes. That’s right,” he said gently. “And from now on, Daddy is going to make all your dreams come true, Leonardo. Just tell me, and I’ll make you and Mommy…” He lifted his gaze to Emilia, whose smile had finally returned—small, but real. “…the happiest people on earth.”
Leonardo laughed and wrapped his arms around Dante.
“Thank you, Daddy!”
Dante hugged him back, a quiet breath escaping him. The tightness he had carried for years—the grief, the loneliness, the weight of everything he had lost, his family and people he trusted —seemed to ease for the first time. Seeing his son’s joy and Emilia looking
