The gala had been Dante's idea, reluctantly agreed to at Elena's insistence. It was a formal celebration marking the official one year anniversary of the merged Casteliano Marchetti alliance, hosted in the same restored ballroom where Salazar had once tried, and failed, to have her sedated.
"It feels right," Elena had said weeks earlier, when Dante first raised concerns about her attending while so heavily pregnant. "Reclaiming that room. Showing everyone that whatever they tried to break, we built something stronger instead."
She was thirty nine weeks along, and although the doctor had cleared her to attend with the usual cautions, Dante had spent most of the evening hovering close enough to catch her at the first sign of discomfort. His behavior earned an affectionate, exasperated eye
